Tag: ascension

“You will grieve, but your grief will become joy.” | Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter

From the Gospel acclamation: “I will not leave you orphans, says the Lord; I will come back to you, and your hearts will rejoice.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 16:16-20)

Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Are you discussing with one another what I said, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.”

Jesus seems to present a riddle to the disciples when he says to them, “A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me.” Yet, he conveys to them the departure of the incarnate word and the coming of the Spirit of truth, the Advocate. The grief the disciples experience at his passion and death will be replaced by joy at his resurrection and ascension into heaven. Although no longer present before the disciples, he will be present in body and blood, soul and divinity, in the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper and present also in the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Rather than going away, Jesus firmly establishes his presence in a new way as he sends the Advocate.

Father in heaven, help me understand the particular place from which the joy Jesus speaks of originates. The departure of Jesus is not final; his physical disappearance makes way for a stronger—though invisible—reappearance. In the Eucharist, Jesus your Son is the source and summit of our faith and with us always. Paradoxically, the departure of Jesus brings to us the fullness of his presence; no longer seeing him means seeing him more definitively in the Eucharist and in the descent of the Holy Spirit. Jesus did go away but not to leave us orphans; he went away to glorify you, Lord, making himself completely present for all who believe in him—his joyful invitation to join you eternally in the life of the world to come.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“I have much more to tell you.” | Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter

From the Gospel acclamation: “I will ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 16:12-15)

Jesus said to his disciples: “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming.”

Jesus speaks to the disciples about the coming of the Spirit of truth, the Advocate. As he guides them to all truth, the Holy Spirit glorifies the Father and the Son. “He will glorify me,” Jesus says, “because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.” One with the Father, Jesus is able to say that the Holy Spirit will take what is his and declare it to the disciples and to the entire Church. “Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.” The fullness of revelation through the Holy Spirit takes place as Jesus sends the Advocate. What the disciples could not bear before Pentecost, they came to understand through the revelation of the Holy Spirit in the unity of the Father and the Son.

God, help me understand the unity of purpose within the Trinity. Everything that the Holy Spirit does glorifies your Son in his guiding to all truth. In sending the Advocate, Jesus says that he will not speak on his own but will speak what he hears, glorifying the Father and the Son in declaring it. How am I to understand the fullness of what Jesus describes in the coming of the Holy Spirit? Give me the courage, Lord, to remove barriers between me and the Spirit of truth so that he can complete in me what Jesus made possible by way of the cross and the coming of the Advocate at Pentecost. Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“But if I go, I will send him to you.”| Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter

From the responsorial psalm: “Because of your kindness and your truth, you have made great above all things your name and your promise. When I called, you answered me; you built up strength within me. Your right hand saves me, O Lord.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 16:5-11)

Jesus said to his disciples: “Now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I told you this, grief has filled your hearts. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go. For if I do not go, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”

In prayer to the Lord, the psalmist says, “You have made great above all things your name and your promise.” In the Gospel, Jesus expresses the fulfillment of those words in sending the Advocate, the Holy Spirit. In obedience to the Father through his passion and death, Jesus is able to say of the Advocate: “And when he comes he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation.” Only in perfect obedience to the point of death on a cross, Jesus can say that the Holy Spirit convicts in regard to righteousness because he ascends to the Father, having fulfilled his redemptive mission. In that mission, he is also able to speak of conviction in regard to the sin of unbelief and the condemnation of Satan. “Because of your kindness and your truth, you have made great above all things your name and your promise.”

Father in heaven, increase my faith because of the words of your Son. “I am going to the Father,” he says, “and you will no longer see me.” Jesus saw the grief and sadness in the eyes of the disciples when he told them he was going away. No one asked where he was going, but if they had, they would have known the joy of Jesus in his imminent return to you—the same joy he wished to share with them. I am unable to see Jesus as the disciples saw him, yet he is present to me in Scripture, through the Eucharist and the sacraments of the Church, and in the people you place before me. Help me, Lord, in receiving the Spirit of truth today so that he guides me one day to come to all truth, face to face with you in unending joy.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Seventh Sunday of Easter: Ascension

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.”

Jesus prays directly to the Father for his disciples. He prays that God may give glory to him so that in turn he can glorify the Father. He asks this of his Father so that he may give eternal life to the disciples and to all who believe in him. To give eternal life is what Jesus prays for as he intercedes for us even now, in heaven and in body, blood, soul, and divinity in the Eucharist. And what is eternal life as Jesus states in his prayer: “Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.” The unity that Jesus has with the Father he prays that those who follow him may also have. Eternal life is this: knowing the one true God and the love between the Father and the Son.

