Reading I
Acts 1:1-11

In the first book, Theophilus,
I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught
until the day he was taken up,
after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit
to the apostles whom he had chosen.
He presented himself alive to them
by many proofs after he had suffered,
appearing to them during forty days
and speaking about the kingdom of God.
While meeting with them,
he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem,
but to wait for "the promise of the Father
about which you have heard me speak;
for John baptized with water,
but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit."

When they had gathered together they asked him,
"Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"
He answered them, "It is not for you to know the times or seasons
that the Father has established by his own authority.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
throughout Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth."
When he had said this, as they were looking on,
he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.
While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going,
suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.
They said, "Men of Galilee,
why are you standing there looking at the sky?
This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven
will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven."

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9

R. (6) God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
All you peoples, clap your hands,
shout to God with cries of gladness,
for the LORD, the Most High, the awesome,
is the great king over all the earth.
R. God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
God mounts his throne amid shouts of joy;
the LORD, amid trumpet blasts.
Sing praise to God, sing praise;
sing praise to our king, sing praise.
R. God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
For king of all the earth is God;
sing hymns of praise.
God reigns over the nations,
God sits upon his holy throne.
R. God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Reading II
Eph 1:17-23

Brothers and sisters:
May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation
resulting in knowledge of him.
May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened,
that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call,
what are the riches of glory
in his inheritance among the holy ones,
and what is the surpassing greatness of his power
for us who believe,
in accord with the exercise of his great might,
which he worked in Christ,
raising him from the dead
and seating him at his right hand in the heavens,
far above every principality, authority, power, and dominion,
and every name that is named
not only in this age but also in the one to come.
And he put all things beneath his feet
and gave him as head over all things to the church,
which is his body,
the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.

or

Eph 4:1-13

Brothers and sisters,
I, a prisoner for the Lord,
urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received,
with all humility and gentleness, with patience,
bearing with one another through love,
striving to preserve the unity of the spirit
through the bond of peace:
one body and one Spirit,
as you were also called to the one hope of your call;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
one God and Father of all,
who is over all and through all and in all.

But grace was given to each of us
according to the measure of Christ's gift.
Therefore, it says:
He ascended on high and took prisoners captive;
he gave gifts to men.
What does "he ascended" mean except that he also descended
into the lower regions of the earth?
The one who descended is also the one who ascended
far above all the heavens,
that he might fill all things.

And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets,
others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers,
to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry,
for building up the body of Christ,
until we all attain to the unity of faith
and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature to manhood,
to the extent of the full stature of Christ.


Gospel
Mk 16:15-20

Jesus said to his disciples:
"Go into the whole world
and proclaim the gospel to every creature.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;
whoever does not believe will be condemned.
These signs will accompany those who believe:
in my name they will drive out demons,
they will speak new languages.
They will pick up serpents with their hands,
and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.
They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."

So then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them,
was taken up into heaven
and took his seat at the right hand of God.
But they went forth and preached everywhere,
while the Lord worked with them
and confirmed the word through accompanying signs.

Commentary

The First Reading taken from the Chapter 1 of Acts is in whole an introduction to the entire book of Acts and establishes a connection between Jesus' time and the beginning of the Church.  The story of Acts begins right amid the retrospect on Jesus' story, without any formal introduction.  The main point that joins both Luke's Gospel and Acts is the Easter-Ascension sequence, but in Acts this is seen as a beginning rather than a conclusion as in the Gospel.  The fact that both stories overlap at the Easter narrative confirms that these are not two independent books telling separate stories, but two tightly meshed installments of on comprehensive history.

