The Ascension
This Sunday we celebrate the Ascension: this is the day when Jesus returns to the Father in heaven. There seems to be a contradiction in Jesus leaving as he assures us that he is staying with us when he said know that I am with you to the end of time. Jesus is going to heaven, but it is not a farewell because he is with us today right where we are through all the ups and downs we have in 2026. He is with us in a particular way through the Holy Spirit and through the signs of bread and wine and the sacramental life of the church. We celebrate the Risen Lord Jesus as he returns to the Father the same Riesen Jesus who belongs to everyone who accepts him as the beloved son of God.
In the First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles we are reminded about the death of Jesus, his resurrection and how the risen Lord met with the disciples, Jesus told them, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and… to the ends of the earth. And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.’ In the second Reading Paul prays that God, the Father of glory, ‘give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you.’ For Paul, the resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of his faith and of all his missionary endeavors, and it is the risen Christ ascended into glory who is ‘the head over all things to the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.’ This Gospel reading is all about the future it is also about us in the here and now of today, and what we are doing to make disciples of all the nations in 2026. Simply put where do we fit in when we hear Jesus telling us to make disciples of the nations and do we recognize him as being with us now in May 2026. In today’s gospel, Jesus has little to say, but he is definite about what he has to say. This is in sharp contrast to the fact that, even at this last minute, some of his disciples still doubted.
The disciples did what he told them to do. He asked them to meet him on the mountain, and they did that. Like any gathering of people, their feelings were varied. Some of them worshipped him, while some of them still doubted him. Jesus didn’t seem to have any great problem with that, because he knew that, when the Spirit came, all of those doubts would be ended. It would seem, indeed, that he was in a hurry to take his leave of them, maybe he was so that the second part of his plan of salvation could get underway. The mission of the apostles was simple to understand; difficult to carry out. It was to teach others all that Jesus had taught them. Just as he asked his disciples to obey him, they were to ask that others should obey his directions and instructions also, which is so hard in the world of today. The programme of redemption and salvation that began at Pentecost must continue from generation to generation, until the end of time and here we are in 2026 talking about the ascension. With all the changes in the church and in society, the two things that have not changed are Jesus the Son of God, and every word of his message. Again, we ask ourselves what we are doing to make disciples of all the nations realizing that Jesus and his message is always new for each generation. May the Lord give us faith when we struggle, courage when we hesitate, and hearts open to the power of the Holy Spirit. so that salvation will reach the ends of the earth.
Fullerton T 