Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

         3411 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, S.E.
                 Washington, DC 20032
                www.assumptiondc.org

Rev.Gregory Shaffer, Pastor
Saturday Vigil Mass:     4:30 pm
Sunday Mass:             10:00 am
Daily Mass:              Monday thru Saturday 12:10 pm
Eucharistic Adoration:   Monday,Wednesday, Friday 11:00 - 12:00 noon
Confessions:             Saturday 3:30 - 4:15 pm
                         or anytime by appointment
Address:                 3401 Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue, S.E.
                         Washington, DC 20032
Office Hours:            Monday, Wednesday, Friday
                         9:00 am to 5:00 pm
                         Tuesday 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm
Pastor:                  Father Greg Shaffer
                         202-561-4178 Cell 240-463-9960
Email:                   frgreg@assumptiondc.org
Secretary:               Mrs. Cheryl Hamlin-Williams
Phone:                   202-561-4178 Fax 202-561-0336
Email:                   info@assumptiondc.org
Outreach:                Ms. Mildred Brown
Phone:                   202-561-5941 Fax 202-561-4024
Email:                   outreach@assumptiondc.org
Music:                   Mrs. Denese Clay
Email:                    musicdirector@assumptiondc.org
Evangelization            Ms. Kimberly McKinley
Email:                   doe@assumptiondc.org

Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord
                                                     May 16, 2021

Happy feast of the Ascension! This event completes the mission of Jesus Christ on
earth. It is the final part of the act of our salvation. Please enjoy excerpts from a
reflection by Fr. Antony Kadavit from vaticannews.va, and click on this link to read
the entire post.

May you know the peace of the risen Christ,

Fr Greg
--------------------------------------

A) The Ascension: Each Sunday we profess through the Creed, "He ascended into
Heaven." Christ’s Ascension was the culmination of God’s Divine plan for Christ Jesus
– his return to his Father with his “Mission Accomplished." Ascension is the grand
finale of all Jesus’ words and works done for us and for our salvation. It is a
culmination, but not the conclusion. As Jesus is now with God in glory, so Jesus is
with us now in Spirit: "Lo, I am with you always."

The feast of the Ascension celebrates one aspect of the Resurrection, namely Jesus’
exaltation. Jesus did not wait 40 days to be glorified at God’s right hand. That had
already happened at his Resurrection. The focus of this feast is the Heavenly reign of
Christ. The Lord is now "seated at the right hand of the Father" as we profess in the
Nicene Creed, meaning He alone is in control of the continuing plan of salvation
through the Holy Spirit, unrestricted by time, space or culture. Thus, in the Paschal
Mystery, Jesus' passion, death, Resurrection, Ascension and the sending of the Holy
Spirit form one unbroken reality which is to be understood by Faith.

The Ascension means that Jesus, His salvific suffering for our Salvation completed, is
with his Father in glory. Being seated at the right hand of the Father is the fulfillment
of “the prophet Daniel’s vision concerning the Son of Man: ‘To him was given
dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve

him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his
kingdom one that shall not be destroyed’” (CCC #664).

B) The Ascension account and its significance: The Biblical accounts of the
Ascension focus not so much on the details of the event as on the mission Jesus gave to
his disciples. For example, in the accounts narrated in Luke and Acts, the Ascension
took place in Jerusalem. In Matthew and Mark, on the other hand, the event occurred
in Galilee. All accounts, however, agree that the Ascension took place on a
mountain. In Luke and Acts, the Ascension happened forty days after the Resurrection,
a period during which Jesus appeared repeatedly to his followers. In Matthew and Mark
there is no indication of the time period between the Resurrection and the Ascension.

The Gospel writers apparently were not aiming at accuracy of historical detail but were
more concerned with transmitting Our Lord’s message. Christ’s Ascension or going up
to heaven completes his Incarnation or coming down to earth. Christ has opened the
way to heaven for us. (CCC #661). “Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, precedes us
into the Father’s glorious kingdom so that we, the members of his Body, may live in
the hope of one day being with him forever” (CCC #666). “Jesus Christ, having entered
the sanctuary of heaven once and for all, intercedes constantly for us as the mediator
who assures us of the permanent outpouring of the Holy Spirit” (CCC #667).

C) The Ascension message: "Preach the Good News and be my witnesses:"
Matthew, Mark and Acts record Jesus’ last words differently: 1) “You will receive
power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). 2) “Go
therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:19). 3) “Go into all the world
and proclaim the good news to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15).

All are in agreement that (a) Jesus gave the disciples a mission of bearing witness by
preaching and living the Good News. They are to tell and re-tell the story of Jesus' life,
suffering, death and Resurrection. (b) He assured them of the Divine assistance of the
Holy Spirit in the carrying out of this mission. (c) He instructed them to baptize the
believers: “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.” (Mt 16: 19-20). “In the earliest community and for some
time, Baptism was administered in the name of Jesus. It is only in this passage of

Matthew and in the Didache, a Christian writing probably dating back to the end of the
first century, that we hear of the threefold formula.” (Fr. Reginald Fuller).

