SPEAKER_00: There's a line in today's first reading that I've always thought about when this feast comes up, and it probably it's probably one of the most underrated lines in the entire New Testament.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has just ascended to heaven.
SPEAKER_00: The apostles are standing there on the Mount of Olives, staring into the sky.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure they were probably processing what just happened, what they had just witnessed.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine the scene.
SPEAKER_00: Their hearts are racing, confused, awe, fear, maybe even sadness.
SPEAKER_00: One moment Jesus is standing there speaking to them.
SPEAKER_00: The next moment he's taken from their sight.
SPEAKER_00: And suddenly two angels, two men dressed in white, ask them a question.
SPEAKER_00: Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking up at the sky?
SPEAKER_00: I love that question.
SPEAKER_00: Because it's gentle, but it's also a wake-up call.
SPEAKER_00: Almost as if heaven itself is saying, Alright, you had the moment.
SPEAKER_00: What are you still doing?
SPEAKER_00: Don't just stand there.
SPEAKER_00: Get busy.
SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I think the angels are still asking that same question today, not just to the apostles, but to all of us.
SPEAKER_00: Why are you just standing there looking at the sky?
SPEAKER_00: Because we do this spiritually all the time.
SPEAKER_00: We treat Christianity like something distant, abstract, removed from real life.
SPEAKER_00: We wait for the perfect moment to take God seriously.
SPEAKER_00: We wait until life settles down, we wait for clarity.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we wait for motivation.
SPEAKER_00: We wait for some spiritual high.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we wait for a sign.
SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, years will pass and the same old, same old routine, we get stuck spiritually.
SPEAKER_00: Some people have been waiting to pray seriously for years, waiting to come back to confession, waiting to fix their marriage, waiting to forgive, waiting to surrender that that one part of their life they know is not right, waiting to answer the call that God has placed in their hearts.
SPEAKER_00: And meanwhile, the angels are practically saying, stop staring, stop looking up at the sky.
SPEAKER_00: Because the ascension is not just about Jesus going back to the Father.
SPEAKER_00: The ascension is Jesus sending the church into the world.
SPEAKER_00: That changes everything when we look at it that way.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people think the ascension means Jesus went away.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: The ascension means Jesus is no longer limited by time and space.
SPEAKER_00: During his earthly ministry, if you wanted to physically be near Jesus, well you had to go to Galilee, to Jerusalem, to Nazareth, one of those places.
SPEAKER_00: But now, Christ is in every tabernacle all around the world, at every mass, every prison cell, every hospital room, every broken marriage, every anxious heart, every soul that cries out in loneliness.
SPEAKER_00: The ascension does not make Jesus less present, it makes him present universally.
SPEAKER_00: That's why the last line of today's gospel matters so much.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, I am with you always until the end of the age.
SPEAKER_00: Think about how that sentence is.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, I am with you always.
SPEAKER_00: And then he ascends.
SPEAKER_00: At first glance, it sounds contradictory, but Christianity has never been about physical proximity to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Because plenty of people are physically, many people stood physically near Jesus and still rejected him.
SPEAKER_00: The ascension reveals something deeper.
SPEAKER_00: Christ is now present in a way the apostles themselves could barely understand.
SPEAKER_00: Present through his Spirit, present in his church, present in the Eucharist, present in the lives of believers.
SPEAKER_00: And this is where it challenges all of us.
SPEAKER_00: Because if Christ is truly present, then the question becomes, why are we acting as if he isn't?
SPEAKER_00: Why do so many Catholics live as though faith is just a Sunday obligation instead of the center of their existence?
SPEAKER_00: Faith becomes one of the many things that we do.
SPEAKER_00: Why do we receive the Eucharist and then live exactly like everyone else from Monday through Saturday?
SPEAKER_00: Why are we so afraid to speak about Jesus publicly?
SPEAKER_00: Why are we embarrassed by holiness?
SPEAKER_00: Why are we more fluent in politics and sports and finance and social media than we are about the gospel?
SPEAKER_00: The problem is not that the gospel has lost its power.
SPEAKER_00: The problem is that too many Christians have become spectators instead of witnesses.
SPEAKER_00: And the ascension destroys spectator Christianity.
SPEAKER_00: Because notice what Jesus says before he ascends.
SPEAKER_00: Go therefore and make disciples.
SPEAKER_00: Not sit comfortably, protect yourselves, hide quietly, wait until culture approves.
SPEAKER_00: No, he says go, move.
SPEAKER_00: The church is never meant to be a museum for saints, it was meant to be a rescue mission for sinners.
SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I think one of the great temptations today is comfortable Christianity, a faith that stays private, a faith that costs nothing, a faith that is lived out in convenience, a faith with no sacrifice, no mission, no urgency, but that's not the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: The apostles walked down that mountain completely transformed.
SPEAKER_00: Within weeks they were preaching publicly, suffering persecution, being imprisoned, beaten, eventually martyred.
SPEAKER_00: What changed them?
SPEAKER_00: The certainty that Christ was alive, and the certainty that heaven was real.
SPEAKER_00: That's what the ascension does.
SPEAKER_00: It lifts our eyes beyond this world.
SPEAKER_00: Because let's be honest, this world can be exhausting at times.
SPEAKER_00: You look around and see division, confusion, anxiety, loneliness, addiction, anger, depression, families that are falling apart, people searching desperately for meaning.
SPEAKER_00: And many people today are spiritually starving while pretending that they're just fine.
SPEAKER_00: The ascension reminds us this world is not the final destination.
SPEAKER_00: You are made for heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Not metaphorically, literally.
SPEAKER_00: That longing you feel for something more, that ache in your heart, that restlessness, even after success, that's the that's the soul reminding you that you belong to heaven, that your life matters.
SPEAKER_00: Christ has carried out humanity to the throne of the Father.
SPEAKER_00: The path is open.
SPEAKER_00: So the angels ask again, why are you just standing there?
SPEAKER_00: In other words, start praying now.
SPEAKER_00: Start forgiving now.
SPEAKER_00: Start evangelizing now.
SPEAKER_00: Start living differently now.
SPEAKER_00: Start taking holiness serious now.
SPEAKER_00: Because, my brothers and sisters, the hilltop was never meant to be permanent.
SPEAKER_00: The hilltop is where the apostles received their mission.
SPEAKER_00: And at the end of the Mass, you will hear my words say, Go forth.
SPEAKER_00: The Mass is ended.
SPEAKER_00: The Mass does not end here, but it is to go out there.
SPEAKER_00: The mission begins with you.
SPEAKER_00: So stop standing there looking at the sky.
SPEAKER_00: The world is waiting for your witness, it needs your courage.
SPEAKER_00: And Christ, who has never abandoned his church, is walking with you, asking you to be his witness in the world.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.