Thursday May 13, 2021 - Ascension of the Lord - Go! Make disciples of all nations, says the Lord. I am with you every day until the end of the world - Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 16, 15-20

Today the Church solemnly celebrates the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ to heaven. During this period marked by the pandemic, we feel the need to revise the meaning of this holiday based on the readings offered by the Church.

First, the Ascension expresses the glorification of the Risen Christ: "Now the Lord Jesus, after having spoken, was taken up into heaven and sat at the right hand of God" (Mk 16,19) tells us the Gospel . This means that after having spoken with his disciples, to give them pedagogical instructions, the risen Jesus Christ ends his visible presence to begin his presence in a new way. This new presence is expressed by his assistance to the bearers of his Word and by his intervention to open the hearts of those who hear his Word, to make them progress in faith.

Then, the Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ invites us to lift our gaze upwards: "And as they were still staring at the sky where Jesus was going (...)" (Acts 1,10). In the parlance of the Old Testament, the top (to heaven) expresses the higher realities while "below" expresses imperfection, the reality of the underworld. As Christians, we are destined to walk upwards, towards the full realization of the human person. We are therefore invited to live according to the Holy Spirit.

Finally, Ascension prompts us to engage in mission. The evangelist Mark whom the Church offers us as today's reading insists on this point. From the beginning of this Gospel, Jesus sends his apostles on a mission and at the end of the Gospel reading the apostles have left to preach everywhere (Mk 16,20). This last meaning of Ascension invites us to evaluate how we have witnessed to the Gospel to make it always effective: first, the Gospel must be proclaimed to all creatures because God wants them to be saved: "And he said to them: go into the whole world; proclaim the Gospel to all creatures." Here is the process to be followed for the salvation of all creatures: the proclamation of the gospel through the testimony of life that he is risen. The quality of this witness will arouse faith in the Risen One and creatures will ask to be children of God through the sacrament of baptism. In our time, proclaiming the Gospel can also extend to different areas such as our commitment to justice and peace; our commitment to free our neighbors from every form of oppression. Let us therefore ask the Lord for his grace so that we can meet these challenges that we have just listed.