Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Năm Chúa Lên Trời.

Suy Niệm Tin Mừng Thứ Năm Chúa Lên Trời.
Bình thường chúng ta nghĩ rằng, khi Chúa Giêsu Lên Trời, Ngài vào thiên đàng, và Ngài bỏ chúng ta lại ở dưới thế này. Thật sự thì Chúa Giêsu đã rời bỏ thế giới này, nhưng điều đó không có nghĩa là Ngài bỏ rơi chúng ta.
Hôm nay chúng ta mừng kính lễ Chúa lên Trời, và mỗi năm chúng ta nên lợi dụng cớ hội này để suy gẫm vả phản ánh về mối quan hệ của Chúa Giêsu với chúng ta, về sự hiện diện lâu dài của Ngài ỡ giữa chúng ta và ở trong chúng ta.
            Khi Chúa Giêsu đã sống lại từ cõi chết, Ngài đã hiện ra với các môn đệ và những người đã tin tưởng và yêu mến Ngài như những người phụ nữ thân tín của Ngài. Mục đích Chúa hiện ra sau khi sống lại trong 40 ngày là để giúp cho các môn để và những người theo Ngài được hiểu rõ là qua cái chết, và sự sống lại Chúa Giêsu, Ngài đã sống lại trong cách sống mới nhưng Ngài vẫn luông ấp ủ mối quan hệ của Ngài với chúng ta, mặc dù bây giờ đã được thể hiện theo một cách mới.
Việc Chúa về Trời cũng là một trong những phần mà Chúa đã hiện ra, đâ là lần cuối cùng và cũng là lúc mà Ngài thiết lập mối quan hệ không phải chỉ với những người đã gặp gỡ Ngài trong cuộc sống trần thế của Ngài, nhưng là với tất cả những người trong mọi lứa tuổi, những người sẽ đến và tin vào Ngài và trong Giáo Hội.
            Chúa Giêsu đã  sinh ra để làm “Thiên Chúa ở cùng chúng ta” (Immanuel), Ngài sẽ là đấng Immanuel, Thiên Chúa ở cùng chúng ta mãi mãi.
            Lạy Chúa Giêsu, Xin ở cùng với chúng tôi trong tất cả và mãi mãi, Xin Chúa mang chúng con đến với niềm vui trong cuộc sống đời đời với Ngài trong sự hiện diện của Chúa Cha muôn đời.
 
Reflection
            It is normal to think that, at his Ascension into heaven, Jesus left us. It is true that Jesus left this world but that does not mean that he left us. At the feast of the Ascension each year we have a good opportunity to reflect on Jesus' relationship with us, his enduring presence among us and within us.
            When Jesus rose from the dead, he spent forty days appearing to his disciples, those who knew him before his death and believed in him and loved him. The purpose of these appearances was to bring them to understand that though he had died he was alive in a new way and still cherished his relationship with them, though it was now expressed in a new way. His ascension into heaven was part of this series of appearances, the last one and the one which would establish his relationship, not only with those who had seen him in his earthly life but all those throughout the ages who would come to believe in him in the Church. Born to be Immanuel, he would be Immanuel, God-with-us, forever.
            Lord Jesus, present with us in all ages, bring us joyfully to eternal life with You in the Father’s presence forever and ever.
 
