Daily Gospel for Thursday, 29 May 2014

Daily Gospel for Thursday, 29 May 2014
"Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.'"(John 6:68)
The Ascension of the Lord - Solemnity - Year A 

Feast of the Church: Ascension of Jesus Christ, solemnity

Ascension of Jesus Christ  Solemnity

No one has ever ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven "Today our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven; let our hearts ascend with him.
Listen to the words of the Apostle: If you have risen with Christ, set your hearts on the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; seek the things that are above, not the things that are on earth. For just as he remained with us even after his ascension, so we too are already in heaven with him, even though what is promised us has not yet been fulfilled in our bodies. 
Christ is now exalted above the heavens, but he still suffers on earth all the pain that we, the members of his body, have to bear. He showed this when he cried out from above: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? and when he said: I was hungry and you gave me food. Why do we on earth not strive to find rest with him in heaven even now, through the faith, hope and love that unites us to him?   While in heaven he is also with us; and we while on earth are with him. He is here with us by his divinity, his power and his love. 
We cannot be in heaven, as he is on earth, by divinity, but in him, we can be there by love.  He did not leave heaven when he came down to us; nor did he withdraw from us when he went up again into heaven. The fact that he was in heaven even while he was on earth is borne out by his own statement: No one has ever ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven. These words are explained by our oneness with Christ, for he is our head and we are his body. No one ascended into heaven except Christ because we also are Christ: he is the Son of Man by his union with us, and we by our union with him are sons of God.  
So the Apostle says: Just as the human body, which has many members, is a unity, because all the different members make one body, so is it also with Christ. He too has many members, but one body. Out of compassion for us he descended from heaven, and although he ascended alone, we also ascend, because we are in him by grace. Thus, no one but Christ descended and no one but Christ ascended; not because there is no distinction between the head and the body, but because the body as a unity cannot be separated from the head."  
From a sermon by Saint Augustine, bishop (Sermo de Ascensione Domini, Mai 98, 1-7: PLS 2, 429-495)

Prayer

God our Father,   

make us joyful in the ascension of your Son Jesus Christ.   

May we follow him into the new creation   

for his ascension is our glory and our hope.   

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,   

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,   

one God, for ever and ever.      

Prepared by the Spiritual Theology Department of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross(Saint Augustine)

Saints of the day:

M. Orsola (Giulia) Ledóchowska 

Religious

(1865-1939)

"If only I knew how to love, to burn and consume oneself in love" - so the 24 year old Giulia Ledóchowska wrote before taking religious vows, novice in the Ursuline convent of Krakow. On the day of the religious profession she took the name 'Maria Ursula of Jesus', and the words stated above became the guide lines of her entire life. In her mothers' family (of Swiss nationality and of the dynasty of the Salis), as well as in her fathers' (an old Polish family) there were many politicians, military men, ecclesiastics and consecrated people, who were involved in the history of Europe and of the Church. She was raised in a family of numerous brothers and sisters where affectionate and disciplined love was dominant. The first three children, including M. Ursula, chose the consecrated life: Maria Teresa (beatified in 1975) founded the future 'Society of S. Peter Claver' and the younger brother Vladimiro became the general Preposito of the Jesuits.
M. Ursula lived in the convent at Krakow for 21 years. Her love for the Lord, her educational talent and sensibility towards the needs of youngsters in the changing social, political and moral conditions of those times put her at the centre of attention. When women earned the right to study in Universities, she succeeded in organising the first boarding-house in Poland for female students where they not only found a safe place to live and study, but also received a solid religious preparation. This passion, together with the blessing of Pope Pio X, gave her the strength to move into the heart of Russia which was hostile towards the Church. When, in civilian dress, she left with another Sister for Petersburg (where religious life was prohibited) she did not know that she was headed towards an unknown destination and that the Holy Spirit would lead her upon roads she had not foreseen. 
In Petersburg the Mother with the steadily growing community of nuns (soon established as an autonomous structure of the Ursulines) lived secretly, and even though under constant surveillance by the secret police, they brought forward an intense educational and religious project which was also directed towards the encouragement of relationships between Polish and Russians.
When war broke out starts in 1914, M. Ursula had to leave Russia. She headed for Stockholm and during her Scandinavian travels (Sweden, Denmark, Norway) her activity concentrated not only on education, but also on the life of the local Church, on giving aid to the war victims and on ecumenical work. The house where she lived with her nuns became a point of reference for people of different political and religious orientation. Her strong love for her country was the same as her tolerance towards 'diversity' and towards others. Once asked to speak of her political orientation, she promptly answered 'My policy is love'.
In 1920 M. Ursula, her sisters and a vast number of orphan children of immigrants returned to Poland. The Apostolic Headquarters transforms its autonomous convent of the 'Ursulines of the Sacred Agonising Heart of Jesus' The spirituality of the congregation is concentrated on the contemplation of the salvific love of Christ and participation in His mission by means of educational projects and service to others, particularly to the suffering, the lonely and the abandoned who were searching for the meaning of life. M. Ursula educated her sisters to love God above everything else and to find God in every human being and in all Creation. She gave a particularly credible testimony to the personal bond with Christ and to being an efficient instrument of both Evangelical and educational influence by means of her smile and serenity of soul. Her humility and capacity to live the ordinary everyday routine as a privileged road towards holiness made her a clear example of this life style. 
The congregation developed quickly. The communities of the Ursuline nuns in Poland and on the eastern frontiers of the country which were poor, multinational and multi-confessional were established. In 1928 the Generalate was established in Rome along with a boarding-house for girls who were economically less well-off, in order to give them the possibility to come into contact with the spiritual and religious richness of the heart of the Church and of European civilisation. The Sisters began to work in the poor suburbs of Rome. In 1930 the nuns accompanied girls in search of work and established themselves in France. Wherever possible M.Ursula founded educational and instructional work centres. She sent the nuns to Catechise and to work in the poor parts of town. She wrote books and articles for children and youngsters.
She initiated and sustained ecclesiastical organisations for children (Eucharistic Movement), for youngsters and for women. She actively participated in the life of the Church and State thus receiving great acknowledgement and decorations from both the State and the Church. When her laborious and not easy life came to an end in Rome on May 29, 1939, people said of her: "She died a saint".
John Paul II beatified M. Ursula on June 20, 1983 in Poznan and canonized her on May 18, 2003 at Rome. - Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Saint Raymond and companions

