HE ASCENDED TO THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD THE FATHER

THE SOLEMNITY OF ASCENSION OF THE LORD

Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP

Acts 1:1-11; Ps 47:2-3,6-9; Eph 4:1-13; Mk 16:15-20

He Ascended to the Right Hand of God the Father

The great eulogy of St. Paul to the unity believers enjoy in the Lord Jesus Christ attracts our attention in the second reading from his letter to Ephesians. He praised this oneness as one of the most beautiful characterisation of the heavenly Jerusalem or the City of God. Every Christian has a vocation to uphold this beautiful unity of the Church of Christ. “Do all you can to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you together. There is one Body, one Spirit, just as you were called into one and the same hope when you were called. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God who is the Father of all, over all, through all and within all.” This beautiful unity is willed by the Father, who sent his Son to recapitulate all things through his life, death, resurrection and ascension into heaven. Hence, while the Father’s will is the cause of the unity, the principle is the Son’s unflinching obedience to the Father’s will. The whole creation obeys the will of the Father and is redeemed by the Son’s obedience as man. The Gospel message announces the coming of abundant grace for man to follow the Son’s obedience to the Father. The unity is of the Spirit because he realises it in us by his indwelling. 

The centrality of obedience in our vocation to faith is shown in the fact that conversion is described as obedience of faith. The goal of Christ's mission is to bring the whole of creation to sound the same note of obedience. “When it says, ‘he ascended’, what can it mean if not that he descended right down to the lower regions of the earth? The one who rose higher than all the heavens to fill all things is none other than the one who descended.” Jesus died because of his love for his Father’s will. He descended to every level and region of creation to free those in captivity, those who have lost their freedom of will to evil so that they will be able to make their choice to obey or not obey God in faith. The gifts of the Holy Spirit and the graces we receive each day enable us to work for the unity of the Body. The great mandate to proclaim the Gospel message is to fulfill the Father’s will for one Body of Jesus Christ, making up the new Jerusalem. We are holy as Christians to the extent we are willing to do the Father’s will. 

Thus, when the disciples gathered around the Lord as he was about to ascend, he made little of their interest in the restoration of the earthly kingdom of Israel. A new and everlasting kingdom of heaven has come; all hands must be on deck, and every interest must be directed towards the spread of the new kingdom. The Lord is sitting at the right hand of God the Father for doing his holy will. The Holy Spirit gives his manifold gifts to us, both charismatic and ministerial, to build the unity of the Church. Every other interest that is not rooted in the Father’s will for unity and the coming of the kingdom of heaven is sinful. This is the main content of the prayer the Lord taught us to pray; every other prayer must support our doing the most holy will of the Father. “In this way we are all to come to unity in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God, until we become the perfect Man, fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself.” The Spirit’s activity in a Christian’s life is to bring him to full knowledge of Jesus Christ concerning his complete obedience to the Father in the love of the Holy Spirit. 

Let us pray: As we celebrate the solemn feast of your Son’s ascension into heaven, grant us, Lord, the grace to always desire to fulfil your holy will on earth, so that we may merit to sit with him in your heavenly kingdom.

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