Newsletter Ascension of the Lord / May 17th, 2026

The Feast of The Ascension

In the rhythm of our liturgical year, the Feast of the Ascension can sometimes feel like a bittersweet farewell. We watch, in our mind’s eye, as the Risen Lord ascends into the clouds, leaving behind the dust of Galilee and the company of the Apostles. It is tempting to look up at the sky and wonder: Why leave us? Why not stay and finish the work in person?

· If we look closer at the scriptures, we realise that the Ascension isn’t a departure – it is an expansion.

· When Jesus walked the earth, He was bound by the laws of time and geography. He could be in Jerusalem, or He could be in Capernaum, but He could not be in both. By ascending to the Father, Christ did not abandon His people; He broke the limitations of the physical world so that He could be present everywhere at once, specifically within us through the power of the Holy Spirit.

· The Ascension marks the moment the Church stopped being a group of followers observing a teacher and became a Body carrying a mission. As Jesus ascended, He didn’t tell the disciples to stand still, staring at the heavens. He told them to go.

· This feast invites us to live in the “in-between” time—that holy space where we hold the tension of Jesus’s absence and His promise to be with us “always, until the end of the age.” We are the hands, the feet, and the voice of Christ in our parish and our community.

As we celebrate this feast, let us not be like the bystanders who watched the sky in bewilderment. Instead, let us look to the world around us. The Ascension reminds us that Christ has no body now but ours.

How will we make Him visible this week?

How will our lives reflect the love of the One who holds all heaven and earth in His care?

May your heart be lifted this week, knowing that while Christ has ascended, He has never been closer.