Tonight, in the Ascension, Christ does something extraordinary.
He gathers the apostles on the mountain, prepares to return to the Father, and gives the Church her mission for all ages.
And notice carefully what He says.
Not merely: “Go.”
But: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”
And then: “Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
All.
That word matters.
Because Christ did not leave behind just niceness and vague spirituality.
He entrusted truth to His Church.
Clear truth.
Saving truth.
Truth about God.
Truth about humanity.
Truth about sin.
Truth about grace.
Truth about heaven.
And the Church exists to hand that on faithfully.
Now we must be honest.
For a long time, especially after the 1960s, many Catholics simply were not taught the Faith clearly.
People were often given fragments.
Feelings instead of doctrine.
General kindness and niceness instead of conversion.
Community without clarity.
Religion without sacrifice.
And the result was devastating.
Generations grew up not really knowing:
- what the Mass is
- what Confession is
- why the Eucharist matters
- why the Church teaches what she teaches
- what grace is
- what sin is
- what salvation is
Many good people were left spiritually underfed.
Many thought they had been fed, but some of it was junk food.
Not because Christ failed His Church.
But because the Faith was often presented weakly, uncertainly, sometimes even apologetically.
As though Catholic truth was embarrassing.
But Christ tonight says something completely different:
“Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
Not some things.
Not only the easy parts.
All.
Because souls need truth the way the body needs food.
And confusion never saves anyone.
Now thanks be to God, slowly, quietly, the Church is recovering confidence again.
You can see it.
Young Catholics wanting reverence again.
People rediscovering Eucharistic adoration.
Confession returning.
The Catechism being taught properly.
People asking serious questions again.
Not because the Church is becoming fashionable.
But because starving souls eventually begin searching for real nourishment.
And shallow religion cannot sustain people anymore.
The modern world is too dark, too confused, too unstable for weak Catholicism.
People need substance.
They need Christ truly preached.
The saints.
The sacraments.
The moral life.
The reality of grace.
The reality of sin and hell.
The hope of heaven.
And that is exactly what Christ commands tonight.
Teach everything.
And notice where this mission begins.
Not in a university.
Not in Rome.
On a mountain.
With eleven weak apostles.
Some still doubting, St Matthew says.
And yet Christ entrusts the whole world to them.
Why?
Because the Church does not teach by human brilliance alone.
She teaches with the authority of Christ Himself.
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
That is the foundation.
The Church does not invent truth.
She receives it from the risen Lord.
And this matters enormously now because the world has become deeply confused about reality itself.
What is marriage?
What is a man?
What is a woman?
What is freedom for?
What is the purpose of life?
People are drowning in uncertainty.
And into that confusion the Church must speak clearly again.
Not cruelly.
Not arrogantly.
But clearly.
Because truth is mercy.
If a doctor hides a diagnosis, that is not compassion.
And if the Church stops teaching clearly, souls suffer.
But there is another danger too.
People can hear:
“teach all things”
and imagine coldness.
Rules without love.
But look at tonight’s Gospel carefully.
The command to teach comes from the same Christ who promises:
“I am with you always.”
The Church teaches because Christ loves.
Truth is not opposed to mercy.
Truth is mercy.
Because truth leads souls to salvation.
And this is why the sacraments matter so much.
Because Catholic teaching is not merely information.
It is life.
The Church teaches Baptism because souls truly need rebirth.
She teaches Confession because sin truly wounds.
She teaches the Eucharist because Christ is truly present.
She teaches morality because holiness is real.
Everything the Church teaches finally flows toward communion with Christ.
And then the Ascension lifts our eyes even higher.
Christ ascends not to abandon the world, but to reign over it.
A human body now sits at the right hand of the Father.
One of us is in heaven.
And from heaven Christ continues guiding His Church.
Even through confusion.
Even through weakness.
Even through difficult decades.
Christ has not abandoned His people.
And perhaps tonight there is reason for real hope.
Because people are hungry again.
Hungry for reverence.
Hungry for truth.
Hungry for solid Catholic teaching.
The shallow things no longer satisfy.
And that hunger itself is a sign of grace.
So tonight the Ascension becomes a call.
Do not settle for vague religion.
Learn the Faith deeply.
Love the Church truly.
Teach your children clearly.
Take the sacraments seriously.
Because Christ did not ascend into heaven leaving us confusion.
He gave us His Church.
And He commanded her:
Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you.
Not to burden souls.
But to lead them home.
And then He gives the promise that makes everything possible:
“I am with you always, even to the end of the world.”
St. Mary's, St. John Bosco and St. Edward's 