The Feast of Ascension of our Lord to the Heaven

 

The church put in front of us the following readings:

 

*The first reading from the Acts Acts 1: 1--14

Between the Resurrection and Ascension, Jesus condenses to the apostles the evidence of his resurrection, multiplies his appearances to them, and provides them with his latest instructions on how to administrate his church. They are assured of their baptism with the Holy Spirit, who is coming soon, so he breaks them down, strengthens them in their service, and overcomes their difficulties, so they bear witness to him with joy in strife, distress, and pain. He will not leave them unless they are reassured and trust him above all.

Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ is not an absolute and total absence. He will come back to them again. Instead, he will remain with them in the person of the Holy Spirit. “I will not leave you, orphans. The world will not see me, but you will see me. You will know that I am in my Father and that you are in me as I am in you”. The teacher will be absent in the flesh so that the apostles and disciples will take their role and build the tower of the kingdom of God, which Christ laid its foundation and set aside from the good that it needs. The teacher would not cling to the throne of his authority, nor did he underestimate the value of his disciples and had chosen them himself. And if he wants to plow his field, he must trust them, and the plow must be delivered to them.

 

*Second reading from First Letter to Timothy 1: 18 - 2: 1-15

The disciples have recognized their teacher’s lesson. They set out with enthusiasm and eagerness to empty their experience in the minds of others and share their joy and comfort. Then they took the initiative to train successors and form new messengers to plow new fields or fill the void that they would leave with their absence and disappearance. They prepare the apostles who receive the banner and strive in other countries and testify to Christ before different peoples. This is what Paul did with his collaborators and the groups that he introduced to Christ. Here he teaches one of his disciples the instructions necessary to build his work on faith and a good conscience. Then he dictates the education needed to form groups of believers working to lead a “peaceful and calm life with all piety and dignity” (verse 2: 2). God wants the salvation of all people. Their salvation depends on knowing God and believing in Christ. And Paul the Apostle teaches his disciple how to know Christ and build the lives of believers through study and prayer. And also by displaying the good morals required by faith and testimony for the people of the world “not by appearances but by piety and righteous deeds.” A paragraph is devoted to the woman who calls upon her not to challenge the limits of her role and her vocation to form a specific appointment for her husband, as her vocation is not competition. She is invited to fulfill her mission with the help of her husband and to learn from him. Because faithful life also requires a system committed to establishing a relationship of faith to continue witnessing to Christ, starting with the family, which is the basis of the church.

 

*The third reading from Luke 24: 36-53

The disciples took these teachings of order and peace from the teachings of the teacher. Many things the disciples got used to, but the Lord canceled or reformulated them. They did not understand his pain, death, and resurrection as they should. Instead, they doubted his resurrection (verse 38) and thought that they saw a ghost, and they remained unbelievable until he ate "grilled fish" in front of them. Jesus dispels their illusions. It opens their minds to comprehend what the Book has said and do not mix the New with the Old. It brings back to their minds what he had previously recommended to them. He provided them with information, showed them a model of behavior, and he will help them communicate that to others.

 

Luke thus wanted us to understand that the source of our faith is the Bible. And it will not be achieved only by the effort of our human thought. Instead, it needs the lights of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit will not speak to everyone alone. Instead, the spirit nourishes our ignorance by revealing the truth to pastoral leadership. As Jesus explained to the early disciples, he will explain it to the disciples of the rest of the ages by the teaching of the church, who is the only one qualified to perform this service, and which it is obligated to offer to successive generations.