[00:00:02] Hello, my name is Sally Moriarty-Flask. Welcome to: From His Word to Our Hearts, my weekly Bible Study podcast. Together we will explore the readings to be proclaimed at the Catholic Mass on Sunday, May 17, 2026, the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord.
This week's episode is entitled: Go and Make Disciples, and in these readings, Jesus promises his disciples that he will always be with them. He makes the same promise to us. And it's okay if we experience some doubts - even Jesus' disciples doubted. Jesus never said being his disciple would be easy. He did say that he would send the Holy Spirit to help… the same Holy Spirit that still guides the Church today.
[00:00:58] As we journey through the readings this week, consider the following:
The historical record clearly recounts that Jesus lived and was Crucified. Regarding his Ascension, however, history is notably silent. It was a private affair, witnessed only by a privileged few who knew Jesus best in life and so could offer reliable testimony to others about what they saw. In our modern age, where truth is debated and facts are questioned, we are invited to grow in faith, to trust in the promises made by God, and to accept a truth that may very well challenge our world view. So, let's get started!
Let's begin in prayer:
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Heavenly Father, we praise you and we thank you for the gift of your Son and the great blessing of his return to your heavenly Kingdom. We thank you for the Apostles who stood witness to his Ascension and had the courage to share that witness. Help us also to witness to our faith in your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the firstborn from the dead, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit forever. Amen.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[00:02:37] Before we jump into the Scriptures, I just want to talk a little bit about the Solemnity of the Ascension. Every Bishop or Archbishop in every diocese or archdiocese in the United States has the authority to choose to observe Ascension on its traditional date, which is the 40th day of Easter (this year, that date fell on May 14th) or to transfer it to the following Sunday. My home diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend does transfer Ascension to the Seventh Sunday of Easter, along with 194 other diocese and archdiocese across the country. If you happen to be listening from one of the five archdiocese that does not transfer Ascension, my apologies for not covering the readings for the Seventh Sunday of Easter. I will keep that occasion in mind for a possible bonus episode at some point in the future. But now that we understand that this episode will be covering the Cycle A Scriptures for the Solemnity of the Ascension and we have opened our hearts in prayer, let's listen to what God is telling us in the Scriptures.
[00:03:54] Our Gospel this week is from Matthew 28: 16-20.
“[T]he eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘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, to the close of the age.’”
[00:04:41] Just as our passage from Luke last year came from the very end of that Gospel, so too does our passage from Matthew come from the very end of his Gospel. In Matthew's account of the Resurrection, we are told that Mary Magdalene and the other Mary encounter an angel at the empty tomb announcing that Jesus is Risen and they are to go and inform the Apostles. Then on their way, they encounter Jesus himself who tells the two women to send the disciples to Galilee where they will see Jesus. The woman who is called the “other” Mary in Matthew's Gospel, was previously identified in chapter 27 as the mother of James and Joseph, and she is designated as “the other Mary” to distinguish her from Mary, the mother of Jesus. With Jesus' instructions in mind, what are the first words we hear in this passage?
[00:05:53] “[T]he eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.
We find a couple of really crucial pieces of information in that sentence. First, that there are still only eleven disciples. Judas is dead and Matthias has not yet been chosen to replace him. But the Twelve (including Judas) were not Jesus’ only disciples, if we think back to Luke 10, Jesus sent out 72 disciples to preach, teach, and heal, so his disciples clearly numbered more than just those initial Twelve… but this encounter was not intended for anyone other than Jesus’ core group of disciples. And second, we are told that they went up to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. The Gospels, however, don't identify which mountain that was… we know that it was in the region of Galilee, so it may have been Mount Tabor (which was the site of the Transfiguration), or it may have been the Mount of the Beatitudes (which actually overlooks the Sea of Galilee) - we just don't know for certain which mountain Jesus chose. Regardless of its exact location, remember mountains are always intended to be places of encounter with the divine - that's why Jesus directed his disciples to meet him on the top of a mountain.
[00:07:46] “And when they saw him they worshiped him; but some doubted.”
Truthfully, we can't fault any of the eleven for having doubts… Jesus didn't call anyone because they had absolute faith in him or because they understood perfectly his divine identity. Jesus invited flawed individuals who may have wavered on occasion, but whose knowledge of and faith in him grew over time. He extends the same invitation to us… and just as he did not expect perfection from his original disciples, he does not expect perfection from us.
[00:08:39] “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
Jesus was, and is, omnipotent in his divinity. His words tell us that his transformed and glorified humanity is now invested with the Father's authority over all of heaven and earth.
