Reflection for Sunday May 24, Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord: Matthew 28:16-20

Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20

The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. When they all saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted. Then Jesus approached and said to them, "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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."

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Reflection:

When someone whom we respect and love tells us to do something for him/her. We will try every possible way to obey what that someone tells us. For example if our parents tell us to do something for them we will exert every effort to do it because we respect and love them. This is always the case: we obey because of our deep love and respect for them.

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension of Jesus to heaven. However, before He went up to heaven He first took time to meet the eleven disciples. To commission them to spread the faith to all nations and they all took seriously this command of Jesus for them. 

Who was Jesus for them? Jesus was their Master, Teacher and Lord the God that they worshipped and respected deeply. Their deep worship for Jesus gave birth to their faithful  and humble obedience to His command. They obeyed Him even at the cost of their lives; they obeyed even if they would go through severe testing of their faith. This successful obedience was all borne out of their deep respect, reverence and worship for the Lord.

We may not be aware of this but everyone of us has an important role to play in this commissioning by Jesus on the apostles.   By virtue of our Baptism we too are given by Jesus this important responsibility to spread our faith by our words and by our deeds.

It’s very easy to go to church and worship Jesus there in the celebration of the Holy Mass it’s an effortless undertaking for some of us.  But our worship for Jesus doesn’t end with our worship for Him in that sacred celebration it is in fact only the beginning.

What immediately follows is for all of us to live and share the teachings of the Holy Mass which is to spread the faith by our words and deeds. And to share Jesus with others especially to those who have not heard yet of the good news about Him. This is the enormous responsibility that rest upon our shoulders now. 

This command of Jesus to propagate the faith rings loudly today more than any other time. Today we are not allowed to attend Holy Mass because of the Covid-19 pandemic. But thanks to modern technology we can still propagate our faith using the internet through the celebration of online Holy Mass. So, we have to reserve time to attend on line Mass, we also have to share it in our facebook and other social medua accounts so that we can evangelize others.

We can also share our faith by sharing whatever we have to those who are in need. One of the many sad realities of this Covid-19 pandemic is it created so much hunger among many of us. We therefore have to do our share to help those who are hungry for this is what real evangelization is all about. By doing so we bring Jesus and His teachings closer to them.

What have we done so far to help the hungry caused by this Covid-19 pandemic? – Marino J. Dasmarinas