A Gospel according to Lk 24:46-53
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer
and rise from the dead on the third day
and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins,
would be preached in his name
to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things.
And behold I am sending the promise of my Father upon you;
but stay in the city
until you are clothed with power from on high.”
Then he led them out as far as Bethany,
raised his hands, and blessed them.
As he blessed them he parted from them
and was taken up to heaven.
They did him homage
and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy,
and they were continually in the temple praising God.
REFLECTION
"You are witnesses of these things. And behold I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high"
Our Lord appeared to his disciples in different places and occasions during 39 days after Easter.
On the 40th day, which we celebrate today, He gloriously ascended into Heaven. In the Gospel of Luke we read that Jesus asks the disciples to stay in the city until they are clothed with the power from on high.
In 10 days Pentecost will be upon us. During these 10 days we prepare ourselves to also receive the Holy Spirit. In PAPA we pray the Dekaena to the Holy Spirit. From our introduction to the Dekaena:
The Dekaena is a 10 day meditation to the Holy Spirit.
It begins 10 days before Pentecost on Ascension Thursday
Our patron saint, St Alphonsus Liguori, wrote it in honor of our Lord’s command to the apostles . He called it the very FIRST RETREAT or PROTO-NOVENA among all novenas because it was the very first one our Lady and the apostles ever did together.
The Risen Lord stayed with the apostles for 40 days and then He ascended into heaven. Before He left he gave the Apostles the order to tarry for the “Promise of the Father “ and the “Power from on high” –the HOLY SPIRIT, and so the apostles and our Lady waited and prayed together for 10 days—which is why St Alphonsus calls it the very FIRST RETREAT.
Why the name Dekaena?
The whole world uses "Novena", loosely translates to "Nine".
Since we pray for 10 days let's use the PAPA weirdly term DEKAENA
or Δέκα ημέρες
Deka iméres
10 Days
Pronounced as: DÊ-KÊ-NA.
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