D) Christmas and Ascension: The Ascension is most closely related, in meaning, to
Christmas. In Jesus, the human and the Divine become united in the Person and life of
one man. That's Christmas. At the Ascension, this human being – the person and the
resurrected body of Jesus – became for all eternity a part of who God is. It was not the
Spirit of Jesus or the Divine Nature of Jesus that ascended to the Father.

It was the Risen living Body of Jesus: a Body that the disciples had touched, a Body in
which He Himself had eaten and drunk with them both before and after His
Resurrection, a real, physical, but gloriously restored Body, bearing the marks of nails
and a spear. This is what, and Who, ascended. This is what, now and forever, is a
living, participating part of God. That is what the Ascension, along with the Incarnation,
is here to tell us – that it is a good thing to be a human being; indeed, it is a wonderful
and an important and a holy thing to be a human being. It is such an important thing
that God did it. Even more, the fullness of God now includes what it means to be a
human being.

Life messages:
1)We need to be proclaimers and evangelizers: …

2) We need to live a life of Christian joy in the presence of the ascended Lord…

3) We have a teaching mission: …

4) The ascended Jesus is our source of strength and encouragement: …

Healing Prayers for: Winston Hill, Heleneve Parks, The Morgan Family, Desiree Mitchell,
Jeanne Chase, Harriett Kelley, Joseph B Lopez, Eunice Richmond, Antainette Johnson,
Wanda Harris, Kathleen Holly, Edward Briscoe, Dolores Abrams, Barbara Williams, Juanita
Watkins, Brenda Ross, Mary James, Dorothy Barlow, Corrina Murray, George Thomas,
Yvonne Lesesne Frederick McNiel, James Anthony Murphy, Earnest Ingram.Jr., John
Howard, Iris Best, Dorothy Hollis, Calvin Best Gisele Best, Lezeal Rorie, Lillian Taylor,
Veronica Brown, Deacon McBurnett Smith, Marsha Carlson-Meyers, Dr. Dee Jones Adams,
Father Dan Vitz, Eleonora Best, Jane Rhyne, Faye Lyon, Abby Fargo, Mildred Selmar, Heather
Wooten-Rollins, Brenda Newman, Courtney Barlow, Benjamin Davis, Ronald Horton,
Veronica Harris, Dorothy Sylvester, Darlene Jones Our Homebound Parishioners: William
Barnes, Corinne Bachiller, Sybil Depeazer, Louvenia Gray, Pauline Johnson, Barbara
Thompson, Yvonne Samuel, Viola Walker
 LIVE THE LITURGY - INSPIRATION FOR THE WEEK OF- May 16, 2021
When Jesus was physically with his disciples, he guarded and protected them. One of
his greatest desires was that they share his joy completely. God’s love is the source of
all things and their sustenance. As we conduct the normal routines of our lives it is easy
to get caught up in the immediacies of this world and lose focus. We become very self
and worldly dependent, forgetting that God wishes to guard and protect us. The joy the
resurrected Christ can offer cannot be found in this world. It takes a bit of faith to realize
that God’s will is a constant in our lives and that God desires only the sustenance and
goodness of both our bodies and our souls. We need to trust in God’s constant and
rejuvenating love. This radical resurrection trust allows us to experience the joy of
God’s presence in all of the good and the bad, positive and negative, life building and
life destructive events that we encounter. God remains where love remains.
        ©LPi

                                 READINGS FOR THE NEXT WEEK
                                 Monday:    Acts 19:1-8 Jn 16:29-33
                                 Tuesday:   Acts 20:17-27 Jn 17:1-11a
                                 Wednesday: Acts 20:28-38 Jn 17:11b-19
                                 Thursday:  Acts 22:30; 23:6-11 Jn 17:20-26
                                 Friday     Acts 25:13b-21 Jn 21:15-19
                                 Saturday:  Acts 28:16-20, 30-31 Jn 16:7, 13
                                 Sunday     Gn 11:1-9 Rom 8:22-27 Jn 7:37-39

Our Lady of Guadalupe Triumph of Mary Tour - Parish Visit May 26, 2021
Our Lady of Guadalupe Missionary Image is coming to Assumption Church on
Wednesday, May 26. The visitation will start at 11 am with Adoration and Mass,
followed by a talk and time to pray with the Missionary Image until 3:00 pm. This
image is a replica of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe that appeared on St. Juan
Diego's tilma and resulted in the conversion of 9 million Aztecs in 9 years! Mary is
calling you to give you comfort in these trying times. This special missionary image is
associated with many miracles and healings. You don't want to miss it!

Jubilarian Mass Certificate Registration
All Jubilarian Couples celebrating milestone marriage anniversaries of 25, 30, 40, 50,
60 and 70+ years. In addition to including their names in the Mass program, certificates
for each couple will be mailed to the parishes for distribution.
Click here to register ALL Jubilarian Couples will receive a certificate, including the
couple attending in-person. The Certificate registration deadline is May 27, 2021.

May 16, 2021