Gospel: May 12, 2024
(Sunday)
Ascension of the Lord
Psalter: Proper / (White)
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 47: 2-3, 6-7, 8-9 (6)
God mounts his throne to shout of joy; a blare of trumpets for the Lord.
1st Reading: Acts 1: 1-112nd Reading: Ephesians 4: 1-13
Therefore I, the prisoner of Christ, invite you to live the vocation you have received. Be humble, kind, patient, and bear with one another in love.
Make every effort to keep among you the unity of Spirit through bonds of peace. Let there be one body and one Spirit, just as one hope is the goal of your calling by God. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God, the Father of all, who is above all and works through all and is in all.
But to each of us divine grace is given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it is said: When he ascended to the heights, he brought captives and gave his gifts to people.
He ascended, what does it mean but that he had also descended to the lower parts of the world? He himself who went down, then ascended far above all the heavens to fill all things. As for his gifts, to some he gave to be apostles, to others prophets, or even evangelists, or pastors and teachers. So he prepared those who belong to him for the ministry, in order to build up the Body of Christ, until we are all united in the same faith and knowledge of the Son of God. Thus we shall become the perfect Man, upon reaching maturity and sharing the fullness of Christ.
Gospel: Mark 16: 15-20
Then he told them, “Go out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News to all creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; the one who refuses to believe will be condemned. Signs like these will accompany those who have believed: in my name they will cast out demons and speak new languages; they will pick up snakes, and if they drink anything poisonous, they will be unharmed; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be healed.”So then, after speaking to them, the Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven and took his place at the right hand of God. The Eleven went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.
Lectio Divina:
Read: Jesus commissioned his disciples. He told them to go out to the whole world to proclaim the Good News to all creation. The one who believes and is baptized is saved. The one who does not believe is condemned. Jesus further said that those who have believed will be accompanied by signs such as the capacity to cast out demons, the ability to speak new languages, protection from any harm and the power to heal the sick. Immediately after, Jesus was taken up to heaven, taking his place at God’s right hand. Thus, the 11 disciples went forth, preaching to different places. Jesus worked with them. Miracles accompanied their preaching.
Reflect: We have already reflected on the point that telling the faith is a basic requirement for a person to be saved. However, we should not also forget that salvation is first and foremost God’s initiative. The faith we refer to as a requirement must be understood in the sense of our acceptance of the salvation that God is offering us. God offers us his salvation. Faith is our response to such an offer. Today’s Gospel tells us that the one who believes is saved while the one who refuses to believe is condemned. God’s salvific act can fully be accomplished in us only when we are open to accept it.
Pray: Let us pray that God may increase our faith.
Act: Let us offer a hand to somebody who is in dire need of help today.
