Today the Church lifts her eyes to heaven and sees something astonishing:
A man reigns there.
Not an angel.
Not a symbol.
Not a memory.
Jesus Christ—true God and true man—ascended bodily into heaven.
And if we do not grasp the shock of that, we have not yet understood the Ascension.
The Gospel begins on a mountain in Galilee.
The eleven apostles stand before the risen Christ.
And St Matthew says something painfully honest:
“When they saw him they worshipped; but some doubted.”
Even now.
Even after the Resurrection.
Faith and weakness still exist side by side.
That should comfort us.
Because the Church has never been made up of perfect people.
The apostles themselves struggled to understand.
And yet Christ still entrusts the mission of the world to them.
Then He speaks with absolute authority:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
All authority.
Not partial authority.
Not merely spiritual authority.
All.
This is kingship.
The Ascension is the enthronement of Christ.
The crucified one now reigns over heaven and earth.
Kings reign temporarily.
Governments rise and fall.
Empires collapse into dust.
Christ reigns eternally.
And the world desperately needs to hear that again.
Because modern society lives as though authority belongs finally to humanity.
As though truth can be reinvented.
As though morality can be rewritten.
As though God can be ignored without consequence.
But today the Church proclaims:
Christ reigns.
Now.
Whether the world acknowledges Him or not.
And then comes the mission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”
Not: “Make admirers.”
Not: “Gather supporters.”
Disciples.
People whose lives are entirely reordered around Christ.
And notice how this happens:
“Baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
The Church does not merely spread ideas.
She gives divine life.
Baptism is not symbolic belonging.
It is rebirth.
A soul passes from death to life.
Original sin is washed away.
A human person becomes a child of God.
That is why the Church exists.
To bring souls into communion with the Blessed Trinity.
And then Christ says:
“Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
All.
The Church cannot choose which truths to keep.
She cannot reduce the Gospel to what is fashionable.
She must hand on everything Christ revealed.
Even when difficult.
Even when costly.
Because eternal life is at stake.
Then the first reading gives us the visible moment of the Ascension itself.
“He was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.”
The cloud is not weather.
In Scripture, the cloud means divine glory.
The cloud filled the Temple.
The cloud overshadowed Sinai.
The cloud overshadowed Our Lady.
Now the cloud receives Christ.
Because this is not disappearance.
It is coronation.
The Son returns to the Father in glory.
And He does not ascend alone as God only—
He ascends carrying our humanity.
The wounds remain.
The human body remains.
Human nature itself enters heaven.
That changes everything about human destiny.
Because heaven is no longer distant territory.
Christ has opened it.
Where the Head has gone, the Body is called to follow.
That is our hope.
Not merely survival.
Not earthly success.
Glory.
Union with God forever.
And yet the angels ask the apostles something striking:
“Why do you stand looking into heaven?”
In other words: Do not remain frozen.
The mission begins now.
The Church cannot remain standing on the mountain staring upward.
Christ reigns—and now the Gospel must go into the world.
Then St Paul prays that the Church may understand:
“The immeasurable greatness of his power.”
The power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him above every authority and dominion.
Paul wants Christians to see reality properly.
History is not out of control.
Christ reigns above every power opposed to God.
Even when evil appears strong.
Even when the Church suffers.
Even when faith grows weak.
The throne of heaven is occupied.
And this is why the saints were fearless.
Because they understood that earthly powers are temporary.
But Christ reigns forever.
The martyrs knew it.
The missionaries knew it.
The confessors and saints knew it.
That is why they could endure suffering.
Because they belonged to a Kingdom that cannot pass away.
And this feast forces a question upon every soul:
What actually rules your life?
Because everyone serves a king.
Power.
Pleasure.
Money.
Comfort.
Pride.
Or Christ.
And the Ascension reveals which kingdom lasts.
Only one throne remains forever.
And this is why the Eucharist stands at the centre of Catholic life.
Because the ascended Christ is not absent.
At every Mass, heaven touches earth.
The King reigning in glory gives Himself to His people.
The same Christ who ascended beyond sight feeds His Church with His own Body and Blood.
So today the Church rejoices with immense hope.
Human nature already sits at the right hand of the Father.
The path to heaven stands open.
Christ reigns.
And He reigns not merely to display power—
but to draw His people upward into eternal life.
So do not live only for passing things.
Lift your eyes higher.
Because where Christ has gone,
the faithful are called to follow.
St. Mary's, St. John Bosco and St. Edward's 