[00:09:05] “Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations,”
In other words, fulfill the promise made to Abraham in Genesis 22 - that in him, in his descendants - which would be innumerable and would become the Jewish people - all the nations of the earth will find blessing… because salvation is from the Jews. And what is that blessing? It is Jesus… it is faith… it is the grace of Baptism… Jesus tells the eleven to Baptize the disciples of all nations…
[00:09:51] “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”
That Trinitarian formula has come down to us unchanged from the very beginning of the Church and it is still used today!
[00:10:09] “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you;”
And we just heard that in last week's Gospel, didn't we? If you love me, you will keep my commandments - that's what Jesus said to his Apostles. Then Jesus leaves them with this promise…
[00:10:30] “behold, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”
When Jesus says he is with the disciples always, that's not just words… that's not just an empty or hollow promise! In Matthew 18, Jesus promised his ecclesial presence saying: “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them.” We see that promise fulfilled every single time we gather together for Mass. Then in Matthew 26, Jesus instituted his Eucharistic presence saying: “Take and eat; this is my body; Drink from [this cup], all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant.” - not only establishing the Sacrament of the Eucharist, but providing for all Catholic Christians, down through the centuries, his Real and Substantial Presence that nourishes us when we receive him.
[00:11:46] And the age Jesus talks about is the current age in which we find ourselves - the time from the Resurrection until the Second Coming, the age of the Church. In this time when truth is challenged and facts are questioned, we are invited to accept the truth of Jesus, to grow in faith - as the disciples did - and to trust in the promises made by Jesus. Because Jesus also promised us help.
[00:12:30] Which takes us to our First Reading, which is from Acts 1: 1-11.
“In the first book, O Theoph’ilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. To them he presented himself alive after his passion by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days, and speaking of the kingdom of God. And while staying with them he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, ‘you heard from me, for John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samar’ia and to the ends of the earth.’ And when he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.’”
[00:14:30] That passage, of course, is the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles, or, if you prefer, volume two of Luke. The opening words of Acts alert us to the continuity between the two sets of writings. Luke says: “In the first book,” meaning in his Gospel… and then he addresses his second document to that same person: “Theophilus.” And if you think back to Cycle C, when we explore Luke's Gospel in depth, the name Theophilus can be translated as friend of God or loved by God. Luke begins the Book of Acts by assuring Theophilus that he is still presenting an organized accounting of events, but this time, rather than detailing the events of Jesus’ life, he is recording events that took place in the early Church. Matthew doesn't give any hint as to how long Jesus remained with his disciples after the Resurrection; that information is found only in Acts 1, where we are told that Jesus appeared to his disciples over the course of 40 days. So, let's explore this passage more deeply…
[00:15:59] “In the first book, O Theoph’ilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach,”
Again, by the first book, Luke means his Gospel and notice that Luke says: “all that Jesus BEGAN to do and teach” - suggesting that there's more to the story. And John says, at the end of his Gospel, that the whole world couldn't contain all the books it would take to record everything Jesus did. So, Luke is probably hinting at THAT… but he's also hinting at something different as well - that the Book of Acts will deal with all that Jesus continued to do THROUGH the work of his disciples, through his Mystical Body, the Church.
[00:16:55] “until the day when he was taken up,”
Meaning the day of his Ascension.
“after he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.”
While all the Synoptic Gospels describe Jesus’ selection of his disciples and list their names, only Luke tells us that Jesus chose his disciples after spending a night in prayer with the Father.
[00:17:28] “To them he presented himself alive after his passion by many proofs,”
And with those words, we have to ask ourselves a very serious question. In an age where truth is debated and facts are questioned, are we willing to accept and the witness of the Apostles as a valid source of truth? Luke certainly believed that it was because, by all accounts, he did extensive research before writing his Gospel and the Book of Acts. He spoke to the people who knew Jesus (the disciples, the women of Galilee, and Jesus' mother, Mary), he spoke to those who knew OF Jesus (people in and around Jerusalem, Nazareth, Galilee, and Capernaum), he was a companion of Saint Paul who encountered the Risen Jesus on the road to Damascus. Luke had a tremendous amount of information to draw upon when he composed his written accounts. And now we are invited to accept those accounts as being trustworthy and truthful.
[00:18:51] “appearing to them during forty days,”
Only Acts lists that number 40. And it may be that Luke is presenting an actual number, or it may be a symbolic one. Essentially, Luke is saying that a sufficient amount of time passed after Jesus’ Resurrection for him to adequately prepare his disciples before he departed from them forever when he returned to the Father. Because Luke never recorded a specific number in his Gospel, some scholars assume that the number is symbolic. We know that the number 40 is a significant number in the Bible… rain fell for 40 days and nights when Noah and his family were in the ark, Moses spent 40 days on top of Mount Sinai, the Israelites wandered for 40 years in the desert, Elijah traveled for 40 days to Mount Horeb, and Jesus spent 40 days in the desert to prepare for his public ministry. And while there is a certain symmetry to Luke bookending the beginning and the end of Jesus' public actions with periods of time lasting for 40 days here in Acts, the Gospel accounts are actually silent on the matter. But Luke tells us that during that time, Jesus was…
[00:20:32] “speaking of the kingdom of God.”