Jesus had prepared his apostles for their mission by instructing them during his lifetime.  He also appeared to them for some 40 days after his death and resurrection.  These 40 days seem like the same kind of round number as Jesus' forty days in the desert (Luke 4:1-2) and Moses 40 years in the desert (Exodus).  Luke also stresses that the risen Jesus gave the apostles convincing signs that he was alive after his death.  He appeared several times and continued teaching them about the Kingdom.  Since they both saw and heard the risen Jesus, they could be genuine witnesses to his resurrections while others had only hearsay knowledge.  Luke also underscores how Jesus gave new insights to his disciples (the same insight he would later give to Paul).  The same Holy Spirit who was with Jesus when he chose and instructed the apostles would be given to them.  For Luke, being "baptized by the Holy Spirit" is the way God's power is given to humans.  Receiving God's powerful Spirit far surpasses the effects of John's baptism, which had merely used water as a sign of repentance.  Usually in Acts, people receive the Holy Spirit when they are baptized as Christians, but at the very beginning of Christianity, God gave his Spirit to the apostles at Pentecost and to the Gentiles before anyone could give them Christian baptism with water and the Spirit.

In the Second Reading (Eph 1:17-23) the author, writing as Paul draws heavily upon the wording and ideas of the letter to the Colossians.  The author prays that the community will be given the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation which are to be found in God's knowledge (see Co 1:9, 26-28), the Spirit proceeding from the Father as in the language of the Hebrew Bible (Isa 11:2).  The revelation suggests the mystery of verse 9 which needs to be revealed.  The author prays that they will be illumined so that they may know three things:

                                    1.    What the hope of their calling is

                                    2.    What wealth of gloriousness God's inheritance among the holy ones is

                                    3.    What the immeasurable greatness of God's power is for those who believe

Drawing upon traditional creeds and hymns, the author concludes his "thanksgiving" with a brief summary of Christian belief.  The greatness of God's power is shown by the effect of God's strength exercised in Christ, when God raised Jesus from among the dead and seated him at God's right side in heaven.  There Christ reigns over all the cosmic forces and has a name exalted above all others.  God has placed all things in Christ's control and has made him the head of the church, which, as his body, completes his being.

Also, in option 2 of the Second Reading, the author gives instructions on the unity of the body and the diversity of gifts.  He exhorts the reader to lead a life worthy of the Christian calling and lists a series of virtues borrowed from Col 3:12-15 which they should practice.  Unity of the Spirit, however, is unique to Ephesians and reflects the author's greater interest in the role of the Spirit.  A series of "one" formulas are introduced to further describe the parts of the Christian calling:

                                    1.    "one body"            5.    "one faith"

                                    2.    "one Spirit"            6.    "one baptism"

                                    3.    "one hope"            7.    "one God"

                                    4.    "one Lord"

"One God" appears to be a Jewish formulation which has been incorporated into Christian teaching.  It consists of the additional designation of God as the "Father of all", plus the three prepositional phrases:  over, through, and in all.  This is a Stoic manner of speaking, taken up and transformed by Greek-speaking Jews and Christians.  Each individual in the one body of Christ has been given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift.  To give scriptural support that it is Christ who has given these gifts, the author quotes directly from Psalm 68:19.  By arguing that Christ's "ascent" required a previous "descent", the author seeks to show that the passage from this Psalm really refers to someone other than Moses.  This descent into the lower regions of the earth probably refers to Christ's victory over the realm of the dead (see 1 Peter 3:19-20), which prepared the way for his ascent high above the heavens as the cosmic conqueror of all.  Thus, Christ is the source of all gifts.

For the author of Ephesians, it is Christ who has given the leaders of the Church.  The list of leaders is similar to the one given by Paul in 1Cor 12:28, but the triad of apostles, prophets, and teachers is here interrupted by the additions of evangelists and pastors, roles that took on greater importance as the apostles died.  These are not just random examples but roles that are essential to the life of the Church.  Those who exercise them are responsible for equipping the holy ones for ministry, or service, and thus for the building up of Christ's body.  The goal is the future unity of everyone in faith and knowledge of the Son of God, the formation of a perfect, mature person, completely grown in the fullness of Christ.

Today's Gospel Reading is taken from one of the three "other endings" of Mark's Gospel.  Although virtually all of today's scholars of the Bible believe that Mark had a purpose in ending his Gospel abruptly at 16:8, this was not always the case.  Some first or second century Christians tried to "complete" the story by adding scenes that they though Mark should have added.  The first extra ending, called the Longer Ending (verses 9-20), includes appearances of the risen Jesus to Mary Magdalene and to the disciples.  The visions were meant to inspire the early missionary Church to "go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature".  Missionaries thus had nothing to fear, because the ascended Lord was with them in their preaching and would confirm their message with special signs of his protection and power: "they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages.  They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them.  They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."  The themes in these verses are unlike anything presented before in Mark's Gospel.

