May 17, 2026
The Ascension of the Lord
Ascension
Lectionary: 58
Reading 1
In the first book, Theophilus,
I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught
until the day he was taken up,
after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit
to the apostles whom he had chosen.
He presented himself alive to them
by many proofs after he had suffered,
appearing to them during forty days
and speaking about the kingdom of God.
While meeting with them,
he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem,
but to wait for “the promise of the Father
about which you have heard me speak;
for John baptized with water,
but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
When they had gathered together they asked him,
“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons
that the Father has established by his own authority.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
throughout Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.”
When he had said this, as they were looking on,
he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.
While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going,
suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.
They said, “Men of Galilee,
why are you standing there looking at the sky?
This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven
will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”
Responsorial Psalm
R. (6) God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a
blare of trumpets for the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
All you peoples, clap your hands,
shout to God with cries of gladness,
For the LORD, the Most High, the awesome,
is the great king over all the earth.
R. God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the
Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
God mounts his throne amid shouts of joy;
the LORD, amid trumpet blasts.
Sing praise to God, sing praise;
sing praise to our king, sing praise.
R. God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the
Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
For king of all the earth is God;
sing hymns of praise.
God reigns over the nations,
God sits upon his holy throne.
R. God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the
Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Reading 2
Brothers and sisters:
May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,
give you a Spirit of wisdom and revelation
resulting in knowledge of him.
May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened,
that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call,
what are the riches of glory
in his inheritance among the holy ones,
and what is the surpassing greatness of his power
for us who believe,
in accord with the exercise of his great might,
which he worked in Christ,
raising him from the dead
and seating him at his right hand in the heavens,
far above every principality, authority, power, and dominion,
and every name that is named
not only in this age but also in the one to come.
And he put all things beneath his feet
and gave him as head over all things to the church,
which is his body,
the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Go and teach all nations, says the Lord;
I am with you always, until the end of the world.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
The eleven disciples went to Galilee,
to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them.
When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.
Then Jesus approached and said to them,
“All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
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,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/051726-Ascension
Commentary on Acts
1:1-11; Ephesians 1:17-23; Matthew 28:16-20
Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward
heaven?
The Ascension is not to be understood literally as if Jesus
floated up into space on his way to “heaven”. Where is “heaven”? Is it above
Jerusalem? Is it in the whole sky encircling the earth? Heaven should be conceived
not as a place, but as a relationship with God and God is everywhere in the
whole universe. Jesus did not have to ‘go’ anywhere to be with his Father.
Paschal mystery
The Ascension is part of what we call the Paschal Mystery. There are four
interrelated parts: suffering and death; resurrection; ascension; and the
sending of the Spirit. They are closely interlocked as one reality. If the
Resurrection says that the crucified Jesus is alive, the Ascension says that
the living Jesus has entered into glory, sharing on an equal level the glory of
his Father. This is expressed in many different ways in different writings of
our Christian (New) Testament. We have three of these viewpoints or
understandings in each of today’s readings.
On God’s right hand
In the Letter to the Ephesians (Second Reading) the fact is stated with great
solemnity, but without saying how it took place. The author speaks of putting
God’s:
…power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead
and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and
authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only
in this age but also in the age to come.
This is basically the meaning of the Ascension, namely, that
Jesus, our triumphant Messiah-King, reigns in glory over all creation. There is
no mention of ‘where’ he is or how he got there.
Familiar account
If we go to the Acts of the Apostles (First Reading), we come to a description
which, for many Christians, is the definitive account of the Ascension. Jesus
rose on Easter Sunday and then spent 40 days instructing his disciples about
the Reign or Kingship of God. During this time they wondered when Jesus was
going to restore the Kingdom of Israel. They were still in a state of great
misunderstanding about the nature of Jesus’ mission—and their own.
As they will eventually come to understand, it is they
themselves who will become the agents, not of restoring the Kingdom of Israel,
but much more importantly, helping to establish the Kingship of God all over
the world.
Then, one day on the Mount of Olives just outside Jerusalem,
as they looked on:
…he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their
sight.