Ascension of Our Lord (Year B)
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.” Mark 16:15–16
We celebrate today one more step in the completion of the mission of the Son of God. Humanity had sinned at the beginning of time and fallen from Original Innocence. God immediately began to prepare the world for the gift of eternal redemption by establishing a covenant with Noah, Abraham and Moses. He raised up various prophets and kings to further prepare His people for what was to come. And then, when the time was right, God entered our world through the Blessed Virgin Mary. Jesus, the Son of God, eventually entered into His public ministry, teaching, performing miracles, gathering the faithful to Himself, dying, rising and then appearing to His disciples in preparation for the Ascension. The Ascension completes the mission of the Son of God. Today we honor that definitive moment when God the Son, in His transformed and resurrected Human nature, ascends by His own power to the Father, bringing with Himself our humanity so that all humanity may ascend with Him.
As we celebrate the Ascension of Jesus, we must first see all that led up to that moment and seek to unite ourselves with all of those preceding events. We must listen to the words of the patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament. We must especially listen to the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament and embrace His words without hesitation. And we must unite ourselves with His own death, dying to sin, so that we may also share in His Resurrection. Today, we must further see the invitation we are all given to ascend with Jesus to the Father. We must understand that where Jesus has gone, we are invited to follow if we only believe, embrace and live all that took place leading up to this glorious moment.
The Ascension was the end of Jesus’ life on Earth but also the beginning of our sharing in the life of Heaven. As Jesus ascended, He commissioned His disciples to go forth and “preach the gospel to every creature.” They were to preach to all about the saving plan of God that began at the time of Adam and Eve and was completed with the Ascension.
Reflect, today, upon your calling to not only share in this glorious moment of Jesus’ Ascension but also your calling to go forth and to do all you can to draw others into this new life. Reflect upon Jesus, Who also speaks to you today to invite you to bring others to that mountain. By teaching friends, family and all with whom God has entrusted to you to share the Gospel, you fulfill Christ’s mission to “go into the whole world” to gather the scattered people into the one fold of Christ so as to ascend with Him one day into eternity.
My ascended Lord, all things throughout history were but a preparation for the moment when You drew fallen humanity into Heaven to be with Your Father forever. Help me to always heed Your holy words, so that I, too, will share in Your Ascension. Use me, dear Lord, to also go forth and to draw many others to You so that the Kingdom will be filled with all those whom You have called. Jesus, I trust in You.
 
Ascension of the Lord 2024
Opening Prayer: Lord God, you exalted your Son at your right hand. You accepted his sacrifice on the Cross and now attend to his priestly intercession. Look kindly upon me and grant that I may approach with confidence the throne of grace and there obtain your mercy.
Encountering the Word of God
1. Christ’s Royal Priesthood: The mystery of Christ’s Ascension into Heaven celebrates the mystery of his royal priesthood. Jesus is the Lord who, in his humanity, reigns at the right hand of the Father. He is the high priest of the New Covenant who intercedes for us before the Father, the mediator who assures us of the permanent outpouring of the Holy Spirit and gives us the hope of one day reaching the heavenly place he has prepared for us (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 132). Christ’s kingship is mentioned in the First Reading. Jesus, we are told, spoke about the Kingdom of God during the forty days between his Resurrection from the dead and his Ascension into heaven. As they gather around Jesus before his Ascension, the disciples are eager to know when the kingdom of Israel would be restored. The disciples could be referring to Jesus’ promise in Luke 22:30 which says that they will sit on thrones. In response to their question, Jesus “discourages speculation about timing (v. 7), but does describe the means by which the kingdom will be restored, namely, through the Spirit-inspired witness of the apostles throughout the earth (v. 8)” (Hahn, “Christ, Kingdom and Creation in Luke-Acts,” 185). In fact, the Acts of the Apostles tells the story of how the kingdom spreads from Jerusalem to Judea, to Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
2. Sending the Spirit: Christ’s elevation to the right hand of the Father is linked especially to the descent of the Holy Spirit. Only through the Ascension does Christ receive the Holy Spirit from the Father to pour it out on the Apostles as he had promised. The Apostles do not yet understand the full meaning of the Kingdom, and only through the gift of the Holy Spirit do the Apostles definitively become aware of the kingdom that Christ announced from the beginning. The Holy Spirit will correct any nationalistic, earthly views of the kingdom and lift their eyes toward the universal, heavenly Kingdom of God. At Pentecost, the Apostles become witnesses to the Kingdom that will have no end (see John Paul II, April 12, 1989). Jesus reigns now in heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. This action signifies the inauguration of his kingdom, the fulfillment of the prophet Daniel’s vision concerning the Son of Man: “To him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14) (see CCC, 664). 
3. How Jesus Reigns in Heaven: The Psalm proclaims that Jesus, true God and true man, “mounts his throne amid shouts of joy,” he “reigns over the nations” and “sits upon his holy throne.” Jesus’ Ascension marks the entry of his humanity into divine glory. Jesus departed from this world, not to leave us orphans, but to open up the way to the Father’s house for us. Christ is not only our King but also our High-priest and the Mediator of the New Covenant in which we share. Today Jesus enters “not into a sanctuary made by human hands... but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf” (Hebrews 9:24). He enters the heavenly sanctuary not with the blood of animals, but with his own blood shed on the Cross. In heaven, Christ permanently exercises his priesthood, interceding for those who draw near to God through him (see CCC, 662). Before leaving to prepare a place for us in his Father’s house, Jesus sends out his disciples to all nations. They will be his witnesses and will bring men and women, through the Sacrament of Baptism, into communion with God and into his Kingdom. Jesus goes away, yet remains with us in the Eucharist and in the Church. This is why he can console his disciples, saying to them and to us: “I am with you always.” The disciples, then, are not saddened by Jesus’ Ascension, rather they return to Jerusalem with great joy (Luke 24:52). They rejoice because Jesus now reigns in heaven and the effects of his reign – righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17) – are manifested in our lives.
Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you are the Head of the Church and have ascended into heaven to prepare a place for me, a member of your Body. Turn my eyes from the world and lift up my gaze toward my heavenly home, where you sit enthroned in glory at God’s right hand.
Living the Word of God: Do I truly believe that Jesus reigns over all things? Or do I give into despair, a temptation from the devil, and believe that God has abandoned the world and me? Does the contemplation of Jesus’ Ascension into heaven fill me with hope?
 
