The Ascension of the Lord
Absent, Yet Present
Liturgical Cycle: A | Lectionary Cycle: II
Introduction
Greeting (see the readings)
Be my witnesses to the ends of the earth,
says the Lord.
Know that I am with you always,
till the end of time.
May the Lord Jesus be always with you. R/ And also with you.
Introduction by the Celebrant
- Absent, Yet Present
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension: the Lord Jesus returns to the glory of the Father. There is an apparent contradiction in this leaving of Jesus: while leaving, he assures us that he is staying with us. These are his last words in Matthew’s Gospel, just as Matthew had assured us in his first chapter that Jesus is our God-with-us. Jesus’ going to heaven is really no farewell: He was God-with-us in his life on earth, close to people, especially the poor and the weak. He is now with us, but in another way, through his Spirit, in the Church, for we are his body, in the signs of bread and wine, whenever people meet in his name, as we are doing at this moment, in the poor and the weak of our day, too. Our prayer today is: Stay with us, Lord.
- I Go; Now I Send You
This day of the Lord’s Ascension is for us a feast of joy, for we celebrate the Lord Jesus in his glory. He had to leave this earth so as not to be any longer the privileged companion of just a small group of apostles and disciples. Once he was glorified in heaven, he would belong to everyone willing to accept him as their Lord. From now on, we, his people, have to be his shape and face, his heartbeat, his helping hand, his smile, his strength that often looks powerless. Don’t be afraid: He has promised to be with us until the end of time, as he is here with us now in this Eucharist.
Penitential Act
Jesus has given us a task to do.
Let us ask forgiveness
that we have not measured up to his expectations
and not relied on his presence.
(pause)
Lord Jesus, you lived among people
and have gone away to the Father’s glory.
You will return,
for your love is without end:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, you still live among us
through your Spirit of strength and love,
for your love is without end:
Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, we do not see you,
but you have given us people
and a mission of truth and goodness,
for your love is without end:
Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Have mercy on us, Lord,
forgive us our sadness and our sins.
Help us to seek the will of the Father
and lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening Prayer
Let us pray
that the Spirit of the Risen Lord
may guide us
(pause)
God our Father,
our risen Lord Jesus Christ
lives now in your presence.
When we keep looking for him in the clouds,
make us turn to the task
he has given us to do here on earth
and learn to recognize his face
in our brothers and sisters.
And when we are too attached to this earth,
remind us that in your own good time
you will complete Jesus’ works in us
and take us to your joy and glory
for ever and ever. R/ Amen.
First Reading
Why Are You Looking Into the Sky?: At his Ascension, Jesus entrusts his work to the apostles. The Holy Spirit will give them the strength to bear witness to Christ the Lord to the whole world.
Prologue
In the first part of my work, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning
until the day he was taken up to heaven. But first, he had instructed, through the Holy Spirit, the apostles he had chosen.
Promise of the Holy Spirit
After his passion, he presented himself to them, giving many signs that he was alive. Over a period of forty days, he showed himself to them and taught them about the kingdom of God.
Once, while he was eating with them, he told them:
John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit within a few days.”
Ascension of Jesus
When they had gathered together, they asked him:
“Is it now that you will restore the kingdom of Israel?”
He answered:
“It is not for you to know the time and the steps that the Father has fixed 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, even to the ends of the earth.”
After Jesus said this, he was taken up before their eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
While they were still looking up to heaven, where he went, suddenly, two men dressed in white stood beside them
and said: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking up at the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will return in the same way as you have seen him go there.”
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.
Second Reading
The Glorious Christ is the Head of the Church: Paul writes that Christ is now the glorious Lord who lives in the Church. May we have his Spirit to experience God in our lives and may we, the Church, live the life of Christ.
May the God of Christ Jesus our Lord, the Father of glory, reveal himself to you and give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him.
May he enlighten your inner vision so that you may appreciate the things we hope for, since we were called by God. May you know how great the inheritance and glory that God has prepared for his saints are;
may you understand with what extraordinary power he works in favor of those who believe.
He demonstrated his supreme power through Christ by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in heaven,
far above all rule, authority, power, dominion, or any other supernatural force that can be named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.
Thus, God has put all things under the feet of Christ and appointed him above all as the head of the church,
which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Alleluia Verse
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
Jesus Entrusts Us With a Mission: Jesus is gone physically, but he has left us a task: to bring his message of Good News to all. He stays with us in this mission.
Appearance to the Eleven
The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus instructed them to meet.
When they saw Jesus, they bowed before him, although some doubted.
Mission of the Disciples
Then Jesus approached and said to them:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. Baptize 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 remember, I am with you always, until the end of the age.
