Rev. Fr.
Leonard Goffine's
The Church's Year
INSTRUCTION
ON THE FESTIVAL OF THE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD
At the Introit the Church
sings the words which were spoken by the angels to the apostles
and disciples, after the Ascension of our Lord:
INTROIT
Ye men of Galilee, why wonder you, looking up to heaven? allel.:
He shall so come as you have seen him going up into heaven. Allel.,
allel., allel. (Acts I. 11.), Oh, clap your hands, all ye nations;
shout unto God with the voice of joy. (Ps. XLVI. 2.) Glory be to
the Father, etc.
COLLECT
Grant, we beseech Thee, O Almighty God, that we who believe Thy
only‑begotten Son, our Redeemer, to have this day ascended
into the heavens, may ourselves also in, mind dwell amid heavenly
things. Through the same etc.
LESSON
(Acts I. 1-11.) The former treatise I made, O Theophilus, of all
things which Jesus began to do and to teach , until the day on which,
giving commandments by the Holy Ghost to the apostles ,whom he had
chosen, he was taken up: to whom also he showed himself alive after
his passion, by many proofs, for forty days appearing to them, and
speaking of the kingdom of God. And eating together with them, he
commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but should
wait for the promise of the Father, which you have heard (saith
he) by my mouth: for John indeed baptized with water, but you shall
be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence. They, therefore,
who were come together, asked him, saying: Lord, wilt thou at this
time restore the kingdom to Israel? But he said to diem: It is not
for you to know the times or moments which the Father hath put in
his own power; but you shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost
coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and
in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the
earth. And when he had said these things, while they looked on,
he was raised up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And
while they were beholding him going up to heaven, behold, two men
stood by them in white garments, who also said: Ye men of Galilee,
why stand yon looking up to heaven? This Jesus who is taken up from
you into heaven, shall so come, as you have seen him going into
heaven.
EXPLANATION
This gospel of St. Luke addressed to Theophilus, a Christian
of note in Antioch, contains an account of the life, sufferings,
and death of Jesus up to the time of His ascension into heaven.
The Evangelist continues his account in the Acts of the apostles,
in which he describes in simple words that which Jesus did during
the forty days following His Resurrection, and the manner in which
He ascended into heaven in the presence of His apostles. Rejoice
that Christ today has entered into the glory gained by His sufferings
and death, and pray: I rejoice, O King of heaven and earth, in the
glory Thou bast this day attained in heaven. Sing to God, ye kingdoms
of the earth: sing ye to the Lord: sing ye to God, who mounteth
above the heaven of heavens to the east. Give ye glory to God for
Israel, his magnificence and his power is in the clouds. God is
wonderful in his saints, the God of Israel is he who will give power
and strength to his people, blessed be God. (Ps.LXVII. 33‑36.)
GOSPEL
(Mark. XVI. 14-20.) At that time, Jesus appeared to the eleven as
they were at table: and he upbraided them with their incredulity
and hardness of heart, because they did not believe them who had
seen him after he was risen again. (And he said to them: Go ye into
the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that
believeth and is baptized shall be saved: but he that believeth
not shall be condemned: And these signs shall follow them that believe.
In my name they shall cast out devils: they shall speak with new
tongues; they shall take up serpents: and if they shall drink any
deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay their hands
upon the sick; and they shall recover.) And the Lord Jesus after
he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sitteth on
the right hand of God. But they going forth preached everywhere,
the Lord working withal, and confirming the word with signs that
followed.
The part of this gospel
which is within the marks of parenthesis, is the gospel for the
feast of St: Francis Xavier.
Why did
Christ say to His apostles: Go ye into the whale world and preach
the gospel to all creatures?
To show that no one is to
assume the office of preaching, but must look for his mission from
the lawful pastors of the Church. And when Christ sends His apostles
into the whole worlds to all nations without exception, He shows
His willingness to save all men. If the designs of God are not fulfilled,
the blame is not to be attributed to God, but to man, who either
does not accept the doctrine of the gospel, or accepting, does not
live in accordance with it, or else renders himself by his obduracy
in vice, unworthy of the gospel.
Is faith
without good works sufficient for salvation?
No, faith that is not active
in love, not fruitful in good works, and therefore not meritorious,
(Gal. V. 6.) is not sufficient for salvation. "Such faith,"
says St. Anselm, "is not the faith of a Christian, but the
faith of the devil." Only he who truly believes in Christ and
His doctrine, and lives in accordance with it, will be saved.
Is ours
then the true faith since all the faithful do not work miracles;
as Christ has predicted?
St. Gregory very beautifully
replies to this question: "Because the Redeemer said that true
faith would be accompanied by miracles, you must not think that
you have not the faith, because these signs do not follow; these
miracles had to be wrought in the beginning of the Church, because
faith in her had to be increased by these visible signs of divine
power." And even now when such signs are necessary for the
propagation of the faith, and victory over unbelief, God gives His
faithful power to work them.
Are miracles
wrought now in the Catholic Church?
