This Sunday is within the octave of the glorious Ascension of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. It is NOT the Ascension Itself, even though we might be told otherwise!
Think about it; what an awesome sight it must have been to the believers who saw it! Of course we are to hear from St. Peter and from St. John in our readings, but I'm going to pass on something from the 'Liturgical Year' by Abbot Gueranger. We can think about this while we're waiting for the Holy Ghost appear once again. Here it is:
'...Glory then, be to the justice of the Father, who has dealt thus with His Son! Let us rejoice at seeing the Man of sorrows become now the King of glory; and let us, with all the transport of our souls, repeat the 'Hosanna' wherewith the angels welcomed Him into heaven.
Nor must we suppose that the Son of Man now that He is seated on the throne of His Divinity, is inactive in His glorious rest. No; the sovereignty bestowed upon Him by the Father, is an active one. First of all, He is appointed Judge of the living and of the dead, before whose judgment seat we must all stand. No sooner shall our soul have quit the body, than she shall be presented before this tribunal, and receive from the lips of the Son of Man the sentence she will have deserved. O Jesus! by the glory Thou didst receive on the day of Thine Ascension, have mercy on us at that moment whereon depends eternity...'
GOSPEL (John XV. 26-27., to XVI. 1-4.) At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: "When the Paraclete cometh, whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceedeth from the Father, he shall give testimony of me: and you shall give testimony, because you are with me from the beginning. These things have I spoken to you, that you may not be scandalized. They put you out of the synagogues: yea, the hour cometh, that whomsoever killeth you will think that he doth a service to God. And these things will they do to you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. But these things I have told you, that, when the hour shall come, you may remember that I told you." The Offertory of this Sunday describes to us the glories of Jesus's Ascension: 'God ascended in triumph, and the Lord at the sound of the trumpet, alleluia.' Holy Church wishes to impress the thought of this triumph well upon us, that our hearts may be fixed on the fact that Jesus awaits us.
While offering to God the bread and wine, which are soon to be changed into the Body and Blood of Christ, the Church, in the Secret, prays that we may not only be made pure by our contact with these divine mysteries, but may also receive the vigor and energy which are so indispensably needed by every Christian. 'May these unspotted sacrifices purify us O Lord, and invigorate our souls with heavenly grace.'
Remember, there is but one God, who has created and governs all things; that God is a just judge, who rewards the good and punishes the wicked; that there are in the Deity three persons; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; that the Son of God became man for love of us, taught us, and by His death on the cross redeemed us; that the Holy Ghost sanctifies us by His grace, without which we cannot become virtuous or be saved; that man's soul is immortal.
Come, Holy Ghost, into our hearts; teach us what we need to know and save us.
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