Catholic Mass Readings and Reflection June 01, 2025

01st June 2025 (Sunday)

Psalter: Proper

Readings of the Day

First Reading: Acts 1:1-11

In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. And while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “you heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Psalm 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9 (R. 6)

R/. God goes up with shouts of joy. The Lord goes up with trumpet blast. Or: Alleluia.

Second Reading: Hebrews 9:24-28; 10:19-23

For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

Gospel Acclamation

V/. Alleluia

R/. Alleluia

V/. Go and make disciples of all nations, says the Lord; I am with you always, to the end of the age.

R/. Alleluia

Gospel: Luke 24:46-53

At that time; Jesus said to his disciples,“Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. 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.” And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God.

Daily Gospel Reflection

Sunday – Ascension of the Lord

Main Point: We celebrate today Jesus’ ascension to heaven. Ascension is not just the end of Jesus’ earthly presence. It is not just getting back his glory in heaven. The purpose is not to demonstrate to the disciples about his greatness. It is also not to prove to all that he is glorious. Rather ascension is the point of completion and fulfillment of Jesus’ mission on earth as a human person.

1. Ascension marks the end of the post- resurrection preparation of the disciples for their life and mission. It is a special time to prepare to live and do without Jesus’ physical presence. Yes, the duration between his resurrection and ascension is not a period of suspension. Rather it is a time of intense preparation of the disciples.

2. The risen Lord appears to them, continues to teach them, illumine them, guide them, strengthen, and confirm them in their faith and mission. It was a preparation to meet the future in his physical absence. How the future will be without Jesus? How they have to live and do their mission? These are crucial and disturbing questions.

3. Here we highlight three essential aspects of ascension. They are namely, confirmation, assurance and assignment. Primarily ascension is a confirmation. Ascension confirms our faith that our Lord is Lord of heaven. He is seated at the right hand of the Father He is able to sympathize with us. He intercedes for us, and sustains us from heaven.

4. It Confirms that heaven is the original abode of Jesus. It gives the Confirmation that Jesus is in eternal communion with the Father and the Spirit. Confirmation that Jesus resumes his original abode, his original glory, his original identity, his original communion. He is not gaining anything new, anything that is not his. He is regaining what is his own.

5. In fact ascension is truly restoration. Jesus attests: “As I came from the Father and have come into the world, so I am leaving the world and going to the Father” (Jn 16. 28). God the Father restores to Jesus his original glory. Jesus accomplishes Father’s will and the mission entrusted to him. The Father is pleased with his fidelity, and so as sign of this holy pleasure and as an evidence of this victory over evil, God raises Jesus, and that is resurrection.

6. Thus resurrection is the authentic testimony that Jesus’ incarnation, life, passion and death are not futile, but are purposive and infinitely efficacious and meritorious. Thereafter ascension is a complete confirmation of this victory and glory. Jesus goes back to where he comes from. A vital chapter of his redemptive mission is over.

7. Then ascension is Assurance: assurance that we will not be left alone as he goes away from the earth. Assurance that he will never abandon us but will accompany us through the Holy Spirit. Assurance that our help will not be less with Jesus’ going away, but in fact will be much more. In heaven and from heaven, he is totally powerful, and he is not restricted and constrained by any human limitations and vicissitudes.

8. Therefore we should rejoice that Jesus ascended to heaven, rather than lament that he has left us, going away from earth. This is what Jesus makes clear to the disciples also: “it is better for you that I go away, because as long as I do not leave, the Helper will not come to you” (Jn 16. 7). So an assurance that Jesus’ presence, guidance and power will never cease. The Holy Spirit will continue the same presence, guidance and power of Jesus.

9. It is also an Assurance that our destiny and destination is also heaven, as Jesus assures the disciples in his farewell discourse, “you shall be with me where I am” (Jn 14. 3). Assurance that they and we will share the same glory, as Jesus prays in his farewell prayer: “Father, since you have given them to me, I want them to be with me where I am and see the Glory you gave me” (Jn 17. 24).

10. Further, there is also a summon, an assignment: It is a call to trust in a new kind of presence and power of God, and to live the spiritual presence and power, beyond the physical. We should go beyond our too much clinging to what is physical, direct, external and visible. We must learn to walk in a higher spiritual realm.

11. Thereby Ascension carries along an assignment to commit ourselves to attain the same destiny of ascension, i.e. residing in the same Glory. It is a commitment to a daily ascension. This consists in an incessant restoration, regaining our original identity and dignity. Obtaining the heavenly glory is not acquiring something new which is not there. It is not a novel creation or a grand invention or acquisition. Rather it is a discovery, a recapturing, a regain of what is already there.

My Practice: Ascension is a commitment to become what we already are: to daily “ascend” to our real higher self, our true identity of being God’s own images, the children of God, disciples and friends of Christ, abodes of the Holy Spirit and the heirs of heaven.