On Sunday’s Regina Coeli, the Pontiff meditated on the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Photo: Reproduction/Vatican Media.
Vatican City (30/05/2022 7:42 PM, Gaudium Press) On Sunday, May 29, before the recitation of the Regina Coeli before a large audience gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis meditated on the passage from St. Luke’s Gospel narrating the Ascension of the Lord to heaven and his last apparition to the disciples. In this text, Jesus tells his disciples he should go out so that the Holy Spirit may come.
Francis stated that the Lord “ascends into heaven, but does not leave us alone.” On the contrary, “precisely by ascending to the Father, he guarantees the outpouring of his Spirit.” And he recalled that on another occasion, Jesus had spoken of the convenience of leaving, “because if I do not go, the Paraclete will not come to you.”
Jesus is the great priest of our life
“And so, ascending to Heaven, instead of remaining beside a few people with his body, Jesus becomes close to all with the Holy Spirit,” the Pontiff said. And the Holy Spirit “makes Jesus present in us, beyond the barriers of time and space, to make us his witnesses in the world.”
Jesus blesses the apostles with “a priestly gesture,” as “God, since the time of Aaron, had entrusted the priests with the task of blessing the people.” In this way, “the Gospel wants to tell us that Jesus is the great priest of our life,” who “went up to the Father to intercede for us, to present our humanity to him,” the Pope said.
Christ opens the way for us
“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.”
Francis concluded by inviting us to pray “to the Virgin, blessed among women, who, filled with the Holy Spirit, always prays and intercedes for us.” (EPC)
Compiled by Gustavo Kralj