First Reading Commentary
Saint
Luke is the author of the Acts of the Apostles; and so, when he begins this
book with the words, “In the first book,”
he is referring to the Gospel of Luke.
Theophilus is probably someone that Luke knew
personally but the name “Theophilus” means, “friend of God” or “one who loves
God” which may suggest that Luke intended this book to be read by all the
faithful.
“After
giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom He had chosen”; these words can be difficult to
comprehend but the most accepted explanation among scholars is that Christ
formed the Church; and He set up a governing authority to run that Church; and
the decisions that would be made by the governing authority would be under the
guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Scripture text suggests that Christ
was still present in bodily form when giving these instructions; but the understanding is that after
Christ’s Ascension into heaven, these instructions would still be given to the
apostles through the Holy Spirit.
“He
presented Himself alive to them by many proofs after He had suffered”; skeptics
of Christ’s Resurrection have asked why He appeared to only a few and not the
masses. When Jesus appeared to His
apostles, they were terrified and were made to touch His Wounds to confirm what
their eyes were seeing. If those who
were closest to Jesus were terrified, how much more affected would everyone
else have been? The miracles that were
done through the hands of the apostles are proof of the Resurrection.
“While
meeting with them”; in the literal translation from the Latin Vulgate the words
are, “And eating with them.”
“In
a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit” which refers to
Pentecost, the day that the apostles would be sanctified with plentiful graces.
“Lord,
are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” This question shows that some of the apostles
still had thoughts of a temporal kingdom.
Jesus quickly dismisses these thoughts and turns their attention to
their ministry as witnesses of His
teachings.
He
was lifted up or literally He lifted Himself up. “Suddenly two men dressed in white garments
stood beside them”; these men were angels of God.
“This
Jesus Who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as
you have seen Him going into heaven.” Saint John Chrysostom explains that the
word “going” suggests that Christ ascended by His own power and by His own
power He will return to judge the world.
Saint Augustine’s homily on the Ascension opens with the words: “Today
Jesus Christ our Lord went up to heaven; let our hearts go up with Him.” What he meant by this was to obey the command
of Saint Paul when he exhorts us to seek the things that are above where Christ
is and not the things of this world.
A
cloud took Jesus from the sight of the apostles and today we still have that
cloud, the veil of bread and wine which prevents us from seeing Him as He
is. The angels assure the apostles that
Jesus will return but they discourage them from continuing to look into the sky
because now the torch has been passed to them.
Jesus has now left His work, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to
His Church.
Second Reading Commentary
This
Reading can be difficult to follow. Most
of it is intended to be a blessing much in the same manner that a priest
nearing the end of Mass would say, “Bow your heads and pray for God’s
blessing.” In this blessing, we bow our
heads and pray that we will be given the Spirit of wisdom to know Jesus and be
Jesus for others and also be able to recognize Jesus in others. We also pray for the faith to know the
greatness of His power and that through Him all things are possible because
Jesus is far above every principality, authority, power, and dominion, and
every name that is named not only in this age but also in the one to come. Jesus is the Head over all things.
Gospel Commentary
“Whoever
believes” to which Saint Gregory explains that belief or faith must be
supported by good works for that only is true faith.
“So
then the Lord Jesus, after He spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and took His
seat at the right Hand of God”; this verse is written in such a way that it can
be understood by the human senses. God
the Father is pure Spirit Who does not have a right Hand or any bodily
shape. The real Image of God is beyond
our understanding. The message here is
that Jesus was raised to the height of glory, where nothing is higher, nothing
is greater and He has, with the Father, equal authority over the universe
because Jesus is not only true Man but also true God.
“They
went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and
confirmed the word through accompanying signs”; this final verse not only shows
the works performed by the apostles but it is also intended to be an example to
exhort us to do good works.
Interestingly, this Gospel
text was actually missing from Mark’s Gospel.
The original concluded with the empty tomb. It may have been added to bear witness to
Christ’s Ascension; however, another school of thought is that this ending was
part of the original Gospel but transcribers left it out because the pages were
either mutilated or missing.