The so called Shorter Ending was another attempt of the early Church to end Mark's Gospel more smoothly.  It reverses the fear and silence of the women at the tomb and shows how the message of the resurrection came to be proclaimed through "Peter's companions."  Additionally, there is a third ending called the Freer Ending, preserved in the Freer Gallery in Washington, D.C.  It is a fifth century addition to the Longer Ending that excuses the disbelief and stubbornness of the disciples.  These endings are all absent from the best and earliest manuscripts available at the present time and in patristic times.  Although the Church has recognized these "added endings" as worthy of inclusion in the inspired text, none of them is as inspiring and involving as Mark's own, since his abrupt ending leaves it up to his readers to "complete" the Gospel in their lives.

Reflection

Shortly after my ordination in the year 2000 my pastor asked me to preach almost regularly on our Saturday Vigil Mass.  I remember that after that first Saturday I preached my pastor came up to me and said that he had heard from someone else about my "fire and brimstone" sermon.  I was quite surprised at this comment especially since I did nothing more than preach the Gospel and I told him so.  For some time after that he would always ask me what I was going to preach about and my answer was always and is still the same: I preach the Gospel.  Herein lies the problem to my preaching (if it is a problem at all), the fact that I do not and will not "water down" the Gospel for anyone and this, at the very least, makes many people uncomfortable.  Jesus said to his disciples: "Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature".  What exactly did Jesus mean when he said this?  Did he expect his disciples to preach the gospel he lived and died for, or did he just want them to tell a nice story about him?  Personally, I believe he meant to preach what Jesus himself preached and this includes preaching with the example of our lives and not just words.

The disciples were undoubtedly awestruck at this command by Jesus.  The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles hints at their dismay when after being commanded by Jesus to be his witnesses in the world they just stand there looking up into the sky.  They have to be "snapped-out-of-it" by two strangers: "They said, 'Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?'"  In other words, we just can't sit around looking for other signs, we must give witness to what has already been written into our hearts - the truth of the Gospel revealed in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.  Thus the problem with proclaiming the gospel is that the truth hurts.  When we are confronted with the reality of what God asks of us; when we are face to face with God's standards, our soul begins to tremble.  That's why when the Gospel is preached in accordance with Jesus' life, death, and resurrection - when it is preached in truth without being watered down - people feel their soul burn within because they come face to face with God's word.  Their soul trembles in the presence of the truth of the Gospel and they see fire and brimstone.  But the person who knows himself, not by others standards or how he is before his friends and neighbors, but as he is before God, that person is never much troubled, because their primary concern is becoming a true child of God.  Instead of a soul that trembles in fear before God, their soul exults in joy when the Gospel is proclaimed.  It is the soul that must change at the proclamation of God's Word and not the opposite.  God is constantly calling us through the Gospel that is proclaimed, yet we try to escape from God by watering down his Word to suit our needs, to justify our wrongdoings.  Eventually, we complain that God is alienated from us, that he's distant and can't be found.  The truth is that we are afraid of being found, because if we allow God to find us and we open our hearts to Him, we find ourselves and that's what we're afraid of.

Biblical Sources

New American Bible; United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; Hengel, M., "Acts and the History of Earliest Christianity"; Maddox, R., "The Purpose of Luke-Acts-Studies of the New Testament and Its World"; Marshall, I. H., "The Acts of the Apostles"; Wilson, S. G., "The Gentiles and the Gentile Mission in Luke-Acts"; Bruce, F. F., "The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians"; Swain, L., "Ephesians"; The Collegeville Bible Commentary; Schweizer, E., “The Good News According to Mark”; Tuckett, C. (ed.), “The Messianic Secret”; Kingsbury, J. D., “The Christology of Mark’s Gospel”; Brown, Raymond E., S.S., “Introduction to the New Testament”; Brown, Fitzmyer, and Murphy (ed.) “The New Jerome Biblical Commentary".

Reflection

Deacon Lazaro J. Ulloa