Acts 1:1–11; Psalm 46(47); Ephesians 1:17–23; Matthew 28:16–20
The Authority to Preach Good News
Dear friends, today the Church celebrates the great feast of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. Forty days after His resurrection, Jesus returns to the Father, not because He is abandoning His disciples, but because His earthly mission has reached its fulfillment. Yet His departure is not an end. It marks the beginning of a new way of His presence among us. Before ascending into heaven, Jesus promises: “I am with you always, until the end of the age.” His presence will now continue through the Holy Spirit and through the Church, which is His Body.
As Jesus prepared to leave, He entrusted His disciples with a mission: to go into the whole world and proclaim the Good News to all nations. However, before sending them out, He instructed them to remain in Jerusalem until they received the Holy Spirit. Jesus knew that without the Spirit, their mission would remain weak, fearful, and confused. Human strength alone could not sustain the work of evangelization.
Like many of us today, the disciples were still preoccupied with earthly expectations. They kept asking Jesus whether this was the time when the kingdom of Israel would finally be restored. They were still thinking in political and material terms. They had not yet fully understood the meaning of the Kingdom of God. But Jesus knew that once the Holy Spirit descended upon them, their eyes and hearts would be opened. The Spirit would transform their understanding, their fears, and their entire way of life.
This is very important for us as Christians. To be inspired by the Holy Spirit does not simply mean becoming emotional, excited, or dramatic. The Holy Spirit is not a spirit of confusion, spectacle, or self-glorification. In the Catholic understanding, the Holy Spirit leads us into truth, holiness, obedience, and communion with Christ and His Church. The Spirit enlightens the mind, purifies the heart, strengthens conscience, and gives courage to live and proclaim the Gospel faithfully.
A person truly inspired by the Holy Spirit grows in humility, charity, patience, purity, justice, and fidelity to God. The Holy Spirit does not contradict Christ, nor does He divide believers from the Church founded by Christ. St. Paul reminds us in today’s second reading that Christ is the head of the Church, which is His Body. Therefore, authentic inspiration by the Spirit always remains united with Christ, Sacred Scripture, Apostolic Tradition, and the teaching authority of the Church.
In the Gospel today, Jesus gives His disciples authority to go and make disciples of all nations and to baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. This mission is not a private enterprise or personal business. The preaching of the Gospel requires authentic authority rooted in Christ Himself and handed down through the apostles and the Church.
Today, however, we see countless self-appointed ministers and prophets who answer to no one except themselves. Many present themselves as “anointed” while rejecting accountability, doctrine, and ecclesial authority. The danger is that the Gospel is gradually being transformed into a commercial product. The preaching of prosperity, quick wealth, and instant miracles has become a profitable business for many. Innocent people are manipulated emotionally and financially through carefully staged theatrics and false promises.
Many people are searching for shortcuts to success, healing, or holiness without embracing sacrifice, discipline, patience, and honest work. Yet the way of Christ has never been the way of cheap miracles or easy prosperity. The Cross remains part of Christian discipleship. The true Holy Spirit does not enslave people through fear or exploit their suffering for profit. Rather, the Spirit liberates people to live in truth, dignity, responsibility, and love.
This is why we must learn to distinguish between the authentic action of the Holy Spirit and the spirit of greed, fame, manipulation, and deception. The Holy Spirit never draws attention primarily to a preacher, but always to Christ. The Spirit builds genuine Christian communities marked by unity, compassion, justice, prayer, and service to others.
By virtue of our baptism and confirmation, each one of us has become a temple of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit empowers us not only to preach with words but also to witness through our lives. We are sent to proclaim the Good News of salvation, reconciliation, love of neighbour, care for the vulnerable, and the authentic development of every human person.
The promise of Christ’s return in the first reading is central to Christian hope. The Ascension is not about absence but about expectation and mission. Hope gives strength to persevere even when life becomes difficult.
Jesus is no longer physically visible to the disciples, yet He remains truly present through the Holy Spirit, through the sacraments, through His Word, and through the life of the Church. The Church continues the mission of Christ under the guidance of the Holy Spirit until the Lord comes again in glory.
Dear friends, as we now prepare for the coming feast of Pentecost, let us open our hearts anew to the Holy Spirit. Let us ask not for sensational experiences, but for true conversion, wisdom, courage, holiness, and fidelity. May the Holy Spirit renew our lives so that we may live according to the teachings of Christ and become authentic witnesses of the Gospel in our world today.
Have a blessed Sunday.
Fr. Lawrence Muthee, SVD.
SVD JAMBO KENTAN 