Meaning that Jesus is still preparing his disciples for the mission they will assume after he Ascends to his Father in heaven.
[00:20:46] “And while staying with them he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, ‘you heard from me, for John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’”
Luke is repeating what he said in his Gospel (in chapter 24), that Jesus will send the promise of the Father upon the disciples, meaning the Holy Spirit, which will take place on the feast of Pentecost.
[00:21:24] “So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’”
Jesus IS the Messiah, that fact is not in question. So, the disciples - still thinking on earthly terms - want to know if the time has finally come for him to restore the Davidic kingdom. Jesus told his disciples, however, many times that he would not be that type of Messiah, so when they asked that question this time, he sidesteps the question altogether and instead…
[00:22:05] “He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority.’”
Meaning essentially, that it is pointless to speculate about the restoration of Israel. Whatever happens will happen in God's time, not theirs, and according to God's plan, not their wishes.
[00:22:30] “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you;”
With those words, Jesus is reminding his disciples of the promise he initially made them in Luke 24.
“and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samar’ia and to the ends of the earth.”
Those who are closest to Jesus are the most qualified to carry out this mission, to relate their own experiences, to share the good news of Jesus with everyone… not just in Jerusalem, although that will be a good start, but through the countryside, and to the very ends of the earth.
[00:23:18] “And when he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.”
Jesus doesn't just go away - he Ascends to the position of power and authority prepared for him at the Father's right hand in heaven. The cloud that takes him from their sight should remind us of Daniel 7, when the Son of Man is carried to the Ancient of Days on the clouds of heaven.
[00:23:58] “And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes,”
These two men in white robes are God's messengers, angels who speak to the disciples, saying…
[00:24:18] “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
The angels say: don't just stand around gawking… get busy… there's work to be done! And Jesus’ return in the Second Coming will mirror his departure from you this day. And that's exactly what we profess in the creed, right? He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. We're never told how long we will have to wait - as Jesus said: it is not for us to know the times or seasons - but the promise is abundantly clear. And again, do these words contain truth we can accept? Can we trust the promises God has made to us? It's okay to experience a certain amount of doubt - it's even normal… and doubt is not the opposite of faith. Oftentimes our doubts, our questions, lead us to pursue additional knowledge, which then deepens our faith. But at some point, we have to either accept Jesus words or reject them. There is no other option!
[00:25:55] That takes us to our Responsorial Psalm, which is Psalm 47, and here is the refrain:
“God mounts his throne to shouts of joy, a blare of trumpet for the Lord.”
That refrain is actually paraphrased, as are so many Psalm refrains. The original text is: “God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of trumpet.”
[00:26:20] And here are the verses:
“Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! For the Lord, the Most High, is terrible, a great king over all the earth.”
“God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!”
“For God is the king of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm! God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne.”
[00:26:57] This Psalm is a Song of Praise for the Kingship of God. The verses tell us that God is king over all the nations of the earth, and his people are invited to shout for joy and sing hymns in celebration of his glorious reign, not just over the tribes of Israel, but over all nations. When the Psalmist says: “God has gone up” in verse 5, that is likely referring to the Ark of the Covenant being carried up to the temple on Mount Zion, although Christians see the Ascension of Jesus in those words, which is one reason why this particular Psalm is used for the Ascension. And the phrase: “God sits on his holy throne” is a fulfillment of the promise made in 2 Samuel 7, that David's throne shall be established forever. Because Jesus, of course, is descended from the line of David, Christians see this also as referring to Jesus since his throne is eternal in the kingdom of heaven.
[00:28:11] That takes us to our Second Reading, which is from Ephesians 1: 17-23.
[Brothers and sisters;]
May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe, according to the working of his great might which he accomplished in Christ when he raised him from the dead and made him sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the age that is to come; and he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
Some scholars doubt that Paul was actually the author of Ephesians because the literary style and word choice are different from some of his other letters. However, the author clearly identifies himself as Paul, so - for those who do accept Paul as the author - this letter is classified as one of his Captivity Letters, likely written when he was a prisoner in Rome between 61 - 63 AD. Those who maintain that Paul is not the author have suggested that the letter was written by one of Paul's followers, possibly as late as 80 to 100 AD. Regardless of any theological controversies that may be swirling around this letter, the Church clearly accepts Paul as the author. So, let's delve a bit more deeply into what Paul has to say this week…
[00:30:36] “[Brothers and sisters:] May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,”
Several Old Testament prophets - particularly Hosea, Isaiah, and Jeremiah - all wrote that knowing God was key to Covenant fidelity, which is why knowledge of God has always been so important. As Catholic Christians, we believe that everything we need to know - all revelation - concerning God was complete in Jesus. That does not mean, however, that we understand all of the revelation perfectly. That's why we continue to study and learn from the Scriptures… that's why we participate in the Sacraments and why we partake fully in the life of the Church.
