Tuesday, Fifth Week of EasterThen he led them out as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them. As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven.
Luke 24:50-51
Now on Easter Sunday night, Jesus is “taken up to heaven.” This marks the end of the appearances of Jesus in Luke’s Gospel.
Bethany is the village of Martha, Mary and Lazarus – where Jesus stayed when he visited Jerusalem. It is about two miles from the city, just over the Mount of Olives.
This also marks the end of a journey Jesus began back in the ninth chapter of Luke’s Gospel: “When the days for his being taken up were fulfilled, Jesus resolutely set his face toward Jerusalem.”
Now, 15 chapters later, after going through suffering and death, the day for his being taken up is fulfilled.
Jesus’ last act was to bless them.
It’s not a good-bye. It is the end of a brief series of extraordinary appearances immediately following the resurrection.
The risen Lord is still with us, not in extraordinary manifestations, but in the ordinary run of day-to-day life. As only someone who really loves us would do.
Spend some quiet time with the Risen Lord.
April 27, 2005Patron of the internet?
”What would St. Paul do if he were alive today? He would use the media to spread the good news of Jesus Christ in the fastest way and to the most people possible.
~Fr. Alberione
On Dec. 31, 1900, inspired by Pope Leo XIII’s prayer for God’s blessing on the church in the new century, a young seminarian made a New Year’s Resolution to do something for his Church. James Alberione would dedicate his work to St. Paul, who was a writer and a preacher.
After his ordination in 1907 for the Diocese of Alba, Italy, he first founded a printing school where young men could learn a trade as well as produce good literature. In 1914, he founded a religious community known as the Society of St. Paul (Paulist Priests), who would spread the Gospel message through modern media.
In his ministry, Fr. Alberione embraced all communications technology – from radio to television to motion pictures.
Fr. Alberione died in 1971 at age 87, with Pope Paul VI at his bedside. He died before the advent of the Internet, but many supporters think he would have embraced it as one more means to evangelize.
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Fr. Alberione was beatified on this date in 2003.
