The mystery of joy: "He ascended into heaven;, seated at the right hand of the Father "

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THE MYSTERY OF JOY: «He ascended into heaven, Sitting at the right hand »

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Ascension It is therefore the liturgical feast of those who choose hope as a lighthouse of their lives. Contrary to a pessimism, typical of our time, After the great ideologies have fallen, The hope of ascension helps us to live faith day after day. And the most evident effect of those who are hopeful in the name of Jesus, It is the joy. Not a false mask of happiness, placed in the face to look happy when the heart is instead in darkness. No, Hope is the true joy of those who met the risen Jesus and then ascended.

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Author:
Gabriele Giordano M. Scardocci, o.p..

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Dear brothers and sisters,

Salvador Dali: Ascension of Christ [1958]

With the proclamation of the Gospel of the Blessed Evangelist Luca Luca [cf. 24, 46-53] Today we celebrate the ascension to the sky of the Risen Christ [see Liturgy of the Word, WHO].

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In omitathic, to illustrate the paintings of the Holy Scriptures I sometimes refer to interesting cinematographic works …

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… Qa few years ago a nice film called The Theory of Everything. The film chronicled the life of physicist Stephen Hawking, quadriplegic scientist and his theories on the origin of the universe. Despite his terribly debilitated physical condition, Hawking never lost the will to live and research. At the end of the movie, the same scientist claims:

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"As bad as life may seem, there is always something one can do and successfully. Because as long as there is life, there is hope ".

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This example introduces the theme of the readings of the Holy Mass of Ascension that we celebrate together today. Ascension is the moment of the return of Jesus, Son of God, to the Eternal Father, God too. At the very moment in which Jesus ascends and is high at the top, leave an important message to his disciples. In the Acts of the Apostles:

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«You will receive the strength from the Holy Spirit who will descend on you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth " [At 1,8].

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This is the central nucleus ascent: the call of God to become his witnesses, the greek mixture [testimony: martyr, witness]. It is a call to testify Jesus and his person to the borders of the earth. The whole, By relating it to us, constitutes the call to testify Jesus in every place we attend, in family, in the workplace, with friends, or even during moments of relaxation.

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The letter to the Jews clarifies what it means to be witnesses:

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"We keep the profession of our hope without faltering" [EB 10, 23].

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Ascension it is therefore the moment in which Jesus leaves the mandate to continue his mission visible to the apostles and disciples, therefore to the Church. We too fall into this mandate. Our hope is not only human, but above all otherworldly hope: it is to nourish a feeling of confident expectation of being for Eternity with the Lord in Heaven. This expectation answers the most profound questions of meaning and therefore offers an existential answer. Indeed, it is an expectation built starting precisely from being active witnesses of the great love that we will be able to experience at the end of the centuries.

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On this to be witnesses of hope of eternal life, Jesus also speaks of it in the Gospel when he reiterates

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«The Christ will suffer and will rise from the dead on the third day. […] You are witnesses of this "" [LC 24, 46]

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Ascension It is therefore the liturgical feast of those who choose hope as a lighthouse of their lives. Contrary to a pessimism, typical of our time, After the great ideologies have fallen, The hope of ascension helps us to live faith day after day. And the most evident effect of those who are hopeful in the name of Jesus, It is the joy. Not a false mask of happiness, placed in the face to look happy when the heart is instead in darkness. No, Hope is the true joy of those who met the risen Jesus and then ascended.

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The joy of a meeting which happened for us, Every time we meet Jesus in the sacraments. In this Eucharist, Jesus will meet us, living our soul. His living in us has the purpose of allowing us already now to raise us with him, through the gaze of faith. With that look from above, It is possible to enjoy every day of our life in Christ, living in fullness and goodness.

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We ask the Lord The gift of being witnesses of hope, Fooding that feeling of elevation to the sky and reaching the eternal husband of our soul.

Amen.

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Rome, 2 June 2019

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2 replies
  1. Raffaele Vargetto
    Raffaele Vargetto says:

    Last Sunday, in the parish I habitually frequented by me, the celebrant priest, who is parish priest, repeating themselves compared to the last few years, regardless of the sacred texts of the acts of the apostles and the Gospel of Luke who present the fact of the ascension of the Lord Jesus as he was attested by the eyewitnesses, Apostles and disciples – that is, that they had clear the sensitive perception of the ascension movement of the whole figure of the Redeemer who went up to the sky – He denied this experience and presented it by saying that Jesus did not detach himself from the ground, But it simply disappeared from their sight, as well as – I add – We can read in the episode of the disciples of Emmaus. I gave the parish priest the text of a catechesis of John Paul II on the Ascension, held in the 1989, in which the truth of the sacred texts is reiterated, that is, that eyewitnesses relayed what they saw: the detachment from the ground of Jesus ascending to heaven, a sign of another Heaven, that of glorification in God the Father.

  2. Attilio Sacco
    Attilio Sacco says:

    Her reflection makes me think of that Dutch girl from 17 years that he has lost all hope and has chosen to die practicing assisted suicide. Disillusa, quickly, victim of a world that has not given her the existential answers that every suffering soul desperately needs. Christian hope is exactly what I thought when reading his story. Bringing Christ everywhere must be our life mission because he alone saves our souls and he alone makes every pain meaningful

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