The ‘lifting up’ is to be understood more in a spiritual
sense, as it is in John’s Gospel where he speaks a number of times about Jesus
being “lifted up”:
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all
people to myself. (John 12:32)
In particular, it refers to the Risen Jesus being raised to
the glory of God the Father. This is further emphasised by the cloud that took
him from their sight. The same cloud that, in the Hebrew Testament, shrouded
Mount Sinai as the sign of God’s presence, or the cloud that enveloped Jesus at
his Transfiguration.
Lower your eyes
And that is why the disciples need to be told not to stay standing there
gawking up at the sky. That is not where the Risen and Ascended Jesus is to be
found. If they want to meet him again, they have to go back to Jerusalem,
where, in a few days’ time, they themselves will be filled with the Spirit of
God and of the Risen and Ascended Jesus. They will become the Body of the Risen
and Exalted Jesus, his effective presence to “the ends of the earth”. As Jesus
had told them just before his Ascension (in Acts):
…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come
upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.
As we saw on previous Sundays, in order to continue being
with his disciples, Jesus had to leave them. His ‘old’ presence in one human
body, in one small corner of the world, reaching a small number of people, in
one tiny period of history now gives way to a new presence that will reach the
whole world in every age. From now on, wherever there is “love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control”
(Gal 5:22-23), the Spirit of Jesus is there.
Same message, different location
Today’s Gospel (from Matthew) has a similar message. While the scene in Acts
takes place in Jerusalem (for Luke, it is the focal point of all that Jesus
means for the world), Matthew has the disciples back on their home ground in
Galilee. For, it is in the familiarity of home, not up in the skies, that Jesus
is to be found. They are at the mountain “to which Jesus had directed them.”
This is the mountain where Jesus once revealed himself to three disciples at
the Transfiguration (chap 17) and where he touched them after this, saying:
Get up and do not be afraid.
This is not really an ascension scene. It is understood that
the Risen Jesus is already in the glory of the Father. We have here rather an
appearance of the Risen Jesus, an appearance that relies on faith.
So, on the one hand they worship and, on the other, they
have doubts—an experience all of us can have from time to time. The emphasis
here is not on the appearance of Jesus, but on what he has to say to his
disciples. It is in three parts—past, present and future.
Jesus, source of all authority
First, Jesus tells them that:
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given
to [him by the Creator God].
To commit oneself totally to Jesus is to commit oneself to
God.
Second, Jesus gives the command to “make disciples” of
people everywhere. He is thus passing on much of his own authority to his
disciples. Pentecost will be the confirmation of this. They are to do what he
did. They will have the power to reconcile the sinful with God and with the
community, and to decide who are not yet ready for reconciliation and full
participation in the community’s life. The community has standards to keep in
order to be a living and credible witness of Jesus and his gospel. It has a
corporate right to maintain those standards. They are to teach, to heal, to
break down the divisions that separate people. Baptism in the name of the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit will be the symbol of incorporation as
members of Christ’s Body, as disciples of Jesus.
Always with us
Third, the Risen and Ascended Jesus is not far away:
…remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
It is a reminder of the promise made at the very beginning
of Matthew’s Gospel, before the birth of Jesus:
Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to
a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means, “God is with us.” (Matt
1:23)
And again later on,
…where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there
among them. (Matt 18:20)
The gift of the Spirit is not mentioned, but is clearly implied
by the promise of the ongoing presence of Jesus.
Today’s feast, then, is a celebration of Jesus’ glory after
his suffering and death—a glory in which we also hope to share. At the same
time, we celebrate the ongoing presence of the Risen Jesus among us through the
Holy Spirit, a presence which calls on every one of us to be living witnesses
to that presence here in our own community and to the ends of the earth.
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Sunday,
May 17, 2026
The Ascension of the Lord
Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, send your Spirit to help
us to read the Scriptures with the same mind that you read them to the
disciples on the way to Emmaus. In the light of the Word, written in the Bible,
you helped them to discover the presence of God in the disturbing events of
your sentence and death. Thus, the cross that seemed to be the end of all hope
became for them the source of life and of resurrection.
