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| “Jesus with his Disciples” Artist and Date are UNKNOWN |
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Vigil for The Ascension of the Lord
(When the Feast of the Ascension is celebrated on Thursday)
Vigil for The Ascension of the Lord
(When the Feast of the Ascension is celebrated on Thursday)
Readings and
Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: Acts 17:15, 22—18:1
After Paul's escorts had taken him to Athens,
they came away with instructions for Silas and Timothy
to join him as soon as possible.
Then Paul stood up at the Areopagus and said:
"You Athenians, I see that in every respect
you are very religious.
For as I walked around looking carefully at your shrines,
I even discovered an altar inscribed, 'To an Unknown God.'
What therefore you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you.
The God who made the world and all that is in it,
the Lord of heaven and earth,
does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands,
nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything.
Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and
everything.
He made from one the whole human race
to dwell on the entire surface of the earth,
and he fixed the ordered seasons and the boundaries of their
regions,
so that people might seek God,
even perhaps grope for him and find him,
though indeed he is not far from any one of us.
For 'In him we live and move and have our being,'
as even some of your poets have said,
'For we too are his offspring.'
Since therefore we are the offspring of God,
we ought not to think that the divinity is like an image
fashioned from gold, silver, or stone by human art and
imagination.
God has overlooked the times of ignorance,
but now he demands that all people everywhere repent
because he has established a day on which he will 'judge the
world
with justice' through a man he has appointed,
and he has provided confirmation for all
by raising him from the dead."
When they heard about resurrection of the dead,
some began to scoff, but others said,
"We should like to hear you on this some other
time."
And so Paul left them.
But some did join him, and became believers.
Among them were Dionysius,
a member of the Court of the Areopagus,
a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
After this he left Athens and went to Corinth.
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Commentary on Acts 17:15, 22—18:1
This selection sets St. Paul in Athens speaking to the
pagans in one of their principle venues. In his rhetoric he uses their
own beliefs to bring them to an understanding of first, God the Father using
their “Unknown God” as a starting point, telling them that God is not bound in
gold, silver or stone (as their idols are) but existing all around them,
creator of all that is and will be.
When he gets to a point at which he begins talking about
Jesus and the Lord’s resurrection he loses most of them but some remain and the
beginning of Christianity in that city has begun. From Athens they move
to Corinth.
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Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 148:1-2, 11-12, 13, 14
R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Praise the LORD from the heavens;
praise him in the heights.
Praise him, all you his angels;
praise him, all you his hosts.
R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let the kings of the earth and all peoples,
the princes and all the judges of the earth,
Young men too, and maidens,
old men and boys.
R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Praise the name of the LORD,
for his name alone is exalted;
His majesty is above earth and heaven.
R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He has lifted up the horn of his people;
Be this his praise from all his faithful ones,
from the children of Israel, the people close to him.
Alleluia.
R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
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Commentary on Ps 148:1-2, 11-12, 13, 14
Psalm 148 is a hymn of praise. In this selection we
find it singing of the omnipotence of God, His power and majesty, and His
promise of salvation.
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Gospel: John 16:12-15
Jesus said to his disciples:
"I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it
now.
But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own,
but he will speak what he hears,
and will declare to you the things that are coming.
He will glorify me,
because he will take from what is mine and declare it to
you.
Everything that the Father has is mine;
for this reason I told you that he will take from what is
mine
and declare it to you."
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Commentary on Jn 16:12-15
Jesus’ farewell speech continues. His reference to the
coming of the Holy Spirit is explained further and the unity of the trinity
comes into focus as the Lord tells his friends that this Advocate will give
them what is also his (the Lord’s). He tells the disciples that the Holy Spirit
will not bring new revelations but will allow them to understand the things
that have already happened. And in that revelatory understanding Christ will be
glorified because He and the Father are one.
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Reflection:
Any skill or craft may look simple or easy on the
surface. Take the making of a table; what is there to it? It will
have legs and a top. How simple is that? Yet a great carpenter will
know what kind of wood to use. They know what tools will be needed and
how to use them and those tools will change depending on the size of the piece
to be built and the complexity of its design. A true artist of the craft
will take a lifetime to perfect their skill.
Apply that same idea to Jesus’ farewell to his disciples
being described in St. John’s Gospel. He tells them straight out “I
have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.” Although he
is a young man by our standards – in is early 30’s, he is going to meet his
passion and death. With this statement it appears that his disciples have
figured out what Jesus is saying and are understandably distraught.
While we do not know exactly how old his friends are, we do
know they have a huge task in front of them. They are to take the Good
News to the world. As they do so, principally because of the gift of the
Holy Spirit to be received on Pentecost, they will understand more of what they
cannot understand at the moment of this telling.
It is like this with us as well. Who among us did not
grow up with our parents telling us about Jesus and how we needed to love him
and be loved by him? That very simplistic understanding was what we could
grasp at the early phase of our relationship to him. As we grew older we
began to understand better what it meant to love the Lord and be loved by
him. And now as we recall the words of St. John once more we see how far
we have come and know that, like the disciples, we have a long way yet to go.
Today we give thanks for our relationship to the risen Lord
and we ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit to take us further as we truly
come to understand all that God will let us understand before we meet him face
to face.
Pax
[2] The picture used today is
“Jesus with his Disciples” Artist and Date are UNKNOWN
[3] The readings are taken from
the New American Bible with the exception of the Psalm and its response which
were developed by the International Committee for English in Liturgy
(ICEL). This re-publication is not authorized by USCCB and is for private
use only.
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