Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 46 : 2-3, 4-5, 6-7
Clap your hands, all you peoples; acclaim God with shouts of joy. For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared; He is a great King all over the earth.
He brings peoples under our dominion and puts nations under our feet. He chose our inheritance for us – the pride of Jacob whom He loves!
God ascends amid joyful shouts, the Lord amid trumpet blasts. Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 18 : 9-18
One night, in a vision, the Lord said to Paul, “Do not be afraid, but continue speaking and do not be silent, for many people in this city are Mine. I am with you, so no one will harm you.” So Paul stayed a year and a half in that place, teaching the word of God among them.
When Gallio was governor of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the court. And they accused him, “This man tries to persuade us to worship God in ways that are against the Law.”
Paul was about to speak in his own defence when Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of misdeed or vicious crime, I would have to consider your complaint. But since this is a quarrel about teachings and divine names that are proper to your own law, see to it yourselves : I refuse to judge such matters.”
Then the people seized Sosthenes, a leading man of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal; but Gallio paid no attention to it. Paul stayed on with the disciples in Corinth for many days; he then left them and sailed off with Priscilla and Aquila for Syria. And as he was no longer under a vow he had taken, he shaved his head before sailing from Cenchreae.
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today marks the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, which takes place forty days from the time of the Resurrection of the Lord on Easter Sunday. On this day we remember how the Lord Jesus, after having spent that period of forty days appearing before His disciples and manifesting Himself in His Risen glory, then went on to ascend to Heaven in order to return to where He has come from. And although He has ascended into Heaven, He did not abandon any one of us, His disciples and His Church, as while He is no longer physically present and tangible, but He is always with His Church and followers, and through the Holy Spirit that was sent shortly after the Ascension, the Lord guided His faithful ones in the right path and was with them all.
In our first reading today, we heard of the account from the Acts of the Apostles about the moment of the Ascension itself, where the Lord ascended into Heaven in the view of many of His disciples, and reassured them all of the guidance and providence that they all would receive through the Holy Spirit. The Lord told them all when they asked whether He would restore the Kingdom of Israel, that the hour is not known for them of when the Lord will do all that is intended by Him and how He will do these. The Lord told them all that through the strength and power of the Holy Spirit, they all would be His witnesses to the whole world, to bring forth His Good News and truth to more and more people that they encounter in their lives and respective ministries.
Thus, the Lord entrusted the works of His Church and all that He has initiated and begun to the Apostles and the other disciples, who have witnessed all that He has done and taught to the people, and then from them to all of us, through the many generations of the faithful who have received and passed on the same faith and belief in the Risen Lord. That we believe in this same faith which the Apostles themselves had believed, came from the fact that countless people, our holy and committed predecessors had laboured hard to bring these revelations and truths to us, passing them down through the generations, even when things and conditions were tough and challenging for them, such as through persecutions and trials, oppositions and rejections.
We are all reminded that God’s works, His Providence and grace are far greater than all these challenges and trials, and nothing can prevent the Lord from accomplishing His works and His will, much as how the Church is still standing firm and strong even after so many challenges and hardships, trials and obstacles that have been facing the Church and all the faithful disciples and followers of the Lord. Many of our predecessors had suffered and even perished in martyrdom in the defense of their faith, in their commitment to remain true in their faith in God, as well as their commitment to their mission and love for God, their desire to proclaim the Good News and the truth and hope in the Lord, the One and only True God, our Lord and Master.
From our second reading passage today, taken from the Epistle to the Hebrews, we heard of the words of the author of this Epistle, which many took to be St. Luke the Evangelist, among others, who spoke about the role of the Lord Jesus Who as the High Priest of all the faithful, the One True and Eternal High Priest of all, Who has entered into the Heavenly Sanctuary, and Who has taken upon Himself the most important role of offering on our behalf the most perfect and worthy sacrifice worthy in atonement of all of our many sins, wickedness and evils. He chose willingly and most lovingly to bear upon His own shoulders the heavy weight and burden of the Cross, so that by becoming at the same time, the Paschal Lamb of Sacrifice, by the offering of His own Most Precious Body and Most Precious Blood, He has given us all the perfect and only means worthy of our salvation.
Yes, brothers and sisters in Christ, the reality and truth is such that Our Lord and Saviour, Who is both our High Priest and the Paschal Lamb of Sacrifice, has offered on our behalf the most perfect and worthy sacrifice and offering in atonement for our many sins, wickedness and evils, such that He has opened for us the gates of Heaven and offer us the sure path to salvation. If we truly believe in Him and put our faith in Him, then we shall indeed experience and receive the fullness of all that He has promised to us, all the love, kindness and grace that He has promised to everyone who believe in Him, out of His infinite love and compassion, His mercy and kindness to us, His beloved people and children. That is why we are reminded today of the great grace which we have received from the Lord, and how Our Lord has always loved us, and even as He ascended into Heaven, He did so in order to prepare the places for us in Heaven.
