Today is Ascension Sunday, the solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ back to his Father in heaven. Just imagine how the disciples reacted when they finally realized what the Lord have been telling them in his three year ministry that the Messiah was sent by the Father from heaven through the Blessed Virgin Mary to become man and to save Israel, not from the bondage of Roman occupation, but from the bondage of sin. Now he was returning to heaven right before their eyes.
Today’s gospel story is about the commissioning by our Lord Jesus Christ of his disciples. This is what Christianity is all about, witnessing the good news of the gospel. You can read this scripture in Matt. 28: 16-29.
“16 the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted. 18 Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always until the end of the age.â€
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If you’ve been having Bible studies or at least if you’ve been reading your Bible, you will learn that this passage is the last part of the book as written by the evangelist Matthew. Right after our Lord Jesus imparted his last message to them, he ascended into heaven and his disciples saw this with their very own eyes. Finally, they understood what our Lord had been telling them — that he was going back to the Father whom they knew is in heaven.
Of course there’s some concern by certain Theologians where did our Lord ascended to heaven? From Matthew, this passage starts “The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them.†I’ve been to Galilee and the high mountain that the Bible always speaks of is Mt. Tabor…where tradition says our Lord Jesus Christ transfigured. But it’s 18 kilometers from the Sea of Galilee. But there’s another mountain close to the shore of the Sea of Galilee called Mt. Arbel… but that wasn’t mention in the Bible at all. Most Biblical scholars believe that the place that our Lord Ascended to heaven is in Mt. Olivet… close to Bethany and Jerusalem.
But in truth, it really doesn’t matter from what mountain where our Lord ascended. What’s important for Catholics is the final message that our Lord Jesus Christ imparted to his disciples moments before he ascended back to The Father in heaven, “Therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always until the end of the age.â€
Indeed our Lord has commanded us to make disciples of all nations. This means evangelizing people about the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was difficult in ancient times because Israel at that time had no mass communication. But today, it is much easier to evangelize thanks to the world that has grown smaller because of the Internet. Also today, the Catholic Church celebrates the 48th World Communications Day, and allow me to quote Pope Francis in connection with today’s celebration of World Communications Day.
Pope Francis said, “Today we are living in a world which is growing ever “smaller†and where, as a result, it would seem to be easier for all of us to be neighbors. Developments in travel and communications technology are bringing us closer together and making us more connected, even as globalization makes us increasingly interdependent. Nonetheless, divisions, which are sometimes quite deep, continue to exist within our human family.
On the global level we see a scandalous gap between the opulence of the wealthy and the utter destitution of the poor. Often we need only walk the streets of a city to see the contrast between people living on the street and the brilliant lights of the store windows. We have become so accustomed to these things that they no longer unsettle us. Our world suffers from many forms of exclusion, marginalization and poverty, to say nothing of conflicts born of a combination of economic, political, ideological, and, sadly, even religious motives.†No doubt, Pope Francis knows what’s happening in this world today.
So I’d like to ask you as a Catholic, are you doing your share to evangelize the gospel of our Lord even with your own family or neighbors? I certainly hope that you are because this is what our Lord commanded his disciples as his last will and testament, which they have imparted to us generation after generation. This is what Catholicism is all about. But let me caution you that you can only evangelize if you’ve been trained to do so.
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