Yes, for there have been
at all times saints in the Church, who, as seen from their lives,
have wrought miracles, on account of their faith, which even the
heretics cannot deny; for instance St. Francis Xavier, who in the
sight of the heathens, raised several dead persons to life. In a
spiritual manner all pious Catholics still work such miracles; for,
as St. Chrysostom says, "they expel devils when they banish
sin, which is worse than the devil; they speak new tongues when
they converse no longer on vain and sinful things, but on those
which are spiritual and heavenly." "They take up serpents,"
says St. Gregory, "when by zealous exhortations they lift others
from the shame of vice, without being themselves poisoned; they
drink deadly things without being hurt by them, when they hear improper
conversation without being corrupted or led to evil; they lay their
hands upon the sick and heal them, when they teach the ignorant,
strengthen by their good example those who are wavering in virtue,
keep the sinner from evil, and similar things." Strive to do
this upon all occasions, O Christian, for God willingly gives you
His grace and you will thus be of more use to yourself and others,
and honor God more than by working the greatest miracles.
Where
and how did Christ ascend into heaven?
From Mount Olivet where His
sufferings began, by which we learn, that where our crosses and
afflictions begin which we endure with patience and resignation,
there begins our reward. Christ ascended into heaven by His own
power, because He is God, and now in His glorified humanity He sits
at the right hand of His Father, as our continual Mediator.
In whose
presence did Christ ascend into heaven?
In the presence of His apostles,
and many of His disciples, whom He had previously blessed, (Luke
XXIV. 51.) and who, as St. Leo says, derived consoling joy from
His ascension. Rejoice, also, O Christian foul, for Christ has today
opened heaven for you, and you may enter it, if you believe in Christ,
and live in accordance with that faith. St. Augustine says: "Let
us ascend in spirit with Christ, that when His day comes, we may
follow with our body.
Yet you must know, beloved
brethren, that not pride, nor avarice, nor impurity, nor any other
vice ascends with Christ; for with the teacher of humility pride
ascends not, nor with the author of goodness, malice, nor with the
Son of the Virgin, impurity. Let us then ascend with Him by trampling
upon our vices and evil inclinations, thus building a ladder by
which we can ascend; for we make a ladder of our sins to heaven
when we tread them down in combating them:"
ASPIRATION
O King of glory! O powerful Lord! who hast this day ascended victoriously,
above all heaven, leave us not as poor orphans; but send us, from
the Father, the Spirit of truth whom Thou hast promised. Alleluia.
Why is the paschal candle
extinguished after the gospel on this day?
To signify that Christ, of
whom the candle is a figure, has gone from His disciples.
INSTRUCTION
ON MIRACLES
And these signs shall
follow them that believe.(Mark XVI. 17.)
What is
a miracle?
A miracle, as defined by
St. Thomas of Aquin, is anything beyond the ordinary, fixed state
of things that is done through God. Thus when the sun stands still
in his course, when thousands are fed with five loaves and two small
fishes, when by a word or simple touch the dead are raised to life,
the blind see, and the deaf hear, these are things contrary to nature,
and are miracles which can only be performed by God or those persons
to whom God has given the power.
That God can work miracles,
cannot be denied. God has made the laws of nature, and at any time
it pleases Him, He can suddenly suspend them, and that God has at
times done so, we have more solid and undeniable proofs, than we
have for the most renowned and best authenticated facts of history,
far more witnesses testify to miracles, the whole world has believed
them, and been converted by them; more than eleven millions of martyrs
have died to confirm and maintain their truth; no one gives up his
life for lies and deceptions; the Jews and pagans have admitted
them, but ascribed them to witchcraft and the power of demons rather
than to God; by this they proved and acknowledged the truth of miracles,
because in order to deny them, they were driven to false and absurd
explanation of them.
Can men
work miracles?
No; only God works miracles
through man to whom He gives the power. The history of the Christian
Church in all ages bears testimony, that men have wrought miracles
in the name of Jesus, as, for example, the apostles and the saints.
Can miracles
be worked by the relics of saints, pictures, &e.?
The Church, in the Council
of Trent, solemnly declares, that we are never to believe that there
is in any picture or relic any hidden power by which a miracle can,
be worked, and that we are not to honor or ask any such thing of
them. Therefore no miracle can ever be worked by them, but God can
perform miracles through them, and He has done so, as the holy Scriptures
and the history of the Church of Christ both prove. But when through
certain pictures (usually called miraculous pictures) miracles do
take place, that no deception may occur, the Church commands that
such a picture shall not be exposed for the veneration of the faithful,
until the truth of the miracles performed is by a rigorous examination
established beyond doubt; she then causes such pictures to be respectfully
preserved as monuments of the goodness and omnipotence of God.
Why are
there not so many miracles in our ties as there were in the first
days of the Church?
Because the Church is no
longer in need of such extraordinary testimony to the truth of
her teachings. Thus St. Augustine writes: "He who in the face
of the conversion of the world to Christianity demands miracles,
and strives to doubt those which have been wrought in favor of this
most wonderful change, is himself an astonishing miracle of irrationality
and stupidity;" and St. Chrysostom says: "The question
is sometimes asked: How happens it there are not so many miracles
now‑a‑days? The answer is, because the knowledge of
Christ is propagated all over the earth, and the Church is like
a tree which, having once taken deep root and grown to a certain
height, no longer needs to be carefully watered and supported."
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