The Ascension of the Lord Year A (2023)

Mass Readings for the Ascension of the Lord Year A

• First Reading: Acts 1:1-11 – “When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.”
• Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9 – “God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord .(”
• Second Reading: Ephesians 1:17-23 – “And he put all things beneath his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.”
• Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20 – “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

Themes for the Ascension of the Lord Year A

The feast of the Ascension of the Lord Year A commemorates the day that Jesus Christ ascended into heaven. He also gave the Great Commission, that all of the world should be saved. In the first reading the ascension of Jesus is recounted and the Apostles are told they will receive the Holy Spirit. In the second reading we hear that Jesus Christ rules heaven and earth. And in the gospel, Jesus tells his disciples to preach the Good News to the whole world.

• Evangelism
• Going out to the world
• Getting out of our comfort zones
• Holy Spirit

See the Homilies and Reflections section and the More Thoughts section for further expansion on these readings and some reflection questions for the Ascension of the Lord Year A.

Superpowers (Courage)

This Superpowers lesson plan will help youth understand what it means to be clothed in power. Like the first disciples, we need the superpower of courage.

Litany of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit

This prayer asks for the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. It is in the form of a litany, which is a prayer where there is a prompt and then a response.

What Is the Paschal Mystery?

The Paschal Mystery is God’s plan for the salvation of mankind, as fulfilled in the passion, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ has shown us that death does not have the final word.

A Prayer to God Who Is Above All

This is a prayer based on Psalm 47, which is the responsorial psalm for this Sunday.. This psalm praises God who is above all and who rules all.

Who Lives in Your World? – Discussion and Reflection Questions

This reflection encourages youth to think about what it means to spread the Gospel to “the whole world”.

At the Right Hand of the Father

From Bishop Robert Barron. This Sunday we celebrate the Ascension of Our Lord, perhaps one of the most misunderstood elements within the Christian narrative. The Ascension does not mean Jesus goes “up, up, and away” as if his presence leaves earth, but rather that he assumes the throne of heaven so as to direct matters here on earth.

The Good News

From Scott Hahn. Saint Paul, in his Letter to the Ephesians, speaks in terms of glory that leads to greater glories still, as Ascension leads to Pentecost. This is the “good news” the Apostles are commissioned to spread—to the whole world, to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem—at the Ascension. It’s the good news we must spread today.

The Ascension of the Lord

Also from Bishop Barron. We come today to the great Feast of the Ascension of the Lord, which sheds so much light on who we are as Christians and what we are supposed to be about as a Church. I want to focus on the Ascension from two perspectives: the “political” and the liturgical. Both are very important to understand what it means to speak of the Ascension of Jesus.

It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.