Prayers of the Faithful
Jesus our Risen Lord, lives for ever to pray for us and with us to the Father. Through him, let us pray then for the needs of the Church and of the world. Let us say: R/ Lord, your kingdom come.
– For the leaders and members of the Church, that they may accept and carry out their mission to live the Good News and to proclaim it to all peoples and cultures, let us pray: R/ Lord, your kingdom come.
– For people who stare to heaven and hope in God’s help, that their prayers may be heard: but that they also look to people and commit themselves to them in goodness and compassion, let us pray: R/ Lord, your kingdom come.
– For those engaged in social action, that they may work untiringly to bring genuine justice even to the least in a spirit of reconciliation and love, let us pray: R/ Lord, your kingdom come.
– For the dying, that they may join Jesus our Lord into the home of the Father and share in his glory, Let us pray: R/ Lord, your kingdom come.
– For our Christian communities, that Christ may be alive among us and give us his Spirit to build up and confirm one another in hope and a spirit of service, let us pray: R/ Lord, your kingdom come.
God of hope and life, you have not abandoned your Son in death but given him life and glory. In you we trust through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Prayer over the Gifts
God our Father,
here in these signs of bread and wine
your Son Jesus keeps his promise
to be with us always, even to the end of time.
May he live and grow in us,
and animate us by the power of the Holy Spirit
to be his body to the world
and to make disciples of all nations.
Let Jesus bring our prayer before you
and hear us, for he lives with you forever. R/ Amen.
Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer
Let us, with joy, give thanks to the Father that Jesus, though raised up to heaven, is still with us through his Holy Spirit here in this Eucharist, in the Church, and in the people around us.
Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer
The Lord Jesus is now living
in the glory of the Father in heaven;
there he pleads for us.
Through him, and in his words,
we pray to God. R/ Our Father...
Invitation to Communion
This is the Lord who said:
Know that I am with you always
until the end of time.
This is his risen and glorious body.
Happy are we that he is our bread
on our journey to the Father. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God,
we thank you for trusting us so much
that you have entrusted to us
the very mission of your Son,
to be his presence to the world.
May we reign with him
by learning from him to serve.
May people see that Christ is alive
because we are his body to the world.
We ask you this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Blessing
The Lord Jesus tells us,
as he told the apostles:
”Be my witnesses to the whole world.”
Let us not just stare at heaven
but be his message of hope to people on earth
by the way we live his Gospel.
And let us ask for God’s blessing.
May we bring the Lord’s message
to our time and to our people. R/ Amen.
May he go about doing good through us
and may we make him visible today. R/ Amen.
May he stay with us through his Spirit
now and till the end of time. R/ Amen.
And may almighty God bless you all,
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord
in the people around you. R/ Thanks be to God.
REFLECTIONS
Matthew 28:16-20
I am with you always
The Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord today. Ascension does not mean the Lord is leaving his people, but it means that He is always present with them. Unlike Luke and John, Matthew places the encounter with the Risen Lord and the Ascension scene not in Jerusalem but in Galilee. The evangelist intends a theological point in this setting, suggesting that the apostles’ mission also begins in Galilee, just as Jesus began his there.
Galilee was a despised region. Isaiah described it as “the land of the Gentiles,” that is, of the pagans (Is 9:1). The Jews looked at it with suspicion and distrust. To Nicodemus, who tried to defend Jesus, the Pharisees of Jerusalem objected: “Look it up and see for yourself that no prophet is to come from Galilee” (Jn 7:52).
Matthew states that it is to these semi-pagans that the Gospel now belongs. In the scriptures, mountains are seen as places of God’s manifestations; he appeared to Moses and Elijah on the mountain's summit. Matthew frequently uses this imagery: he places Jesus on the mountain whenever he delivers a major teaching, such as the Sermon on the Mount, or performs crucial acts, such as the transfiguration and feeding the multitude.
Similarly, in today’s passage, sending the disciples into the world is a pivotal moment. The one who has encountered the Risen Lord and absorbed his message on the mountain is empowered to carry out this mission. The statement that “although some apostles doubted” (v. 17) offers us a point for reflection. For Matthew, the Christian community is not composed of perfect individuals but of people in whom good and evil, light and darkness, coexist. The first disciples certainly had faith but still experienced doubts and uncertainties. Although we are firmly convinced of Christ’s resurrection, it is normal to have doubts.
The Church is called to make Christ present in the world. Every vocation is always accompanied by God’s promise that assures his chosen people: “Fear not, I am with you.” The promise of the Risen Lord to his disciples cannot be any different: “Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the world” (v. 20). The Gospel of Matthew begins with the promise of Emmanuel, the God-with-us (Mt 1:22-23) and ends with the fulfilment of that promise where Jesus says “I am with you always, even to the end of the world” (Mat 28:20).