Word to the Wise
Sunday, June 1, 2025 -
[Acts 1:1-11; Eph 1:17-23; Luke 24:46-53]When they had gathered together they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" He answered them, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. [Acts] May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him. May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hohpe that belongs to his call.....[Ephesians]
SUNDAY, JUNE 1, 2025 THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD
[Acts 1:1-11; Ephesians 1:17-23 or Hebrews 9:24-28; 10:19-23 and Luke 24:46-53]
When they had gathered together they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" He answered them, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. [Acts]
May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him. May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hohpe that belongs to his call.....[Ephesians]
The evangelist Luke gives us two accounts of the Ascension of the Lord: one at the end of his gospel and the other at the beginning of his "second volume," the Acts of the Apostles. Both these accounts share a warning to the disciples to stay in Jerusalem until the coming of the Holy Spirit (which we will celebrate next Sunday) and a commission to become witnesses to his life and teachings.
All history has a beginning and an end. For Luke, Jesus is at the center of ALL the history of creation, which is still being written and preached by the Holy Spirit through human witnesses. But the history of Jesus Christ, although encompassing a very brief time period in the larger history is the key to understanding the larger history. We are to be the witnesses who tell the story of Jesus and present it as that key. The Letter to the Ephesians reflects the prayer/blessing of St. Paul to this effect when he prays that God will give us "a Spirit of Wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him. May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call...."
St. Luke's two accounts of the Ascension of the Lord serve as an end and a beginning. Jesus' human earthly life has ended but it will be given a new form in the witnesses empowered by the Holy Spirit. We all receive that same Holy Spirit in Baptism/Confirmation. This is our commission to become "missionary disciples," in the term used by Pope Francis. We commemorate today the ending of Jesus' earthly presence and we anticipate (next Sunday) the promised Holy Spirit that marks the beginning of the new Body of Christ on earth, the Church, which is made up of missionary disciples. AMEN
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