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The Gospel of Saint Mark says, “Jesus was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.” However, before he departed he gave the Apostles a mandate: “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.”

The message is clear.  With his physical absence on Earth, his followers are to take up his mission and continue it, until he returns again in glory.

The same message is echoed in the first reading from Acts. The two men (or angels) in white robes address the disciples and question them: “… why do you stand looking up toward heaven?  This Jesus, who has  been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”  They are basically saying, “There is work to be done. Don’t just stand around.”
Download this entire Faith Connection here...

Download this entire Faith Connection here…
A motorist with very poor eyesight was driving in a dense fog. Unable to see more than a few feet ahead, he began to rely on and closely follow the taillights of the car in front of him. When that car suddenly came to a stop, the second car collided with the first.

The driver of the first car walked back and asked, “What were you doing?”
The man in the second car shot back, “Why did you stop so suddenly without warning?” “I had to,” said the first driver, “I just pulled into my garage.”

It is not wise to depend on and trust someone whom we only know superficially, if at all. Unaware of a person’s true intention and direction, if we blindly follow, we will often be unhappy with where we end up.
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Jesus knew that many who listened to him were familiar with farming, so he often used agricultural stories as examples. He also had a keen understanding of human  nature, as we see in John 15:1–8.

If you’re not a gardener, you may not know that pruning a fruit tree or bush causes a plant to put forth new growth and more fruit. Jesus tells his followers that they, too, should expect to be “pruned”:

“. . . my Father is the vine grower. He removes every  branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.”  Download this Faith Connection Now.

The Fourth Sunday of the Easter Season is designated as the feast of Jesus, the Good Shepherd.  Through the narrative of the Gospel, we can understand why Jesus is the good shepherd, but we also get a sense of the relationship between Jesus and believers. 

It is easy for us to imagine Jesus with a sheep slung over
his shoulders, leading a flock of sheep or searching for a lost lamb, as we listen to the proclamation of this Gospel. The biblical authors often present the image of a shepherd, not only because the people could relate to it, but also because it is such a rich image for expressing Divine love and concern.
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Lent, in the minds of many, is the time to deal with sin. Easter is a different story. In fact, as today’s readings tell us, the forgiveness of sin is an essential dimension of our Easter faith.
In Acts, Peter proclaims the risen Christ and almost immediately adds, “Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out . . .” The First Letter of John tells us that the risen Christ, seated at the right hand of the Father, is even now our advocate who pleads our cause should we sin.
Finally, in today’s Gospel, the risen Jesus gives a mandate and a mission to his followers to preach the forgiveness of sins to the nations beginning in Jerusalem and extending out to the ends of the earth.  Download this Faith Connection now…