THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD REFLECTION (2): ITS REPERCUSSIONS IN OUR CHRISTIAN LIFE. Summary vid + full text.
After having seen the significance of Our Lord’s Ascension into heaven, we can now tackle its REPERCUSSIONS in our daily Christian life. The Ascension of Our Lord has the following practical implications in our daily life.
- It CONFIRMS and STRENGTHENS OUR FAITH IN THE DIVINITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, Perfect God-Perfect Man.
- By virtue of our Baptism, WE, CHRISTIANS, ARE ALSO CALLED TO BE CHRIST’S WITNESSES in our surroundings and CALLED AS WELL TO DO APOSTOLATE with the people around us. APOSTOLATE CONSISTS IN BRINGING SOULS CLOSER TO CHRIST through our prayer, our sacrifices, our good example, our timely and amiable understanding and advice and sincere friendship wherever God has placed us.
- It should inspire us to “LOOK INTENTLY AT THE SKY (Acts 1:10)”, that is, to DIRECT OUR GAZE TOWARDS THE SUPERNATURAL AND LIFT OUR HEARTS AND OUR SPIRIT TO HEAVEN, SEEKING AND LOVING “THE THINGS OF THE ABOVE” WHILE WE CARRY OUT OUR DAILY ORDINARY ACTIVITIES, thereby, FOSTERING the virtue of HOPE, that one day, with God’s grace, WE SHALL BE UNITED WITH HIM. This is nothing but living a CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WORLD.
As St. Josemaria wrote: “I will never share the opinion — though I respect it — of those who separate prayer from active life, as if they were incompatible.
WE CHILDREN OF GOD HAVE TO BE CONTEMPLATIVES: PEOPLE WHO, IN THE MIDST OF THE DIN OF THE THRONG, KNOW HOW TO FIND SILENCE OF SOUL IN A LASTING CONVERSATION WITH OUR LORD, people who know how to look at him as they look at a Father, as they look at a Friend, as they look at someone with whom they are madly in love (Forge, n. 738).”
Dear friends, although Our Lord ascended and gloriously entered into heaven, He hasn’t abandoned us: He has sent us the Holy Spirit, He is physically, truly and substantially present in the Tabernacle and hidden behind the most ordinary duties of our everyday life at the same time, present in our soul in grace with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.
Let us then seek Him earnestly, with our mind, heart and soul in the midst of our daily occupations. Let us also take seriously of our apostolic responsibility to be His witnesses and gain souls for love of Him and for His Glory. These we ask God through Our Lady, Queen of the Apostles, Queen of Heaven!
Below you have the summary vid. Stay safe and God bless!
Fr. Rolly Arjonillo
SEE AS WELL: THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD (1). ITS SIGNIFICANCE
TODAY’S GOSPEL VIDEO COMMENTARY
TOPIC: Do you believe you are the subject of Jesus’ Great Commission?
The gospel today talks about the Great Commission, a mission statement to the apostles for them to carry out – “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.” But Jesus himself was tasked by the Almighty Father and had his own vision and mission statement here on earth. His vision statement is contained in Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”” And His mission is in Luke 4:18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” To ensure that the apostles – and us – are successful in fulfilling this Great Commission, God sends us the Holy Spirit, ascertained in Acts 1:8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” I went on mission with some couples from Metro Manila South B Sector. I thought I was going to evangelize but I came home evangelized myself. Check this out. God bless your families. God bless our Catholic faith and Couples for Christ.
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