Then, lastly, from our Gospel passage taken from the Gospel according to St. Luke the Evangelist, once again we are briefly reminded of everything that had happened at that time after the Lord’s Resurrection when He went around showing Himself to the disciples and many others who have seen the Risen Lord in person. From what we heard we are reminded that everything that we believe in, the Lord’s Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven really happened and occurred as how it was happening at that time. This is because of the many witnesses that had seen all that happened and which they testified courageously and fearlessly despite the opposition and obstacles they encountered in their journey and mission as the disciples and followers of Christ.
This is a reminder for all of us as Christians living in our world today that all of us ought to continue doing the great works of the Lord in proclaiming His Good News and truth, and in proclaiming His Resurrection to all. After all, the works of the Lord are still aplenty and have not been fully accomplished yet. Even when the Apostles and the other disciples of the Lord had achieved so much and converted so many to the Lord, but there have always been a lot of areas and opportunities still awaiting us to explore and go forth in being missionary and evangelising in our faith, as there are many more out there who have not yet known the Lord, His Good News and truth, His salvation and all that He has offered and assured us all, in the eternal life that He has promised to us through His Passion, death and Resurrection.
Therefore, brothers and sisters in Christ, as we all rejoice and greatly celebrate in the Lord’s glorious Ascension into Heaven today, let us all remember that while the Lord has ascended into Heaven, we are never alone, and the Lord Himself is still with us, in each and every moments of our respective journeys in life. That is why we have to trust in the Lord’s Providence and help, and trust in Him to lead and guide us in our respective missions and works so that by our efforts and good works, our commitments to proclaim Him and His truth, we will always be courageous and strengthened with the desire to always glorify Him by our lives, our actions and by our every interactions with those whom we meet and encounter daily in life.
May the Risen Lord, ascended into glory to Heaven, continue to bless us all and our missionary efforts, bless our every good endeavours and works, our interactions with everyone we meet in life, and may He continue to be with His Church and allow us all to go forth ever more courageously to the nations, now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
Luke 24 : 46-53
At that time, Jesus said, “So it was written : the Messiah had to suffer, and on the third day rise from the dead. Then repentance and forgiveness in His Name would be proclaimed to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. And that is why I will send you what My Father promised. So remain in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
Jesus led them almost as far as Bethany; then He lifted up His hands and blessed them. And as He blessed them, He withdrew, and was taken to heaven. They worshipped Him, and then returned to Jerusalem full of joy; and they were continually in the Temple, praising God.
Liturgical Colour : White
Hebrews 9 : 24-28 and Hebrews 10 : 19-23
Christ did not enter some sanctuary made by hands, a copy of the True One, but Heaven itself. He is now in the presence of God, on our behalf. He had not to offer Himself many times, as the High Priest does : he, who, may return every year, because the blood is not his own. Otherwise, He would have suffered many times, from the creation of the world.
But no; He manifested Himself only now, at the end of the ages, to take away sin by sacrifice, and, as humans die only once, and afterward are judged, in the same way, Christ sacrificed Himself, once to take away the sins of the multitude. There will be no further question of sin, when He comes again, to save those waiting for Him.
So, my friends, we are assured of entering the Sanctuary, by the Blood of Jesus Who opened, for us, this new and living way, passing through the curtain, that is, His Body. Because we have a High Priest in charge of the House of God, let us approach, with a sincere heart, with full faith, interiorly cleansed from a bad conscience, and our bodies washed, with pure water.
Let us hold fast to our hope, without wavering, because He, Who promised, is faithful.
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 46 : 2-3, 6-7, 8-9
Clap your hands, all you peoples; acclaim God with shouts of joy. For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared; He is a great King all over the earth.
God ascends amid joyful shouts, the Lord amid trumpet blasts. Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!
God is King of all the earth; sing to Him a hymn of praise. For God now rules over the nations, God reigns from His holy throne.
Liturgical Colour : White
Acts 1 : 1-11
In the first part of my work, Theophilus, I wrote of all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when He ascended to heaven. But first He had instructed through the Holy Spirit, the Apostles He had chosen. After His passion, He presented Himself to them, giving many signs that He was alive, over a period of forty days He appeared to them and taught them concerning the kingdom of God.
Once when He had been eating with them, He told them, “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the fulfilment of the Father’s promise about which I have spoken to you : John baptised with water, but you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit within a few days.”
When they had come together, they asked Him, “Is it now that You will restore the Kingdom of Israel?” And He answered, “It is not for you to know the time and the steps that the Father has fixed 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, even to the ends of the earth.”
After Jesus said this, He was taken up before their eyes and a cloud hid Him from their sight. While they were still looking up to heaven where He went, suddenly, two men dressed in white stood beside them, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking up at the sky? This Jesus Who has been taken from you into heaven, will return in the same way as you have seen Him go there.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today as we all listened to the words of the Sacred Scriptures, we are all reminded of the truth and Good News of God which we have all received from Him, and which we therefore should always be ready to share with all those whom we encounter in our daily lives, in how we live our lives worthily in the Lord’s Presence at all times, becoming exemplary disciples and followers of the Lord at all times. Each and every one of us have been called to be good and worthy witnesses of Our Lord’s Resurrection, His Good News, love and hope to everyone we encounter, and we must not forget of this mission and calling which the Lord has entrusted to us. In each and every moments, we have to strive and do our best to fulfil what we have been called to do.
