Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord

 

Ascension by Giotto, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

“When they had gathered together they asked him,
‘Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?’
He answered them, ‘It is not for you to know the times or seasons
that the Father has established 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,
and to the ends of the earth.’
When he had said this, as they were looking on,
he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.
While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going,
suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.
They said, ‘Men of Galilee,
why are you standing there looking at the sky?
This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven
will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven’” (Acts 1:6-11).

“Jesus said to his disciples:
‘Go into the whole world
and proclaim the gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be condemned.’
So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them,
was taken up into heaven
and took his seat at the right hand of God.
But they went forth and preached everywhere,
while the Lord worked with them
and confirmed the word through accompanying signs” (Mk. 16:15-16, 19-20).

There we have it! Jesus’ mission is completed, but it is still ongoing. We are called to continue his mission; to go forth and evangelize and love and serve as he has done for us. We are called to participate in his mission so that we will also receive glory and honor as members of his body.

December 3--St. Francis Xavier, Priest and Religious

Portrait of St. Francis Xavier by Unknown Artist licensed under public domain.

He was the most famous missionary since St. Paul! He traveled to India, Malaysia, the Maluku Islands, Japan, and China. He converted about 30,000 souls. He evangelized in native languages, adapted to native cultures, and promoted native clergy. He co-founded the Society of Jesus, the Jesuits, and was named “Patron of Catholic Missions” by Pope Pius XI. That is quite a résumé for today’s saint, St. Francis Xavier!

Pope Benedict XVI wrote: “St. Francis Xavier … saw as his own mission ‘opening new ways of access’ to the Gospel ‘in the immense Continent of Asia’. His apostolate in the Orient lasted barely 10 years, but in the four and half centuries that the Society of Jesus has existed it has proven wonderfully fruitful, for his example inspired a multitude of missionary vocations among young Jesuits and he remains a reference point for the continuation of missionary activity in the great countries of the Asian Continent.”

Jesus commissioned the Apostles and, through them, us as well: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Mt. 28:19-20). We do not have to go to India or Japan or China. We just need to go to our families or neighbors or colleagues or friends. They need to see and hear in us that we have something great to share: Jesus loves us and them. The Church welcomes us all into her midst. We just need to repent of our sins and live as the saints Jesus calls us to be. What greater missionary effort is there than to love our neighbors?

October 27—St. Frumentius of Ethiopia, Bishop

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The Catholic Church was in Africa in ancient times. As a matter of Scripture, the first to evangelize Ethiopia was the court official in Acts (Acts 8:26-39) baptized by the Deacon Philip. However, today’s saint was the first bishop of Aksum, in the northern part of Ethiopia. Born in Tyre, Lebanon in the 4th century, St. Frumentius and his brother were taken as slaves to the King of Aksum from a Red Sea port. Freed shortly before the king’s death, the boys remained at court to educate his son. St. Frumentius later went to Alexandria, Egypt, and was consecrated bishop by St. Athanasius around 328 and returned to Aksum and spread Christianity throughout Ethiopia. Ethiopian tradition credits him with the first translation of the New Testament into the language of the people. He died in 383. 

Missionary efforts by the Church stretch all the way to the time of the apostles. According to tradition, St. Matthew originally evangelized in Ethiopia. Pope St. Paul VI stated in his encyclical Evangelii nuntiandi, that the Church exists to evangelize others: “Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize, that is to say, in order to preach and teach, to be the channel of the gift of grace, to reconcile sinners with God, and to perpetuate Christ's sacrifice in the Mass, which is the memorial of His death and glorious resurrection” (EN, 14). Jesus commissioned his followers to “make disciples of all nations” (Mt. 28:19). So what about us? We are called to spread the Word of God to others, especially those around us. Do they know our faith by the way we act and talk? We may not need to go to Ethiopia, but perhaps to our neighbor next door.

*https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/St_Frumentius.jpg