The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, celebrated this Sunday, May 17, 2026, invites Christians to meditate on the missionary mandate left by Jesus before ascending to heaven. The Gospel of Matthew (28:16-20) recounts that the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain indicated by Jesus. When they saw him, they worshiped him, though some still doubted. Approaching, Jesus declared: “All authority 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.”
The liturgical reflection highlights that the Ascension is not a departure, but the entry of Jesus' humanity into divine glory. “Jesus took our humanity to heaven. That humanity, which he assumed on earth, did not remain here; it ascended to God and will be there forever,” the meditation recalls. Pope Francis, quoted in the homily, emphasized that “the Ascension reminds us of this assistance of Jesus and his Spirit, which gives confidence, gives security to our Christian witness in the world. The Church exists to proclaim the Gospel. Only for that!”
The missionary mandate, according to the reflection, is directed not only to the first disciples but to all the baptized. Saint Josemaría Escrivá, founder of Opus Dei, is evoked with his words: “It is up to us Christians to proclaim in these days, to this world of which we are a part and in which we live, the ancient and new message of the Gospel.” He insisted that most Christians must “bring Christ to all areas where human tasks unfold: to the factory, to the laboratory, to the work of the field, to the artisan's workshop, to the streets of great cities, and to the mountain paths.”
The attitude of adoration before the Risen One is presented as a source of strength for evangelization. Saint Thomas Aquinas is quoted: “What men greatly admire, they later spread, because from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” If the faithful know how to adore the Lord with devotion and gratitude, their witness will be more authentic and effective, springing from a heart full of God, like that of the first disciples and the holy women.
The feast of the Ascension, therefore, is an occasion to renew apostolic zeal and the desire to lead souls to heaven, where the glorious Jesus awaits. The apostles, faced with the task of Christianizing a world full of civilizations that still did not know the Gospel and of ideological obstacles, were filled with confidence in the Risen One, who clearly told them: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” and “I am with you always, until the end of the age.”