Acts 1:1-11; Ps 46 (47); Heb 9: 24-28; 10:19 to 23; Lk 24:46-53

Today we are invited to contemplate the Lord who ascends into heaven; and to await his return, because he comes – the angels announce to the disciples – “in the same way that you saw him go to heaven”. And how did they see him go to heaven? First of all, blessing: the last image that Luke gives us of Jesus are his blessing hands. Immediately before, Jesus had shown to the incredulous disciples those same hands still marked by the wounds of passion. The signs of the curse that he received from men remain indelible. Yet these wounded hands of his only know how to bless. His blessing also falls on those who do not know how to bless and curse; it also reaches those who appear to be cursed by the cruel events of life or the violence of men. Finally, the blessing reaches us disciples, as commitment and responsibility: we will have to announce it and share it. You are witnesses of this, Jesus tells us. As the Risen One transforms the wounds of the curse into the signs of blessing, so he turns us sinners into martyrs, into witnesses, so that all those who receive the Gospel message may be made new men and women, because men and women of the Kingdom.

Commentary by Comunità di Dumenza

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey