May 12, 2024

Ascension of the Lord

Read this week's bulletin to see the latest from St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church.

Dear Parish Family,

Today we celebrate the Mystery of the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven. We know from the scriptures that Jesus appeared to the apostles and other disciples for 40 days after the Resurrection. If you calculate it, the Ascension should have been celebrated this past Thursday. Some years ago, many of the bishops of the United States decided to permanently move the feast of the Ascension to the following Sunday (today). This is so that the greatest number of people would participate in this great solemnity, even if we skew the timeline a bit.

The Ascension is a mystery that is often overlooked, but its importance cannot be overstated! When Jesus ascended, he took our humanity into the heart of the Trinity! As I like to say, at the center of the Godhood – the communion of Divine Persons that is the Holy Trinity – there is a beating human heart! This is what makes Christianity utterly unique and, I believe, compelling. Through the mystery of Jesus’ Incarnation, his Passion, Death and Resurrection, and his Ascension, humanity has been wed to the divine. The entire movement of Jesus from Heaven to earth, and then back to Heaven, reveals the cycle that we are all are meant to go through. We come from God and we return to God – in our humanity!

I recommended a book last week, and I would like to recommend another one for you this week! Jean Corbon was a priest in Lebanon in the 20th century. He was entrusted with the noble task of being the primary composer  of the fourth part of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. He wrote a book in the 1980s that has become a quiet classic. It is this book that I want to highly recommend: The Wellspring of All Worship. This book will help to give a good sense of what the liturgy is all about. But one point that he makes in the book is that we need to not lose sight of the Mystery of the Ascension, as this really completes the Paschal Mystery of Christ that we encounter and celebrate every time we come to Mass.

So, you’ve got your summer reading! As always, know that I pray for you daily. God bless you!

-Fr. Kennell

Bulletin