Create in us silence so that we may listen to your
voice in Creation and in the Scriptures, in events and in people, above all in
the poor and suffering. May your word guide us so that we too, like the two
disciples from Emmaus, may experience the force of your resurrection and
witness to others that you are alive in our midst as source of fraternity,
justice and peace. We ask this of you, Jesus, son of Mary, who revealed to us
the Father and sent us your Spirit. Amen.
Gospel Reading
A Key to Guide the Reading:
The text reports the last
words of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. This is like a testament, his last
wish for the community, that which is uppermost in his mind. In our reading,
let us try to pay attention to the following: What does Jesus insist on most in
his final words?
A Division of Chapter 14 to Help
With the Reading:
•
Mt 28: 16 – Geographical indication: return to
Galilee
•
Mt 28: 17 – Jesus’ apparition and the reaction
of the disciples
•
Mt 28: 18-20a – Jesus’ final instructions
•
Mt 28: 20b – The great promise, source of all
hope.
Gospel Text - Matthew 28: 16-20
16: Meanwhile the eleven disciples
set out for Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had arranged to meet them.
17: When they saw him they fell down
before him, though some hesitated. 18-20a: Jesus came up and spoke to them. He
said, 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go,
therefore, make disciples of all nations; baptise them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all the
commands I gave you.
20b: And look, I am with you always; yes, to the end of
time.'
A Moment of Prayerful Silence
so that the Word of God may enter
into us and enlighten our life.
Some Questions
to help us in our personal
reflection.
•
What struck you and touched your heart most?
•
Identify the chronological and geographical
information in this text.
•
How do the disciples react? What is the content
of Jesus’ words to the disciples?
•
What is this "all power in heaven and on
earth" given to Jesus?
•
What does it mean, "to become a
disciple" of Jesus?
•
In this context, what does the baptism "in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" mean?
•
What do the words "I am with you always,
even to the end of time" remind us of in the OT?
A Key to the Reading
for those who wish to go deeper
into the text.
The Context of Matthew’s Gospel
•
Matthew’s Gospel, written about the year 85, is
addressed to a community of converted Jews who lived in Syria-Palestine. They
were going through a deep identity crisis concerning their past. When they
accepted Jesus as the awaited Messiah, they continued to go to the synagogue
and to observe the law and the ancient traditions. Moreover, they had a certain
affinity with the Pharisees, and after the revolution of the Jews in Palestine
against the Romans (65 to 72), they and the Pharisees were the only two groups
to have survived the Roman oppression.
•
From the 80s, these Jewish brothers, Pharisees
and Christians, only survivors, began to fight among themselves as to who had
inherited the promises of the OT. Each claimed to be the inheritors. Gradually,
tension grew between them and they began to excommunicate each other. The
Christians could no longer attend the synagogue and were cut off from their past.
Each group began to regroup: the Pharisees in the synagogue, the Christians in
church. This added to the identity problem of the community of Jewish
Christians because it raised serious questions in need of urgent solutions.
"Who has inherited the promises of the OT, those of the synagogue or those
of the church? On whose side is God? Who are really the people of God?
•
Now, Matthew writes his Gospel to help these
communities overcome their crisis and to find an answer to their problems. His
Gospel is, first of all, a Gospel of revelation showing how Jesus is the true
Messiah, the new Moses, the culmination of the whole of the history of the OT
and its promises. It is also the Gospel of consolation for those who felt
excluded and persecuted by their Jewish brothers. Matthew wants to console and
help them to overcome the trauma of the split. It is the Gospel of the new
practice because it shows the way to achieve a new justice, greater than that
of the Pharisees. It is the Gospel of openness and shows that the Good News of
God that Jesus brought cannot be hidden, but must be placed on a candlestick so
that it may enlighten the life of all peoples.
Commentary on the Text of Matthew
28: 16-20
•
Matthew 28: 16: Returning to Galilee: It was in
Galilee that it all began (Mt 4: 12). It was there that the disciples first
heard the call (Mt 4: 15) and it was there that Jesus promised to reunite them
again after the resurrection (Mt 26: 31). In Luke, Jesus forbids them to leave
Jerusalem (Acts 1: 4). In Matthew they are commanded to leave Jerusalem and go
back to Galilee (Mt 28: 7, 10). Each evangelist has his own way of presenting
the person of Jesus and his plans. For Luke, after the resurrection of Jesus,
the proclamation of the Good News has to begin in Jerusalem in order to reach
to the ends of the earth (Acts 1: 8). For Matthew, the proclamation begins in
Galilee of the pagans (Mt 4: 15) in order to prefigure the passage from the
Jews to the pagans.
