"Until the end of the Age"

My Personal Reflection for Ascension Day.

          In the pre-Vatican II Roman Liturgical Calendar, May 29 is supposed to be the Ascension Day counting forty days from the celebration of Easter.  But in the revised calendar Ascension Day is celebrated Sunday.  Whatever the reasons for such changes may not be as important for us now, but what is important is the eschatological significance of the Christ’s Ascension into heaven.  Allow me to share some of my personal reflections on this topic.

          The ascension of Christ into Heaven being the first fruit is of so much significance for us Christians.  Jesus of Nazareth the Christ was the new Adam prophesied in the Old Testament and by His testimony declared that He came to fulfil the Law and the prophets.  “Behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world!” exclaimed John the Baptist.  On that morning of the resurrection, Mary Magdalene was about to touch Jesus.  But Jesus forbade her and told her “touch me not for I have not yet ascended unto my Father and your Father, but go tell my Brethren.”   Like the ancient Hebrews Christians believed in the resurrection of the body.  There is a tendency among the heretics of ancient times and even today to spiritualize the resurrection because of the incomprehensibility of the idea that a corrupted body can still be restored to life.  Here lays, the call of faith. Only the apostles and a few others witnessed the resurrection.  Why was this important event exclusively given to a few? Perhaps the most obvious reason is to make us inheritors of the Kingdom of God by faith.   St. Paul, in his theology gave a primary role to the resurrection of the body and even said that without this central tenet of the gospel, we are the most miserable of all men.  For why would we accept suffering and humiliation for the sake of the gospel if we are not going to be rewarded with what we seek for? –eternal life.  We carry the cross not for the sake of carrying it but as a means to obtain what we seek for. Sometimes there is a tendency to relegate this very important doctrine to oblivion.  As if after death men and women would simply become disembodied spirits.  But this is not the case.  St. Thomas Aquinas, that erudite Dominican borrowed the hylophomorphic theory of Aristotle to give us a glimpse as to why the resurrection of the body is necessary.  The being of man is like matter and form.  Every form has matter and every matter should take on form.  So is man.  Man cannot be a man without the body.  Hence, there is the necessity of the resurrection.  This is the reason why we pray for the dead because we believe in the resurrection of the body. 

          The ascension of our Lord into heaven defines the hope that we have.  Just as the angels said, that the way you see Jesus ascended and taken up into the clouds so will be the second coming.  Christian living is more contextualized when we see things in the light of Christian eschatology or in the light of the end times.  Our Lord said: “I am with you always, until the end of the age.”  These parting words define the way we should live.  How easy it is be waylaid by the trivialities of this world.  How easy it is to be waylaid by the concerns for social justice that we forget that this world has been judged and that Christ commands us to look forward to the coming Kingdom of which He will finally inaugurate at Hs second coming – a time when we shall sit at the banquet of the supper of the Lamb. Have we forgotten that whatever things we do for others, the charities, the fight for justice and the way we defend the poor are suppose to be the reflection of the values of the Kingdom of God implanted in us and which we are hoping for?  Today some people think that the end of everything is on this earth.  That if we could make this earth better then we have established God’s Kingdom.  This is the pitfall that held some Christians trapped in worldly ideology.  Imagining as if Christ came to establish an earthly Kingdom.

          If only we could see what is stored for us in the new heavens and the new earth.  But human as we are, we simply cannot comprehend these things until we reach the beatific vision.  God, however, in His goodness has not left us helpless.  But He gives us the faith to comprehend and to cling to this hope in the promise given by God through Christ.  For there is a hell to shun and a heaven to gain.  Heaven was gained for us by Christ and that should be our goal.  May the Ascension of Lord remind us of the need to trust in Him, for He is with us till the end of the ages.  This promise is not in vain but a living promise that we affirm each time we partake of the Eucharist – Christ’s pledge of salvation for us.  Of which we are eternally grateful.

          

REFLECTION FOR THE GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY

Reflecting upon the theme of the readings for this Sunday (Good Shepherd Sunday), St. Peter emphasized the message of our Lord, describing our Christian experience as an act of coming to Christ, who seeks the goodness and salvation of our souls.  The more the message of the readings become more meaningful at this time when the clergy sex scandals has received much attention.  Many thought that these scandals would overturn the faith of many.  I, for one as a layperson beholden to my pastors, I never doubted in my heart the Will and plan of God for His Church.  The scandals do not diminished my faith, because in my weakness I have set my eyes on Jesus, who is my shepherded.  Indeed Christ is the model and the prototype of the perfect pastor to whom the Bishops and the clergy must look up to as their perfect model of what a pastor should be.  But the recent problems involving some leaders should not discourage us but all the more we are reminded of the saying of St. Paul which says that in our weakness the power of God is made perfect.  God wanted to show to us that His grace and His mercy are very much in operation in the middle of situations where sin abounds.  For where sin abounds, the grace of God is much more bountiful as St. Paul says.  But let us be careful lest we presume that the grace of God is a licence to commit sin.  Far from it.  For where sin is there is also the grace of God.  This grace beckons us or summons us to be at the foot of the Cross.  Considering the great amount of price God paid for our redemption, are we not moved to repentance?

Aside from shepherding us, Christ our Lord is also our guardian.  He keeps us safe from error through His pure doctrine as made manifest to us by the Church.  Increasingly, the modernist idea of false ecumenism keeps us from convincing others of accepting Christ and joining His One True Church.  For Christ is the only door that leads to salvation.  Otherwise He would have not drunk the cup of crucifixion and Calvary.  In false ecumenism there are many voices, and there is a syncretism in the way the teachings of other religion are mixed with the Christian religion.  For Christ cannot sit in the table with Satan.  Thus in false ecumenism it is always Christ who is the first one to leave.   Jesus said I know my sheep and my sheep know my voice.  In the increasing crescendo of voices, one who belongs to Christ can never be mistaken; he will always hear the voice of the true Shepherd who laid down His Life for His Sheep.  

NUNS GROUP GETS REBUKE FROM THE CDF

"In the end, the point is this: The Holy See believes that the charismatic vitality of religious life can only flourish within the ecclesial life of the church," the cardinal said. Read more from CNS Story