Mark 16: 15-20
And Jesus said to the disciples:
“Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Like Jesus
Jesus is like us in all things but sin. He was born like us, was breastfed like us, and was burped like us. He experienced from birth all our human needs. He lived and died like us.
It is also true that we are like him in all things, sin alone excepted. We celebrate his rising from the dead, yet we also profess belief in the resurrection of the body – our own body – and life everlasting.
Today we celebrate the ascension of Jesus into heaven and his being seated at the right hand of the Father. At the same time, we celebrate our own ascension into heaven where we, too, will take our rightful place beside the Father and the Son.
In other words, today we celebrate not only the ascension of Jesus but our ascension. Oh, happy day!
—Fr. Dick Hadel, SJ, is a member of a community of senior Jesuits at Saint Ignatius Hall in Black Jack, Missouri. He gives spiritual direction and hears confessions for individuals and groups.
Prayer
What have I done for Christ?
What am I doing for Christ?
What should I do for Christ?
—A reflection from the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola
Pray with the Pope
The Holy Father’s Monthly Prayer Intentions Brought to you by Apostleship of Prayer the first Friday of each month.