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The Ascension of the Lord, Years A, B & C, May 1 or 4, 2008

Check with your parish Liturgy Committee. Either Thursday, May 1, or Sunday, May 4, 2008, is to be the feast of the Ascension of the Lord in your diocese. Click here for readings and notes for the Seventh Sunday of Easter.

First reading, Acts 1:1-11

In any case, the original audience for both the gospel and Acts were Gentile converts to Christianity, in cosmopolitan Greece, after the deaths of the apostles. These new members needed information about the origins and the spread of the community they were joining. In particular, it must have comforted them to learn that even the first, closest followers of Jesus misunderstood his intentions ("Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?")

Proclaiming it: Emphasize the sentence about waiting for "the promise of the Father, ...[to] be baptized with the Holy Spirit." That enables your hearers to relate this reading with the coming feast of Pentecost.

Jesus' last words, which you should emphasize appropriately, set the agenda for all of the book of Acts: "and you will be my witnesses ... to the ends of the earth."

Second Reading, Ephesians 1:17-23 (always in year A, maybe in years B & C; 2008 is year A.)

The first half of the reading is about what can happen to us when God gives us the Spirit (another Pentecost reference). The promised benefits are wonderful. But, as you've seen, the grammar of this monstrous sentence is more than challenging. So in preparing to proclaim it, divide it not into sentences (subject, verb, object) but into images. Think of reading not a sentence but a list of phrases, like chapter titles in a book's table of contents. Some of the chapter titles refer to God:

• The Surpassing Greatness of His Power
• The Exercise of His Great Might

• May the Eyes of Your Heart Be Enlightened
• The Hope that Belongs to His Call
• The Fullness of the One Who Fills All

Second Reading, year B, Ephesians 4:1-13

Alternate Second Reading, year C, Hebrews 9:24-28, 10:19-23

The letter to the Hebrews was written for Jewish converts to Christianity who were missing the rituals and institutions of Judaism. One of those was the annual entrance of their priest into an innermost part of the temple for a ritual sacrifice. For all the ceremonies and functionaries that the converts forfeited upon their conversion, the author shows that Jesus replaces and surpasses what they lost.

Now the style of argumentation here will seem odd to those formed in Western traditions. It's the style of first century rabbis, a logic familiar to its original audience, but seeming tortured to most of us now. In this instance, it's a series of contrasts: "The Jewish priest does this, but Christ does that." Except to us the relationships between their respective accomplismments are not so clear. Perhaps a table will clarify them:

Old Way (in Judaism)	New Way (in Christ)
Priest enters a man-made sanctuary	Christ enters heaven
The next contrast is not between Old Way and New, but between all other humans and Christ
Priest offers sacrifice annually	Christ appears once before God at the end of ages, to take away sin by his sacrifice
All men and women die once, then appear for judgment	Jesus was offered once, and will appear bringing salvation
Priest enters sanctuary with lamb's blood	We have confidence of entry into heaven through Jesus' blood
Priest enters sanctuary through a veil	We enter through the veil that is Christ's flesh
He's just a priest	Christ is "a great priest over the house of God"

Fascinating, isn't it? How shall you proclaim it? Of course, you have to make the contrasts clear. Use one tone of voice for the clauses about the ancient Jewish priests and their work, another for Christ and his work. Alternate between the two voices. In verse 24 (first verse of the reading) contrast the sanctuary made by hands, a mere copy, with heaven itself. Then contrast "repeatedly" with "once for all," and "repeatedly from the foundation of the world" with "at the end of ages." Contrast human beings appearing for judgment with Christ appearing a second time to bring not judgment but salvation.

Make your own the author's purpose, which he makes clear in the second paragraph of this selection (chapter 10, verses 19-23), to give confidence to his (your) audience. Few among your listeners would think themselves bereft of Christ, if you put it in such stark terms. But depending on the character of renewal or retrenchment in their parishes, or how closely they've been affectd by scandals in their dioceses, they might feel lost or abandoned, to some degree at least. Help them see a bigger picture.

Several other commentaries on these passages. All are thoughtful, all quite readable, from the scholarly to the popular. Links may be incomplete more than a few weeks before the "due date."
Father Roger Karban's 2002 column on these readings and his 2003 column on the Acts and Ephesians readings, plus Mark 16:15-20 (year B).	Bible Study pages of Saint Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, Picayune, Mississippi
America, the Jesuit weekly magazine, now posts its older The Word columns online. Read these back issues covering the readings for this feast: 2000,     2001,     2002,     2003,     2004,
The Text This Week; links to homilies, art works, movies and other resources on the week's scripture themes	Saint Louis University's standard-setting site for Sunday liturgy. Of the six writers whose works are posted, all cover the readings of Easter 7 and three have essays about Ascension readings, too.

The Lectionary selections in the frame at the left, if any, are there for your convenience. The publishers of the page in that frame have no connection, except for membership in the one Body of Christ, with the publisher of this page. Likewise the publishers of the pages on the links above.

Last modified: Tue May 1 20:38:47 CDT 2007