Allocution Sunday, May 16, Sunday of the Ascension of the Lord

Thank you to everyone who makes this radio broadcast possible, today, Sunday, May 16, Ascension Sunday and ascension to heaven of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

In all the Catholic churches of the world, as the first reading of the mass, we listen to chapter 1, verses 1 to 11 of the Book of Acts of the apostles.

(GOSPEL)

The evangelist Saint Luke, in his first book of the gospel, has narrated to us the life of Jesus. Born in Bethlehem of the Virgin Mary, adored by shepherds and kings, cared for by the Virgin and Saint Joseph, preacher of the Good News of God’s love, comforter of the afflicted, Teacher of God’s truth to the people, works miracles, heals sick, forgives sinners, celebrates the Passover Dinner with his apostles, is arrested, insulted, scourged, crowned with thorns, crucified and resurrects on the third day and promises the coming of the Holy Spirit to his Church and returns to the House of God Father in heaven.

He leaves a mission to his followers, which the gospel of Saint Mark 16, 15-20 tells us.

(GOSPEL)

Each of us followers of Christ have been asked to go and preach the Gospel. There are many Christians who have gone to the ends of the world. But each one of us is asked to go to those we love, to go to those around us: to go to children, grandchildren, relatives, friends and talk to them about Jesus Christ, his gospel, his teachings. Tell them what we have lived, felt and experienced in the Church, in prayer, in mass.

Those we love see what it means for us to believe in Christ, to live like Christ. For every Christian it is a joy and a joy to contemplate how those around us draw closer to Christ, are captivated by Christ, live like Christ. So, we are preaching the gospel.

In our teaching and preaching we will encounter difficulties, rejection, indifference, ridicule… But the promised Holy Spirit will fill us with strength and perseverance.

And we hope one day, after we have lived like Christ, to be with Him in the house of heaven along with all our family and friends.

(SINGING)

One of the highlights of a relay race in the Olympics is when one runner passes the baton to another.

Many races have been won or lost at that time more than any other. The passing of the baton is a good image of the Ascension of Jesus. The Lord gives us the baton of his kingdom, of his Church. He has passed on to us the responsibility of making the gospel, love, present in our homes, neighborhoods, and churches. And each of us is called to pass this responsibility on to our children and grandchildren.

The Italian composer Giacomo Puccini suffered from cancer while working on his last opera titled Tirandot. He told his students: “If I don’t finish it, finish it for me.” Shortly afterward he died. His students fulfilled his wish. In 1926, Arturo Toscanini conducted the premiere of the opera in the city of Milan. When the opera reached the point at which Puccini did not continue, his disciple Toscanini stopped, turned to the audience and said: “The Master wrote up to this point and then he died.” A reverent silence filled the theater. Then Toscanini raised the baton again, smiled through tears and said: “But we, his disciples, finished his opera.” At the end, those in attendance broke into loud and long applause.

How prepared and willing am I to continue the mission that Jesus Christ has left me to finish his work?

(SINGING)

Our families, our churches, our friendships, need more people who work, and fewer who disapprove. More doers and less talkers; more individuals who say “it can be done,” and fewer who reply “impossible to do.” More entertainers who inspire others with confidence, and fewer whose job it is to discourage those who try to do something good. More brave people who dive into the depths of the problem and do something to solve it, and fewer counselors who meet to find fault in everything. More friends who tell us what is right; and fewer criticizers who judge us for what is wrong. More people who light a spark in the darkness and fewer who are content to curse the darkness.

(SINGING)

Pope Saint Paul VI tells us about the joy of this Easter season:

• It is a demand of love for the Church to invite them to participate in this superabundant joy that is a gift of the Holy Spirit.
• May joy spread in hearts together with the love from which it springs, through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
• God disposes the intelligence and heart of his creature – even before manifesting himself personally through revelation – to find joy.
• Man experiences joy when he is in harmony with nature, and above all he experiences it in encounter and communion with others.
• Man knows joy when his spirit comes into possession of God, known and loved as the supreme and immutable good.

Poets, artists, thinkers, men and women simply available to a certain inner light, could, before the coming of Christ, and can in our days, experience in some way the joy of God. We cannot forget the primordial duty of love for our neighbor, without which it would be inappropriate to talk about joy. The creator puts multiple human joys on our path: The exalting joy of existence and life; the exalting joy of sanctified love; the joy of nature and silence; the joy of work; the joy of duty accomplished; the transparent joy of purity, of service, of knowing how to share; the demanding joy of sacrifice.

(SINGING)

Today we pray with Pope Francis and those present, from Saint Mary’s Cathedral, in Australia, for the end of the pandemic and for the victims of violence and human trafficking.

I pray: God save you, Mary…

(SINGING)

Next Sunday, May 23, we celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. We celebrate the continuous and perennial coming of the Holy Spirit on the Church. We pray intensely that he will give us his strength to fulfill the mission that the Lord Jesus has entrusted to us.

All these days we can pray:

Come Divine Spirit,

send your light from Heaven.

Loving father of the poor,

gift in your splendid gifts.

Light that penetrates the souls,

source of greatest comfort.

Come, sweet guest of the soul,

rest from our effort.

Truce in the hard work,

breezes in the hours of fire.

Joy that wipes away tears

and comforts in duels.

Enter to the depths of the soul

divine light and enrich us.

See the emptiness of the soul

if you are missing inside.

See the power of sin

when you don’t send your breath.

Water the land in drought,

the sick heart grays.

Wash stains.

Infuses warmth of life into the ice.

Tame the untamed spirit.

Guide him who bends the path.

Distribute your seven gifts

according to the faith of your servants.

For your goodness and your grace,

give the effort its merit.

Save the one who seeks to save himself

and give us your eternal joy.

Amen.

(SINGING)

We join Christ, the Son of God made man, the Crucified, the Risen One, the one who is in the glory of God the Father and sends us his Holy Spirit in spiritual communion.

(SINGING)

The blessing of God the Father, who created us to constitute a beautiful and beautiful family; the blessing of Jesus Christ, who accompanies us in joys and sorrows; May the blessing of the Holy Spirit, who can achieve our dreams, descend upon the sick, upon those who try to heal the sick, and upon all our families. Amen

(SINGING)