Fr. Victor Bongiovanni, sx
HOLY TRINITY SUNDAY
REFLECTIONS:
a) Matthew puts the meeting of Jesus with his Disciples in Galilee. Why?… The location of the meeting means that the Apostles, following their Master, are to begin the proclamation of the Gospel from the very place where Jesus began his public life.
b) Galilee was a region rather looked down by the rest of Israel because it was composed of a population that had mixed with pagans. The meeting with the Risen Lord takes place on the mountain because it is there where God manifests himself.
c) It is the Risen Lord, to whom all authority in heaven and earth has been given, who commissions his Disciples and the Church of every period of history. They are to go everywhere with the message of Good News in the name and authority of Jesus.
d) Theirs is indeed a heavy responsibility: to go, to make disciples of all nations, to baptise and to teach. If left to their own strength, the task would be impossible. They are not left alone in this assignment. The Risen Lord promises to be always with them in their fulfilment of it.
e) The Commission, based on the Authority and Presence of Jesus, allows the Church to continue in the world “till the end of ages”.
f) The Gospel ends with a promise. The Risen Lord will be with the Disciples wherever they go, every day of their work, until the end comes and the perfect eternal Kingdom is established.
g) His Resurrection has set him free to be present, not visibly but really, with all his loyal people everywhere. His Presence, Authority, and Power are with his people and especially with his witnesses, and that presence will be the source of their success. Jesus does not abandon his Disciples: he assures them that he will always be with them as the Emmanuel, ‘God with us’.
h) The Ascension of Jesus was in fact a ‘descent’, in the company of his Disciples, towards humankind. This is the reason of our joy: Jesus has not gone far from us, he has not gone to some other place, he is still with us in a different way. Before Easter he could only be in one place at a time, he could only speak to a number of people at the same time. Now all these limits have been removed: he is in the glory of his Father. Now He can talk to everybody, everywhere, at the same time. To God everything is possible.
(Souce from different Biblical commentary books)
HOLY TRINITY SUNDAY
REFLECTIONS:
a) Matthew puts the meeting of Jesus with his Disciples in Galilee. Why?… The location of the meeting means that the Apostles, following their Master, are to begin the proclamation of the Gospel from the very place where Jesus began his public life.
b) Galilee was a region rather looked down by the rest of Israel because it was composed of a population that had mixed with pagans. The meeting with the Risen Lord takes place on the mountain because it is there where God manifests himself.
c) It is the Risen Lord, to whom all authority in heaven and earth has been given, who commissions his Disciples and the Church of every period of history. They are to go everywhere with the message of Good News in the name and authority of Jesus.
d) Theirs is indeed a heavy responsibility: to go, to make disciples of all nations, to baptise and to teach. If left to their own strength, the task would be impossible. They are not left alone in this assignment. The Risen Lord promises to be always with them in their fulfilment of it.
e) The Commission, based on the Authority and Presence of Jesus, allows the Church to continue in the world “till the end of ages”.
f) The Gospel ends with a promise. The Risen Lord will be with the Disciples wherever they go, every day of their work, until the end comes and the perfect eternal Kingdom is established.
g) His Resurrection has set him free to be present, not visibly but really, with all his loyal people everywhere. His Presence, Authority, and Power are with his people and especially with his witnesses, and that presence will be the source of their success. Jesus does not abandon his Disciples: he assures them that he will always be with them as the Emmanuel, ‘God with us’.
h) The Ascension of Jesus was in fact a ‘descent’, in the company of his Disciples, towards humankind. This is the reason of our joy: Jesus has not gone far from us, he has not gone to some other place, he is still with us in a different way. Before Easter he could only be in one place at a time, he could only speak to a number of people at the same time. Now all these limits have been removed: he is in the glory of his Father. Now He can talk to everybody, everywhere, at the same time. To God everything is possible.
(Souce from different Biblical commentary books)