The disciples had to go to the mountain that Jesus pointed
out to them. The mountain reminds us of Mount Sinai, where the first Covenant
took place and where Moses received the tablets of the Law of God (Ex 19 to 24;
34: 1-35). It also reminds us of the mountain of God, where the prophet Elijah
took refuge to find again the meaning of his mission (1Kings 19: 1-18). It also
reminds us of the mountain of the Transfiguration, where Moses and Elijah, that
is, the Law and the Prophets, appear with Jesus, thus confirming that he is the
promised Messiah (Mt 17: 1-8).
•
Matthew 28: 17: Some doubted: The first
Christians had great difficulty in believing in the resurrection. The
evangelists insist in saying that they doubted a lot and did not believe in the
resurrection of Jesus (Mk 16: 11, 13, 14; Lk 24: 11, 21, 25, 36, 41; Jn 20:
25). Faith in the resurrection was a slow and difficult process but ended by
being the greatest certainty of Christians (1 Cor 15: 3-34).
•
Matthew 28: 18: All power in heaven and on earth
has been given to me: The passive form of the verb shows that Jesus received
his authority from the Father. What is this authority? In the Apocalypse, the
Lamb (the risen Jesus) received from the hand of God the book with seven seals
(Ap 5: 7) and became the Lord of history, he who must assume the responsibility
for the execution of God’s project as described in the sealed book, and as such
is adored by all creatures (Ap 12: 11-14). By his authority and power he
conquers the Dragon, the power of evil (Ap 12: 1-9). And captures the Beast and
the false prophet, symbols of the Roman Empire (Ap 19: 20). In the Creed at
Mass we say that Jesus ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the
Father, thus becoming the judge of the living and the dead.
•
Matthew 28: 19-20a: Jesus’ last words: three
commands to the disciples: Vested with supreme authority, Jesus passes on three
orders to the disciples and to all of us:
•
(i) Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations;
•
(ii) baptize them in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit;
•
(iii) teach them to observe whatsoever I have
commanded you.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations: To be a
disciple is not the same
as being a student. A disciple is in relation to the
master. A student is in relation to the teacher. The disciple lives with the master
24 hours a day; the student receives lessons from the teacher for a few hours
then goes back home. The disciple presupposes a community. The student
presupposes being present in a classroom for lessons. The state of discipleship
in those days was marked by the expression to follow the master. In the
Carmelite Rule we read: To live in obedience to Jesus Christ. For the first
Christians, to follow Jesus meant three connected things:
•
To imitate
the example of the Master: Jesus was the model to imitate and to be
repeated in the life of the disciple (Jn 13: 13-15). Living together every day
meant a constant meeting. In this School
of Jesus only one subject was taught: the Kingdom! This Kingdom could be
seen in the life and practice of Jesus.
•
Sharing in
the fate of the Master: Those who followed Jesus, had to commit themselves
to "stay with him in temptations" (Lk 22: 28), and in persecution (Jn
15: 20; Mt 10: 24- 25) and had to be willing to take up the cross and die with him
(Mk 8: 34-35; Jn 11: 36).
•
To possess
in oneself the life of Jesus: After Easter, a third dimension was added:
"I live now not I but Christ lives in me." The first Christians
sought to identify themselves with Jesus. This is the mystical dimension in the
following of Jesus, fruit of the Spirit’s action.
•
Baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: The
Trinity is the source, the end and the way. Those baptized in the name of the
Father, revealed in Jesus, commit themselves to live as brothers and sisters in
fraternity. And if God is Father, we are all brothers and sisters. Those
baptized in the name of the Son, Jesus, commit themselves to imitate Jesus and
to follow him even unto the cross in order to rise with him. And the power that
Jesus received from the Father is a creative power that conquers death. Those
baptized in the Holy Spirit, given by Jesus on the day of Pentecost, commit
themselves to interiorizing fraternity and the following of Jesus, allowing
themselves to be led by the Spirit alive in the community.
