ASCENSION

ASCENSION (B) 20 May 2012

Mark 16, 15-20

 He said to them, “Go into the entire world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
 

 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”
 

 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

A NEW BEGINNING

José Antonio Pagola

Rev. Fr.Valentine de Souza S.J. 

 The evangelists describe in different terms the mission Jesus entrusts to his followers. According to Matthew they have “to make disciples”, so they learn to live as he taught them to. According to Luke, they have to be “witnesses” of what they have experienced during the time they were with him. Mark summarizes everything by saying they have “to proclaim the Gospel to all creation”.

 Those who associate today with a Christian community do not come into direct contact with the Gospel. What they see is the functioning of a religion grown old, that shows signs of a serious crisis. They cannot find spelt out clearly in such a religion the Good News created by the impact Jesus had twenty centuries ago.

 On the other hand, many Christians have no first-hand knowledge of the Gospel. All they know about Jesus and his message is what they have been able to put together by bits and pieces listening to catechists and preachers. They practice their religion deprived of personal contact with the Gospel.

 How are they going to proclaim the Gospel if they have not been imbued with it in their own communities? Vatican Council II has reminded us of something almost forgotten these days: “The Gospel is at all times the source of its whole life for the Church.” The time has come to understand and organize the Christian community as the place where the most important task is to take to heart the Gospel of Jesus.
 Nothing can restore the fabric of our communities in crisis, as the power of the Gospel. Only the direct and immediate experience of the Gospel can revitalize the Church. It will not be long before the present crisis compels us to focus only on essentials. We will then see clearly that nothing is more important for Christians today than to gather to read, listen to and share with one another the Gospel narratives.

 What matters is to believe in the regenerating power of the Gospel. The Gospel stories teach us to live the faith not as an obligation, but as a personal choice. They make us live the Christian life not to fulfill a duty but to radiate and spread a faith grown infectious. It is already possible to bring into parishes a new energizing force. Gathered in small groups in touch with the Gospel, we will begin to recover our true identity as followers of Jesus.

 We must return to the Gospel as to a new beginning. No ordinary pastoral program or strategy will do. In a few years, listening together to the Gospel of Jesus will not be one more activity among others, but the matrix in which the regeneration of the Christian faith will happen in small communities dispersed in a large secularized society.

Spread the power of the Gospel

Jose Antonio Pagola,  vgentza@euskalnet.net , San Sebastian, Guipuzcoa, Spain.

English Translation by  Valentine de Souza S.J.  Mandal, Gujarat , India.394650

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