Homily: Ascension of the Lord
May 17, 2026
My dear brothers and sisters, we celebrate today the glorious ascension of our Lord Jesus into heaven after his resurrection from the dead. The Church inserted this event of Ascension as the second glorious mystery of the Holy Rosary, to underscore its importance. We are called to reflect on the depth of this mystery as we pray the rosary daily. Today’s celebration is a glorious celebration of hope and exaltation of humanity. In the opening prayer (the Collect) of this Mass, we prayed, “for the Ascension of Christ your Son is our exaltation, and, where the Head has gone before in glory, the Body is called to follow in hope.” In essence, by His ascension body and soul, Jesus has paved way for human nature to share in His divine glory.
We recall some of the highpoints of Jesus’ life and ministry. His suffering began from His birth, there was no space for his birth in a human house, maternity or hospital. Animal pen was the maternity where He was born, and animals might have served as midwives too. Thereafter, the wicked King Herod was after Him to kill him. He treaded the streets of Jerusalem on foot as a homeless itinerant preacher. The end of His ministry was the scariest, He was butchered and left hanging on a cross in a pool of blood caused by the nails and spears that were used on him after many hours of malicious torture. Jesus then seemed to be the most to be pitied, He appeared then to be an epitome of failure. However, in a day like today, the story is totally different, He ascended gloriously accompanied by a battalion of angels to the right hand of His Father. This tells us brothers and sisters, suffering, evil, wickedness has an expiring date, it can never last forever. Faithfulness to the gospel message of our Lord Jesus Christ would make us live forever.
We learn a lot from this discourse that Jesus had with His disciples before He ascended to heaven as we read in the first reading. Even at this very last moment, it seemed the understanding of Jesus’ mission was not yet very clear to them. Their thoughts were more on the material, the ephemeral, the tangible world, the here and now, immediate glorification and earthly conquest. We can see the question they posed to Jesus, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” Their minds were still in the restoration of the earthly kingdom to Israel. Their thought pattern might not be different from many men and women of our time who emphasize only the tangible and intelligible world and totally forget the spiritual side of our existence.
In His response to them, we can see how Jesus once again drew their mind to the Spiritual Principle in us and the need for commitment to our Spiritual upkeep for us to be able to attain the forthcoming glory. Jesus told them, “it is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” In the physical world for instance, we all know the importance of power, how to harness the solar power, the wind power, the wave power, electric power and so on. Because of the ongoing conflict between US/Israel vs Iran and the crises it is causing at the Strait of Hormuz, we all are paying through our nose to be able to buy gas to power our vehicles and other machines. When there is power failure, life shuts down. If physical power is so important for earthly life, then what of the Power of God within us, the Power from on High on which peace and happiness in this life and eternal life in the next depend? Do we simply take it for granted or are we truly aware of it. Probably most of us rarely think of it, which is a fatal mistake.
Jesus further told them, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” In the gospel, we heard Jesus admonishing them, “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 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” So, to be able to join Jesus at the right hand of His Father, paying heed to these admonitions are crucial: witnessing to Jesus, fidelity in discipleship, baptism of repentance, obedience to His commandments. The words of these two angels to the apostles further confirms, they were like, men of Galilee, why do you stand there gazing, go into the vineyard of the Lord and continue the work, Jesus will come again, only those He would find committed would rise with Him to His glory.
