INSTRUCTION
ON THE FESTIVAL OF THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD
By
Rev. Fr. Leonard Goffine
At
the Introit the Church sings the words which were spoken by the
angels to the apostles and disciples, after the Ascension of our
Lord:
INTROIT:
Listen to the Introit Ye men of Galilee, why wonder you, looking up to heaven?
allel.: He shall so come as you have seen him going up into heaven.
Allel., allel., allel. (Acts I. 11.), Oh, clap your hands, all ye
nations; shout unto God with the voice of joy. (Ps. XLVI. 2.) Glory
be to the Father, etc.
COLLECT:
Grant, we beseech Thee, O Almighty God, that we who believe Thy
only-begotten Son, our Redeemer, to have this day ascended into the
heavens, may ourselves also in, mind dwell amid heavenly things.
Through the same etc.
LESSON:
(Acts I. 1-11.) The former treatise I made, O Theophilus, of all
things which Jesus began to do and to teach , until the day on which,
giving commandments by the Holy Ghost to the apostles ,whom he had
chosen, he was taken up: to whom also he showed himself alive after
his passion, by many proofs, for forty days appearing to them, and
speaking of the kingdom of God. And eating together with them, he
commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but should
wait for the promise of the Father, which you have heard (saith he)
by my mouth: for John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be
baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence. They, therefore,
who were come together, asked him, saying: Lord, wilt thou at this
time restore the kingdom to Israel? But he said to diem: It is not
for you to know the times or moments which the Father hath put in his
own power; but you shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming
upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all
Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth. And
when he had said these things, while they looked on, he was raised
up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they were
beholding him going up to heaven, behold, two men stood by them in
white garments, who also said: Ye men of Galilee, why stand yon
looking up to heaven? This Jesus who is taken up from you into
heaven, shall so come, as you have seen him going into heaven.
EXPLANATION:
This gospel of St. Luke addressed to Theophilus, a Christian
of note in Antioch, contains an account of the life, sufferings, and
death of Jesus up to the time of His ascension into heaven. The
Evangelist continues his account in the Acts of the apostles, in
which he describes in simple words that which Jesus did during the
forty days following His Resurrection, and the manner in which He
ascended into heaven in the presence of His apostles. Rejoice that
Christ today has entered into the glory gained by His sufferings and
death, and pray: I rejoice, O King of heaven and earth, in the glory
Thou bast this day attained in heaven. Sing to God, ye kingdoms of
the earth: sing ye to the Lord: sing ye to God, who mounteth above
the heaven of heavens to the east. Give ye glory to God for Israel,
his magnificence and his power is in the clouds. God is wonderful in
his saints, the God of Israel is he who will give power and strength
to his people, blessed be God. (Ps.LXVII. 33-36.)
GOSPEL:
(Mark. XVI. 14-20.) At that time, Jesus appeared to the eleven as
they were at table: and he upbraided them with their incredulity and
hardness of heart, because they did not believe them who had seen him
after he was risen again. (And he said to them: Go ye into the whole
world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be
condemned: And these signs shall follow them that believe. In my name
they shall cast out devils: they shall speak with new tongues; they
shall take up serpents: and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it
shall not hurt them: they shall lay their hands upon the sick; and
they shall recover.) And the Lord Jesus after he had spoken to them,
was taken up into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God. But
they going forth preached everywhere, the Lord working withal, and
confirming the word with signs that followed.
The
part of this gospel which is within the marks of parenthesis, is the
gospel for the feast of St: Francis Xavier.
Why
did Christ say to His apostles: Go ye into the whole world and preach
the gospel to all creatures?
To
show that no one is to assume the office of preaching, but must look
for his mission from the lawful pastors of the Church. And when
Christ sends His apostles into the whole worlds to all nations
without exception, He shows His willingness to save all men. If the
designs of God are not fulfilled, the blame is not to be attributed
to God, but to man, who either does not accept the doctrine of the
gospel, or accepting, does not live in accordance with it, or else
renders himself by his obduracy in vice, unworthy of the gospel.
Is
faith without good works sufficient for salvation?
No,
faith that is not active in love, not fruitful in good works, and
therefore not meritorious, (Gal. V. 6.) is not sufficient for
salvation. "Such faith," says St. Anselm, "is not the
faith of a Christian, but the faith of the devil." Only he who
truly believes in Christ and His doctrine, and lives in accordance
with it, will be saved.
Is
ours then the true faith since all the faithful do not work miracles;
as Christ has predicted?
St.
Gregory very beautifully replies to this question: "Because the
Redeemer said that true faith would be accompanied by miracles, you
must not think that you have not the faith, because these signs do
not follow; these miracles had to be wrought in the beginning of the
Church, because faith in her had to be increased by these visible
signs of divine power." And even now when such signs are
necessary for the propagation of the faith, and victory over
unbelief, God gives His faithful power to work them.
Are
miracles wrought now in the Catholic Church?