Feastday: August 31

Raymond was born at Portella, Catalonia, Spain. He was delivered by caesarean operation when his mother died in childbirth. Hence his name non natus (not born). He joined the Mercedarians under St. Peter Nolasco at Barcelona. He succeeded Peter as chief ransomer and went to Algeria to ransom slaves. He remained as hostage for several slaves when his money ran out and was sentenced to be impaled when the governor learned that he had converted several Mohammedans. He escaped the death sentence because of the ransom he would bring, but was forced to run the gauntlet. He was then tortured for continuing his evangelizing activities but was ransomed eight months later by Peter Nolasco. On his return to Barcelona in 1239, he was appointed Cardinal by Pope Gregory IX, but died at Cardona a short distance from Barcelona the next year while on the way to Rome. He was canonized in 1657. He is the patron saint of expectant mothers and midwives because of the nature of his own birth. Although his mother died in labor, Raymond miraculously survived the ordeal. His feast day is August 31.
The Ascension of the Lord - Solemnity - Year A
Acts of the Apostles 1:1 The first book I wrote, Theophilus, concerned all that Jesus began both to do and to teach, 2 until the day in which he was received up, after he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. 3 To these he also showed himself alive after he suffered, by many proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking about God’s Kingdom. 4 Being assembled together with them, he commanded them, “Don’t depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which you heard from me. 5 For John indeed baptized in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
6 Therefore when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you now restoring the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them, “It isn’t for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.”
9 When he had said these things, as they were looking, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. 10 While they were looking steadfastly into the sky as he went, behold,[a] two men stood by them in white clothing, 11 who also said, “You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who was received up from you into the sky will come back in the same way as you saw him going into the sky.”
Footnotes:
a. Acts 1:10 “Behold”, from “ἰδοὺ”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.
Psalm 47:2 For Yahweh Most High is awesome.
    He is a great King over all the earth.
3 He subdues nations under us,
    and peoples under our feet.
6 Sing praise to God, sing praises.
    Sing praises to our King, sing praises.
7 For God is the King of all the earth.
    Sing praises with understanding.
8 God reigns over the nations.
    God sits on his holy throne.
9 The princes of the peoples are gathered together,
the people of the God of Abraham.
    For the shields of the earth belong to God.
    He is greatly exalted!
Letter to the Ephesians 1:17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; 18 having the eyes of your hearts[a] enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might 20 which he worked in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come. 22 He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things for the assembly, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Footnotes:
a. Ephesians 1:18 TR reads “understanding” instead of “hearts”
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 28:16 But the eleven disciples went into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had sent them. 17 When they saw him, they bowed down to him, but some doubted. 18 Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go,[a] and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 28:19 TR and NU add “therefore”
The Ascension of the Lord - Solemnity - Year A
Commentary of the Day:

Saint Romanos Melodios (?-c.560), composer of hymns 

Hymn 48, The Ascension, 2-4, 7-8 ; SC 283 

" I am with you always, until the end of the age"

He who came down to earth – he alone knows how – at the moment of leaving it – how? - he alone knows - took with him those he loved and led them up a mountain... to raise up their heads and hearts... Stretching out his wings, the Lord covered thus, like an eagle, the nest he tenderly sheltered (Dt 32,11) and said to his little ones: “I have sheltered you in my shadow against all harm (Ps 90[91],1): love me as I have loved you. I will never leave you; I am with you; and no one will stand against you” (cf Mt 28,20; Rm 8,31)… 
The Lord caused great grief to his apostles by these words. Perhaps they even wept and said...: “Are you leaving us? Are you going away from those who love you?... This is what causes us great sorrow because our desire is to be with you. We seek your face...; there is no other God but you (Ps 26[27],8; Is 45,5). Go not far from those who love you but remain with us and say to us: 'I am not leaving you: I am with you and no one will stand against you...'” 
The Lord, seeing the cries of those whom he loved, supported them like a father his children...: “Friends, do not cry; this is not the time for tears... This is my hour of joy: to go to my Father 'I take wings and I will dwell' in my tent (Ps 138[139],9). For I have made a tent from the firmament of heaven..., as Isaiah says: 'He stretches out the heavens like a vault and like a tent to dwell in' (Is 40,22) the God who says to his own: 'I will not leave you: I am with you and no one will stand against you.'” 
“Be glad and radiant, put on a joyful countenance, 'sing a new song' Ps 97[98],1), since all that is about to happen is happening for your sake. For love of you I have descended here and to give you pleasure and be received by you I have gone from place to place. It is for love of you again that I ascend again to heaven so as to make ready the place where I am to be with you: for “in my Father's house are many dwelling places” (Jn 14,2)... Therefore I am going to prepare a dwelling for you and take you there. I am not leaving you: I am with you and no one will stand against you.

-------