Word of the Week

Ascension of the Lord

Witness: Marteria (GK.): “to witness; testify”

To evangelize, or witness, is to “proclaim Christ and his Gospel by word and testimony of life, in fulfillment of Christ’s command” (CCC 905). The true apostle who seeks the Kingdom of God in all things and circumstances is constantly on the lookout for the opportunity to evangelize and catechize the people of God. This witness of life is a participation in Christ’s prophetic office (CCC 905).

Witnessis found 203 times in Sacred Scripture: 108 in the Old Testament and 95 in the New Testament. Initially, we must recall that the 73 books in the Holy Bible are broken into two canons: the promise in the OT and the fulfillment of the NT. This could speak to the prevalence of witness throughout Sacred Scripture, but we must go deeper to find out why these two canons are marked with “Testament”--both Old and New.

The golden thread throughout salvation history has been God’s covenant (Hb. derivative is the same word for testify) love for man. God was constantly preparing the way for his Son in OT Christ-like figures who would pave the way towards Christ in their covenant-making relationship with God. Christ in the NT would ultimately ratify the New Covenant in his sacrifice on Calvary.

Witness in the NT text has predominantly a twofold meaning: to establish Christ’s witness to the life of the Trinity while ratifying the New Covenant in his blood and water (Jn. 1:7-8, 5:37-39; 1 Jn.5:7-9; Hb.2:4) and also to address the testimony of the early apostles to the Paschal Mystery of Christ (Gal.4:15; Hb.12:1; 1 Pet.5:1; Acts 13:31). Again, these two realities of witness were preeminent, yet there were other motives to write about the many-layered meaning of witness. First, the command not to bear “false witness” against our neighbor (Mt.15:19; Mk.14:56; Mt.19:18), and second, considering the early example of Christian life in the Spirit, to bear witness to the Truth, through word and deed in the life of Christ (Rom.1:9; Rom.8:16). It is in this last mode of witness that we receive our own unique vocation to become daily martyrs, offering up our daily cross to our heavenly Father.

This call to witness is the springboard to John Paul II’s vision of the New Evangelization. The earmarks of the NE, to catechize and evangelize, are rooted in the universal call to prayer and holiness. John Paul II embraces that a life steeped in prayer will lead to an effusive Catechesis of Christians and a life-giving outreach to the poor and marginalized. He reiterated throughout his pontificate that this witness, or New Evangelization, must always draw from the Church’s structure of faith to insert each Christian into communion with the person of Jesus Christ.  So let us go forth in the spirit of Ascension Sunday looking to die to self so that we might rise with him bearing witness to the Ascension of our Lord

"Many, my beloved, are the true testimonies concerning Christ. The Father bears witness from heaven of His Son: the Holy Ghost bears witness, descending bodily in likeness of a dove: the Archangel Gabriel bears witness, bringing good tidings to Mary: the Virgin Mother of God [Theotokos] bears witness: the blessed place of the manger bears witness.”

--St. Cyril of Jerusalem

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