Yes,
for there have been at all times saints in the Church, who, as seen
from their lives, have wrought miracles, on account of their faith,
which even the heretics cannot deny; for instance St. Francis Xavier,
who in the sight of the heathens, raised several dead persons to
life. In a spiritual manner all pious Catholics still work such
miracles; for, as St. Chrysostom says, "they expel devils when
they banish sin, which is worse than the devil; they speak new
tongues when they converse no longer on vain and sinful things, but
on those which are spiritual and heavenly." "They take up
serpents," says St. Gregory, "when by zealous exhortations
they lift others from the shame of vice, without being themselves
poisoned; they drink deadly things without being hurt by them, when
they hear improper conversation without being corrupted or led to
evil; they lay their hands upon the sick and heal them, when they
teach the ignorant, strengthen by their good example those who are
wavering in virtue, keep the sinner from evil, and similar things."
Strive to do this upon all occasions, O Christian, for God willingly
gives you His grace and you will thus be of more use to yourself and
others, and honor God more than by working the greatest miracles.
Where
and how did Christ ascend into heaven?
From
Mount Olivet where His sufferings began, by which we learn, that
where our crosses and afflictions begin which we endure with patience
and resignation, there begins our reward. Christ ascended into heaven
by His own power, because He is God, and now in His glorified
humanity He sits at the right hand of His Father, as our continual
Mediator.
In
whose presence did Christ ascend into heaven?
In
the presence of His apostles, and many of His disciples, whom He had
previously blessed, (Luke XXIV. 51.) and who, as St. Leo says,
derived consoling joy from His ascension. Rejoice, also, O Christian
foul, for Christ has today opened heaven for you, and you may enter
it, if you believe in Christ, and live in accordance with that faith.
St. Augustine says: "Let us ascend in spirit with Christ, that
when His day comes, we may follow with our body.
Yet
you must know, beloved brethren, that not pride, nor avarice, nor
impurity, nor any other vice ascends with Christ; for with the
teacher of humility pride ascends not, nor with the author of
goodness, malice, nor with the Son of the Virgin, impurity. Let us
then ascend with Him by trampling upon our vices and evil
inclinations, thus building a ladder by which we can ascend; for we
make a ladder of our sins to heaven when we tread them down in
combating them:"
ASPIRATION:
O King of glory! O powerful Lord! who hast this day ascended
victoriously, above all heaven, leave us not as poor orphans; but
send us, from the Father, the Spirit of truth whom Thou hast
promised. Alleluia.
Why
is the paschal candle extinguished after the gospel on this day?
To
signify that Christ, of whom the candle is a figure, has gone from
His disciples.
INSTRUCTION ON MIRACLES
And
these signs shall follow them that believe.(Mark XVI. 17.)
What
is a miracle?
A
miracle, as defined by St. Thomas of Aquin, is any-thing beyond the
ordinary, fixed state of things that is done through God. Thus when
the sun stands still in his course, when thousands are fed with five
loaves and two small fishes, when by a word or simple touch the dead
are raised to life, the blind see, and the deaf hear, these are
things contrary to nature, and are miracles which can only be
performed by God or those persons to whom God has given the power.
That
God can work miracles, cannot be denied. God has made the laws of
nature, and at any time it pleases Him, He can suddenly suspend them,
and that God has at times done so, we have more solid and undeniable
proofs, than we have for the most renowned and best authenticated
facts of history, far more witnesses testify to miracles, the whole
world has believed them, and been converted by them; more than eleven
millions of martyrs have died to confirm and maintain their truth; no
one gives up his life for lies and deceptions; the Jews and pagans
have admitted them, but ascribed them to witchcraft and the power of
demons rather than to God; by this they proved and acknowledged the
truth of miracles, because in order to deny them, they were driven to
false and absurd explanation of them.
Can
men work miracles?
No;
only God works miracles through man to whom He gives the power. The
history of the Christian Church in all ages bears testimony, that men
have wrought miracles in the name of Jesus, as, for example, the
apostles and the saints.
Can
miracles be worked by the relics of saints, pictures, &e.?
The
Church, in the Council of Trent, solemnly declares, that we are never
to believe that there is in any picture or relic any hidden power by
which a miracle can, be worked, and that we are not to honor or ask
any such thing of them. Therefore no miracle can ever be worked by
them, but God can perform miracles through them, and He has done so,
as the holy Scriptures and the history of the Church of Christ both
prove. But when through certain pictures (usually called miraculous
pictures) miracles do take place, that no deception may occur, the
Church commands that such a picture shall not be exposed for the
veneration of the faithful, until the truth of the miracles performed
is by a rigorous examination established beyond doubt; she then
causes such pictures to be respectfully preserved as monuments of the
goodness and omnipotence of God.
Why
are there not so many miracles in our ties as there were in the first
days of the Church?
Because
the Church is no longer in need of such extraordinary testimony to
the truth of her teachings. Thus St. Augustine writes: "He who
in the face of the conversion of the world to Christianity demands
miracles, and strives to doubt those which have been wrought in favor
of this most wonderful change, is himself an astonishing miracle of
irrationality and stupidity;" and St. Chrysostom says: "The
question is sometimes asked: How happens it there are not so many
miracles now-a-days? The answer is, because the knowledge of Christ
is propagated all over the earth, and the Church is like a tree
which, having once taken deep root and grown to a certain height, no
longer needs to be carefully watered and supported."