[00:31:37] “having the eyes of your hearts enlightened,”
That is such a poetic turn of phrase for us, but it held profound meaning in biblical times when the heart was seen as the center of a person, the seat of knowledge and will… so having the eyes of one's heart enlightened - by the grace of faith in Jesus - would not only mean that a person gained knowledge, but that they experienced a strengthening of the will as well. And it is important to remember that early Christians described Baptism as the Sacrament of Enlightenment.
[00:32:28] “that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe, according to the working of his great might which he accomplished in Christ”
The virtue of hope, our inheritance with the saints, God's power working in and through us… those are all blessings God has granted to us in Christ - to which Paul adds a caveat, of sorts.
[00:33:11] “when he raised him from the dead and made him sit at his right hand in the heavenly places,”
Paul, of course, means the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus. But why does Paul add that caveat? Jesus gives us a hint about that when he speaks to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection. In John 20, Jesus tells Mary Magdalene not to hold on to him for he has not yet ascended to the Father. When Jesus Ascends TO the Father, he will be glorified and will send the gift of the Holy Spirit from his throne in heaven - that is absolutely part of that… a big part of it. But it also means that when Jesus ascends to heaven, he will be in a very profound and very real way, accessible to all Christians equally! We will all have spiritual access to Jesus by the very fact of his being in heaven.
[00:34:28] “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion,”
When Paul says: “far above all rule and authority” he means above earthly authority… above ANY earthly power. Then when he says: “and power and dominion” – “far above all power and dominion” - Powers and Dominions are two of the nine choirs of angels. So, Paul is saying that Jesus is far above all power and authority - both on earth and in heaven.
[00:35:02] “and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come;”
Jewish tradition distinguished between the present age and the Messianic age that was to come… and remember, Paul was a Pharisee, so he was well versed in Jewish tradition, and that may be what he's suggesting here. And as Catholic Christians, we call that the Age of the Church - the time from the Resurrection until the time of the Second Coming.
[00:35:36] “and he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the Church,”
Meaning that everything is subject to Jesus' power and authority… that Jesus reigns supreme over the cosmos AND the Church, which is his Mystical Body, always holy and perfect - but always comprised of sinful humans, therefore always in need of sanctification.
[00:36:13] “the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
We hear that phrase in Paul's letter to the Colossians as well - that Christ is all and in all. Those two letters were written at about the same time, illustrating the thematic consistency of Paul's writings, which may argue favorably in Paul being the author of this letter. And what Paul means is that Jesus fills all things in every way, throughout all time and space, precisely because he was raised from the dead and is seated at the Father's right hand in heaven.
[00:37:00] Jesus and his Father and the Holy Spirit share one divine essence - in all the fullness of its perfection - and will, in turn, graciously and generously fill all believers with grace… the divine life of God shared with us. This passage from Ephesians is a beautifully picturesque vision of what the Church should be, what it is in its spiritual perfection, and what - at the same time - we must continually strive to make it… in our own fallen human state.
After all of that, we're still left with the question of whether or not we are willing to accept the testimony of the Apostles… the men who knew Jesus best, who wrote about him so that we could come to know that Jesus they knew… can we really believe the stories they tell us? Especially knowing that they weren't perfect and that they themselves experienced moments of doubt?
[00:38:22] In a world where truth is up for debate and is often defined by whoever shouts the loudest… where facts are no longer facts and everything can be called into question… can we still accept what is recorded in Sacred Scripture as the unequivocal truth? All of what's recorded in Sacred Scripture - not just the parts we like… not just the parts we agree with… but everything. Those are questions that each individual must answer for his or her self.
Jesus promised his disciples that he would always be with them and that he would send the Holy Spirit to help. He makes that same promise to us and gives us the same Holy Spirit as our guide. Jesus invites us to accept him, accept the truth even if it challenges our world view, and to trust in the promises God has made to us. The future, our mission of discipleship, in fact all of eternity is before us, so let's get started and let's choose the truth of Jesus!
[00:39:53] If you would like to reach out to me with questions or comments, send me an email at
[email protected]
Thank you for spending this time with me and until next we meet, may God shower his blessings upon you like a soft and gentle rain, and may he hold you safe and secure in the palm of his hand.
From His Word to Our Hearts is produced by SFS Audio Solutions.
The content of the show was assembled by me, Sally Moriarty-Flask. Our music was composed by Jimmy Flask and is used with the permission of the composer. All rights reserved.
Information regarding references used in preparing the exegesis for this podcast is available upon request.
Thank you for listening and God bless.