•
Teaching
them to observe all my commands: For us Christians, Jesus is the New Law of
God, proclaimed from on high in the mountain. Jesus is the chosen of the Father
as the new Moses, whose word is law for us. "Hear him" (Mt 17:15).
The Spirit sent by him will remind us of all the things he taught us (Jn 14:26;
16:13). The observance of the new Law of love is balanced by the gratuitous
presence of Jesus in our midst, till the end of time.
•
Matthew
28: 20b: I am with you always, even to the end of time: When Moses was sent
to free the people from Egypt, he received a guarantee from God, the only
guarantee that offers complete certainty: "Go, I shall be with you!"
(Ex 3:
12). It is the same certainty
promised to the prophets and other persons sent by God to undertake an
important mission in God’s plan (Jer 1: 8; Jud 6: 16). Mary received the same
guarantee when the angel said to her, "The Lord is with you" (Lk 1:
28). The person of Jesus is the living expression of this guarantee, because
his name is Emmanuel, God with us (Mt 1: 23). He will be with his disciples,
with all of us, even to the end of time. Here we see Jesus’ authority. He
controls history and time. He is the first and the last (Ap 1: 17).
Before the first, nothing
existed and after the last, nothing
is. This guarantee sustains people, nourishes their faith, sustains hope and
generates love and the gift of oneself.
Highlighting the Words of Jesus:
The Universal Mission of the Community.
Abraham was called to be the source
of blessings not only for his descendants, but for all families on earth (Gen
12: 3). The slave people were called not only to restore the tribe of Jacob,
but also to be light to the nations (Is 49: 6; 42: 6). The prophet Amos said
that God not only freed Israel from Egypt, but also the Philistines from Kaftor
and the Aramaians from Quir (Am 9: 7). God, then, looks after and is concerned
for the Israelites as well as for the Philistines and the Aramaians who were
the greatest enemies of the people of Israel! The prophet Elijah thought he was
the only defender of God (Kings 19: 10, 14), but he had to be told that apart
from himself there were seven thousand others! (1 Kings 19: 18) The prophet
Jonah wanted Yahweh to be only the God of Israel, but had to admit that he is
the God of all nations, even the inhabitants of Niniveh, the bitterest enemies
of Israel (Jo 4: 1-11). In the New Testament, John, the disciple, wanted Jesus
only for the little group, for the community, but Jesus corrected him and said,
He who is not against me is for me! (Mk
9: 38-40).
At the end of the first century after Christ, the
difficulties and persecutions could have driven the Christian communities into
losing the missionary impetus and to close in on themselves, as if they were
the only ones defending the values of the Kingdom. But Matthew’s Gospel,
faithful to this long tradition of openness to all nations, tells the
communities that they cannot close in on themselves. They cannot claim for
themselves a monopoly on the action of God in the world. God is not the
community’s property; rather the community is Yahweh’s property (Ex 19: 5). In
the midst of humanity that struggles against and resists oppression, the
communities must be salt and yeast (Mt 5: 13; 13: 33). They must proclaim aloud
to the whole world, among all nations, the Good News that Jesus brought us. God
is present in our midst, the same God who, in Exodus, commits himself to free
those who call on his name! (Ex 3: 7-12). This is our mission. If this salt
loses its savor, what will it be good for? "It is of no use for the earth
or for the fertilizer" (Lk 14: 35)
Psalm 150
Universal Praise
Hallelujah!
Praise God in his holy sanctuary;
give praise in the mighty dome of
heaven. Give praise for his mighty deeds, praise him for his great majesty.
Give praise with blasts upon the horn, praise him with harp
and lyre.
Give praise with tambourines and dance, praise him with
flutes and strings.
Give praise with crashing cymbals, praise him with
sounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath give praise to the Lord!
Hallelujah!
Final Prayer
Lord Jesus, we thank for the word that has enabled us to
understand better the will of the Father. May your Spirit enlighten our actions
and grant us the strength to practice that which your Word has revealed to us.
May we, like Mary, your mother, not only listen to but also practice the Word.
You who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever
and ever. Amen.
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