Discussion Questions

First Reading

Acts 1:1-11 (Ascension)

F1. What does “witness to the ends of the earth” mean to you. What “witnesses” (saints, declared or undeclared) do you like to think about? Do you “witness” in any way? Care for Excluded? Help feed starving children in Kenya due to drought caused by climate change?

Acts 7:55-60 (7th Sunday of Easter)

F2. What are the parallels between Stephen and Jesus? What made Stephen able to witness with his blood? Have you ever received a grace to do something you wouldn’t ordinarily do?

Second Reading

Ephesians 1:17-23 or Hebrews 9:24-28; 10:19-23 (Ascension)

S1. We do not yet experience completely Christ’s coming, even though he is there in sacrament and word. Think of some times or instances in your life where an appropriate plea to God would be “come, Lord Jesus.”

Revelation 22: 12-14, 16-17, 20 (7th Sunday of Easter)

S2. How does Christ’s sacrifice differ from “the high priest’s who enters the sanctuary each year with blood that is not his own”? How absolute is your trust in Jesus?

Gospel

Luke 24:46-53 (Ascension)

G1. What was the promise of the Father that Jesus spoke of? Who brings Jesus’ message and mission to completion in us and in the world? Do you listen for the Spirit’s message to you personally?

John 17: 20-26 (7th Sunday of Easter)

G2. In this Gospel Jesus says, ”I wish that where I am they also may be with me.” What do you find most reassuring about Jesus’ wish?

…Jesus says to his friends: “I send the promise of my Father upon you” (v. 49). He is talking about the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, he who will accompany them, guide them, support them in their mission, defend them in spiritual battles. We thus understand something important: Jesus is not abandoning the disciples. He ascends to Heaven, but he does not leave them alone. Rather, precisely by ascending towards the Father, he ensures the effusion of the Holy Spirit, of his Spirit.

On another occasion he had said: “It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counsellor will not come to you”— that is, the Spirit — (Jn 16:7). … Thus, ascending to Heaven, instead of remaining beside a few people with his body, Jesus becomes close to all with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit makes Jesus present in us, beyond the barriers of time and space, to make us his witnesses in the world.

Straight afterwards—it is the second action—Christ raises his hands and blesses the apostles (cf. v. 50). … Jesus ascends to the Father to intercede on our behalf, to present our humanity to him. Thus, before the eyes of the Father, with the humanity of Jesus, there are and always will be our lives, our hopes, our wounds. So, as he makes his “exodus” to Heaven, Christ “makes way” for us. He goes to prepare a place for us and, from this time forth, he intercedes for us, so that we may always be accompanied and blessed by the Father.

Pope Francis Angelus for Ascension
May 29, 2022

Anne Osdieck

**From Saint Louis University