Ascension of the Lord
Opening Prayer: Dear Lord, we rejoice in your Ascension! You are the king of glory and the king of my life. You show me that there is meaning in our suffering. You have gone before us to give us peace and hope in this life. Help me to be a witness of this peace and hope to others.
Encountering Christ:
The Glory of God: Christ's Ascension marks the definitive entrance of Jesus's humanity into God's heavenly domain. Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, precedes us into the Father's glorious kingdom so that we, the members of his body, may live in the hope of one day being with him forever (Catechism of the Catholic Church 665 and 666). For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12). Every time we receive the Eucharist, we receive a “taste of heaven,” which by God’s grace can deepen our faith and our holy anticipation of eternity. 
Fidelity to His Will: Pope Francis said that “entering the glory of God demands daily fidelity to his will, even when it demands sacrifice and sometimes requires us to change our plans.” It is known that Jesus’s ascension happened on the Mount of Olives where he had prayed to the Father before the Passion. It was Our Lord’s love of his Father that enabled him to endure suffering and death, and then return to the place of encounter to be raised into heaven. Through our relationship with the Father, we also receive the grace to be faithful to God’s will, and may we one day reap the benefits—eternity with him. With Jesus, we say, “Not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).
Never Alone: Pope Francis adds,“The Ascension does not point to Jesus’s absence, but tells us that he is alive in our midst in a new way. He is now...present in every space and time, close to each one of us. In our life we are never alone: we have this Advocate who awaits us, who defends us.” Before Jesus died on the cross, he promised that he would send the Holy Spirit to be with his people to accompany them. It is through this gentle Spirit that we perceive the presence of God and receive comfort, consolation, and wisdom to prepare us for our eternal destiny.
Conversing with Christ: Dear Jesus, thank you for always being with me. Without the power of your Spirit in my life, I can do nothing. While I am still here on earth, help me to conform my will to your Father’s will. Help me endure hardships with love for you. Let the thought of heaven with you console my heart deeply.
Resolution: Lord, today by your grace I will offer up a prayer for a friend or family member who has been feeling hopeless.