Acts 1:1-11; Ps. 47:2-3, 6-9; Eph. 1:17-23; Mk. 16:15-20
Ascension of the Lord, now what? Now the Apostles wait upon the Lord in prayer for his return. Now the Novena has begun in the upper room for the coming of the Advocate. Now they wait for “the promise of the Father”, to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit coming with gifts of the Spirit. Now comes the gift of wisdom and revelation to have knowledge of God. Now comes the gift of enlightenment to receive the hope and “riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones”. Now we receive the “surpassing greatness of his power” which “he put all things beneath his feet and gave him (Jesus) as head over all things to the church which is his body”. Yes, to the church something to reflect on how well we follow the precepts of the church.
God the Father is giving us Jesus the Son and making it his body in the Holy Spirit, his body in the Eucharist, his body in the Magisterium of the church with authority and power and calling us his people to be his body in spirit and in truth. The question we may ask is “why is this the way God chose to return to us after the Ascension of the Lord?” God is making himself present in us, with us and through us in all things to remain a visible presence to the world. He makes of himself a continued sacrifice to give himself to us with “surpassing greatness of his power” trusting in humanity his plan of salvation. Are we ready for this? Are we up to receiving the body of Christ called to be his body as he comes “to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ”? By our fruits we will have answered to God our readiness or not.
Today in our times many are asking “Lord are you at this time going to restore the kingdom of Israel?” We see war, violence, tragedy, death to the unborn, and the threat of nuclear annihilation and as in every generation the question is asked “will it happen in our time?” The Lord’s response has not changed “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons that the Father has established by his own authority.” “Punto final!”, final point! What we do know is the power given to us in the Holy Spirit to be his witnesses of faith, hope, and love to every soul we encounter beginning at home and spreading to our neighbor, friend, and stranger. This we do know, what we do with ourselves has eternal consequences. So, people of Christian faith “why are you standing there looking at the sky?” Keep marching forward doing the will of the Father until he comes to take us up to himself at the moment of our death or at the end of time.
“Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Do we believe in God enough to trust him with our pain, sorrow, and suffering or do we turn from him complaining like the Israelites in the desert? Do we believe in God when tragedy comes to the innocent in this world and we lose a child, a spouse, or a friend in a tragedy or do we cry out for vengeance? Do we believe when we pray and pray and God is silent or do we give up and choose to go our way?
“These signs will accompany those who believe, in my name they will drive out demons…” In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit in baptism original sin through exorcism is driven out. When we make the sign of the cross with Holy Water, we drive out the evil one. When we call out to God proclaiming “Jesus is Lord” the demons rush away. When we honor our Blessed Mother Mary demons tremble in fear. This is the power given to us and the weapons of spiritual warfare.
“They will speak new languages” says the Lord. The Spirit comes with the language of truth, love, and mercy planted into our hearts. We proclaim the Word of God as the language of authority to be our light and salvation.
“They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them”. We lift up in our hands the poisonous serpents in a culture of death threatened if we do not comply and accept what this world calls its freedom to choose against the moral conscience of the church. We will not be harmed with the deadly drink of secular ideologies fed to us and forced upon us through the powers of godless institutions.
“Conscience” meaning in Latin “con – with” and “scire – know”; with whose knowledge do we associate with? Is it with the knowledge of God through the church or with the thinking of the world? Our individual thinking will make an alliance of conscience in support or against the authority of the Church and as for me and my house we stand with Papa and Mother church.
“They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” When we place our hands in the hands of God it is he who heals relationships, raises up the spiritually dying, and restores faith, hope, and love to the sick. We are but instruments in his hands. The world is in need of recovery from the sickness of narcissistic thinking, from the passions of self-indulgence, and from the lies from a culture of indoctrination that wants to take our children and raise them up to believe they are a creation of their own mind and not of God. So many false teachings with information overload that our children are left asking “what is truth?”
We need more of God to blare the trumpets. We need the Lord Jesus who in the Ascension “was taken up into heaven and took his seat at the right hand of God” to work with us and through us to confirm the word with signs of his presence. We need a conversion of souls and he is with us calling us to be the one to make a difference.
The trumpets are blaring! We are blessed that this day we can sing hymns of praise to the Lord because he already reigns over us though we are in this world we belong to him. He reigns “far above every principality, authority, power and dominion and every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come.” Are we listed in the book of names? By our baptism we have been named but we must also remain in him….and that is the work we are being called to accomplish this day. Amen.
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