God, part of your Son’s prayer is to glorify you as he asks you to glorify him. To give you glory does not always result in comfort, but any suffering we experience can be made into means of glorifying you. As Saint Paul says in the second reading, “But whoever is made to suffer as a Christian should not be ashamed but glorify God because of the name.” Give me the grace, God, to understand that to glorify you is to know you and your Son. To live in that love is to believe in eternal life, to perceive it dimly in this life but to experience it fully in the life to come. Jesus, who sits at your right hand desires this for the disciples and for all who believe in him. With these four words, he leaves no room for doubt about his love and constant intercession: “I pray for them.”

From the responsorial psalm, help me recall throughout the day: “I will not leave you orphans, says the Lord. I will come back to you, and your hearts will rejoice.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Jesus said to the disciples: “I have told you this in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures but I will tell you clearly about the Father. On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you. For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God.”

Jesus speaks to the disciples in ways that at the time must have seemed unclear and mysterious. Having spoken to them about his relationship to the Father through parables and figures of speech, he tells them that this will no longer be. Instead, he will tell them clearly. As the incarnate Word, Jesus is God in the flesh among them, who speaks truth into existence and is love itself. To help the disciples understand, Jesus says he will return to the Father to send the Advocate, who will teach them all things. “Whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you,” Jesus tells the disciples. The Father who loves them is the same Father who loves us and hears whatever we ask in Jesus’ name.

God, help me understand today’s Gospel. What is obscure, Jesus wants to make clear; what is spoken in figures of speech, he wants to make manifest. In returning to you, Jesus sends the Advocate to bring to the heart a living understanding of the relationship of the Son to the Father. Give me the grace, Lord, to receive the Advocate. Grant me clarity of mind to recognize that I am an adopted son brought into this same love that you make accessible every moment of the day and in the life to come in the eternal light of your face.

Be by my side today, Lord. Help me call to mind that I can ask anything in your name. As Jesus said to the disciples, so he says to me so that I remain in him: “Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W-KSOPWWBY

Friday of the Sixth Week of Easter

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Jesus said to his disciples: “So you also are now in anguish. But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.”

Jesus tells his disciples that they will experience sorrow and grief, but their sorrow will turn to joy. He compares this to the pain a woman experiences in childbirth that is forgotten once she sees her newborn child. Jesus says that he will see his disciples again, referring to his resurrection, and that their grief will turn to joy that no one will take away from them. The joy Jesus speaks of cannot be taken away because it comes from God, and no one on earth has the power to take God-given joy away. It is in this Easter joy that Jesus says, “Whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.” What is it I need today that I can ask of the Father?

God, as Jesus your Son speaks to the disciples, he reads their hearts and knows their anguish. Why does the world rejoice at Jesus’ death while his followers mourn? Those in the world who do not see Jesus rejoice at his departure because his presence calls them to him and they reject him. But the disciples know your Son and mourn his death. “But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice,” Jesus tells them. In the glory of the resurrection, Jesus calls them to him, which is a joy no one can take from them. In the anguish of this day, Lord, grant me the grace of seeing my grief turn to joy in the realization of your presence.

“Whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you,” says the Lord. Lord, help me know you and welcome you today.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W-KSOPWWBY

Thursday of the Sixth Week of Easter

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

Jesus said to his disciples: “Are you discussing with one another what I said, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.”

By telling the disciples “you will not see me” and then “you will see me,” Jesus meets their concern directly. John tells us that “Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him” what this might mean. Its meaning is tied to the transient mourning he mentions to them, which stands in contrast to the world’s rejoicing at his death. That the world believes it has no God, that there is no ultimate truth to convict it, is not part of long ago in Jesus’ time but is just as much a reality in the world today. How do I adjust my sight to see that Jesus is present in this world?

Seeming to have gone out of sight with his death, Jesus gives God glory in his resurrection and ascension; the disciples see and understand that Jesus is the Messiah. Through the Gospel, the Eucharist, and in the Mystical Body of Christ, Jesus is alive in the world today and is always present. Christ is not subject to death. Dying and rising with him through Baptism, I am brought into sonship with him in the eternal love of the Father. As Saint John Paul II said, “In him, the divine sonship has become our inheritance. By God’s will, as adoptive sons we are coheirs of the eternal Son, called to participate in the life of God, in eternal happiness in him.”

“His right hand has won victory for him, his holy arm,” the psalmist sings. Let me remain with you today, Lord, to see and understand that you are the victor.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.