The solemnity of the Lord's Ascension

Our Sunday gospel today talks about the Appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ to his Disciples, which is the last time he met with them on Mt. Tabor, hence it is called Ascension Sunday. This is found in Luke 24: 46-53. Also today, the Catholic world celebrates World Communications Day.

[Jesus] said to [his disciples] “Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day 47 and be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And {behold} I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” 50 Then he led them {out} as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them and was taken to heaven. 52 They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and they were continually in the temple praising God.”

When a dying man makes his last message to his family, everyone makes it a point that the dying man’s wish should be granted. When our Lord Jesus Christ brought his disciples to Mt. Tabor, they had no inkling that Jesus was going to leave them for good… you might as well say that he eventually died, as they won’t see him bodily again. But then we already know that our Lord Jesus Christ suffered and already died on the cross and was raised on the 3rd day. Hence, his Ascension into heaven cannot be considered a death… however he still he left this earth to join his Father in heaven and sit at his rightful place on the throne of God.

So what was the Lord’s final request to his disciples? That as witnesses to the presence of the Messiah, the name of Jesus should be preached starting from Jerusalem and to all the nations of the earth. Our Lord Jesus Christ only started with 12 Apostles and one of them even turned against him. But this motley band of Apostles grew into numerous disciples. Originally they were first known as Nazoreans and eventually they were called Christians. Today, there are 33,000 plus Christian sects and only one Holy Roman Catholic Church with a billion members.

Yet strangely, very few Christians know much about our Lord Jesus Christ and more importantly few people know what his real message to the world is all about. I have met many Catholics who no longer believe in what our church preaches. And even those who will believe only if they see something like the dancing sun. Last Saturday, while I was in Sta. Fe beach in Bantayan Island, a lot of people texted me to see a halo around the sun, believing that it was some kind of message from God. I looked at the sun from where I was, but I saw nothing!

In short, we should be ashamed of being called Catholics if we cannot embrace Catholic teaching or doctrine, as we are merely Catholics in name. It is a fact that many Catholics become Born Again Christians and when they are accepted in that group, they turn around and debate with you and chastise you for being Catholic. The principal reason why these people moved to the other side is because; they were lousy Catholics to begin with. As St. Jerome said, “Ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ.”

Today the Catholic World has declared this Sunday as World Communications Day and the theme for this year is “The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World: New Media at the Service of the Word.” Call it a coincidence that this year has also been declared the Year for Priests. Again I would like to emphasize that the role of priests is to save souls.

In one of his last conversations with Simon Peter which you can read in John 21:1-19, our Lord Jesus asked Peter, “Do you Love me?” three times and Peter answered him yes three times also. But Jesus reply was, “Feed my lambs, tend my sheep and Feed my sheep.” This was Jesus way of forgiving Simon Peter for the three times he denied our Lord, while at the same time he was giving Simon Peter his life’s mission to save the souls of his lambs.

Perhaps as a message we ought to impart to our readers on World Communications Day, allow me to use one famous radio advertisement that says, “Listening is the beginning of understanding.” If you want to understand the doctrines of the Catholic Church, the perhaps it is time for you to stop talking with your friends during Sunday mass and start listening to the sermons of the priest… or you can join our group called the Sons of David, a group of men that hears Holy Mass every Monday at 7:00am in the morning at the Cebu Country Club where after breakfast you can even question the priest about his sermon. This is the only place in Cebu that you can do so.

Today we live in a digital world. You can even read the Bible in your laptop or you iPod. In short, you have no excuse not to hear the words of our Lord Jesus Christ through the gospel. While it is the duty of the priests to evangelize the word of God, we lay people are also called to our priestly duties, to also preach to all nations in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.