In our first reading today, we heard of the account from the Acts of the Apostles in which St. Paul the Apostle went to Athens in Greece, at the centre of the Greek philosophy and also paganism at that time. He went to the place called the Areopagus, which in Athens was the place where all the philosophers went to openly say their opinions and debate with one another on various issues. It was there that St. Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, spoke about the Lord, the One and only True God before the people assembled at the Areopagus, to introduce and let Him be known to all of them, so that they may all come to know Who this God and Lord is, beyond what worldly philosophies, discussions and all other material matters that they had commonly discussed and debated about.
Essentially, St. Paul presented to all of them the knowledge and truth of the Unknown God Who had been not known and not identified to those people in Athens, who at that time believed in a variety of deities, gods and goddesses, according to the Greek and other mythologies of the region. All those deities were often personification of various natural phenomena and bodies, such as sky, thunder, sea and earthquakes, among many others, but St. Paul presented to all of them the one and only True God, the One Who has until then been unknown and indiscernible to them, the One Who created the Heaven and the Earth and the whole Universe, including all the wonderful things that the Greeks and others had been modelling their gods and goddesses upon.
And through the great Wisdom of the Holy Spirit, St. Paul managed to convince some amongst those people of the truth, who became intrigued at wanting to know more about the Lord, God and Master of all the Universe. There were indeed those who refused to believe and made fun of St. Paul and what he taught, but the Lord was with him and through his efforts, the Good News began to spread to the land of Greece, in Athens and many other cities and towns, where Christian communities of believers began to spring up despite the often difficult and hostile conditions that the faithful had to face in the midst of opposition and persecutions against them, which led to many of them suffering greatly and many were also martyred for their faith. And yet, these led to even more courageous efforts at evangelisation and mission.
Then, from our Gospel passage today, taken from the Gospel according to St. John the Apostle and Evangelist, we heard of the words of the Lord speaking to His disciples and reassuring all of them, telling them that the Holy Spirit will come upon them, strengthening and encouraging them amidst all the trials and challenges that they might have to face in their path and journey, in their missions and works as Christians. It is a powerful assurance and message of hope from the Lord to His disciples, reminding them that they will never be alone in their ministry and works, and the Lord Himself would always be with them, guiding and inspiring them, empowering them at every stage of their journey and ministry. The Lord will never leave them all by themselves, and He will be with them even in the darkest moments.
As what the Apostles and the disciples themselves would experience, they would face the greatest trials and challenges, hardships and evils, and yet, because of their faith in the Lord and in the assurances which He Himself has given to them, they did not give in to fear, doubt or despair, but they continued to go forth courageously in proclaiming the Good News of God and His truth to all the people of all the nations to whom they ministered. The Holy Spirit guided them all in all that they said and acted on, and they did not allow the temptations and pressures of the world, the trials, challenges and hardships that they faced to discourage them from their works and ministry. Instead, they kept on going with faith, with great confidence that came from the Lord Himself, performing many good works for God and His people.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us all therefore reflect upon what we have just heard and received today from the Word of God. As the disciples and followers of Christ, all of us should indeed be courageous and joyful in proclaiming the Good News and truth that God has entrusted to all of us. But it is not enough that we just proclaim the Lord’s words and truth, but even more importantly, we must live our Christian lives each day with great commitment and dedication, that in each and every one of our actions, we will always be good role models and examples for our fellow brothers and sisters around us. We must continue to be good and worthy in our every actions, words and works, so that by our lives and examples, we may truly glorify God in all things.
May the Risen Lord, our Lord Who has loved us all so wonderfully and reassured us all again and again of His hope and love, continue to bless our every good works, efforts and actions, so that we may continue to glorify Him and do many great works in Him at all times, in everything that we say and do, now and always. Amen.
Liturgical Colour : White
John 16 : 12-15
At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, “I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now. When He, the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into the whole truth. He has nothing to say of Himself, but He will speak of what He hears, and He will tell you of the things to come.”
“He will take what is Mine and make it known to you; in doing this, He will glorify Me. All that the Father has is Mine; because of this, I have just told you that the Spirit will take what is Mine, and make it known to you.”
Liturgical Colour : White
Psalm 148 : 1-2, 11-12, 13, 14
Alleluia! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise Him in the heavenly heights. Praise Him, all His Angels; praise Him, all His heavenly hosts.
Kings of the earth and nations, princes and all rulers of the world, young men and maidens, old and young together.
Let them praise the Name of the Lord. For His Name alone is exalted; His majesty is above earth and heaven.
He has given His people glory; He has a praise to His faithful, to Israel, the people close to Him. Alleluia.
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