May 17, 2026 ~ Ascension of the Lord ~ Year A

Spiritual Reflection

May 17, 2026 ~ Ascension of the Lord ~ Year A (pdf)

“Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations,…teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” Mt 28:19,20

One Must Die with Christ

When Saint Paul says that we must die with Christ in order to live with Christ, it is not a matter of voluntary ascetic practices through which we can obtain secret satisfaction, but it is really a matter of dying to our egoistic self. It is even a matter of dying to our plans of advancement and worldly ambitions, so that our projects and desires would not be those of the “world” in a human sense – as Christ himself says about his disciples that they are “not of the world” (cf. Jn 17:16). We claim that we are working for the Church, but sometimes we raise up our personal ambitions to make them our projects in the Church, and we reduce the mystery of the Church to the level of our own ambitions. We think that we are looking for the success of the Church and its mission, but we are looking for our personal success. It is possible in work for the Church that, if we are not on guard, we might secretly build a monument upon which the statue of our self-love stands erect. We secretly dream of an apostolate that would obtain eternal goods for us yet, at the same time, would obtain earthly honors and even religious or ecclesiastical success. Then all is false. We would like to put God’s action at the service of our ambition. Like the Apostles before the Passion, we would like Christ to assure us of a victory that does not pass through sufferings and the humiliation of the cross.

It is essential to accept the light and to recognize that we have a need to be purified. One needs to recognize that apostolic desires which compel us to action sometimes come from God, but sometimes come from ourselves, and at times from our lesser selves. As delicately noted by Saint Gregory in his Pastoral, it is easy to be mistaken on this point: “Very often, indeed, the soul lies to itself in what pertains to itself. The soul imagines itself to seek none of the world’s glory in its good works although it likes this glory,” It is the same with our best projects: the love of God, the love of others, and self-love are strangely mixed. We are inclined to call this mixture with a most noble expression: the desire for apostolic endeavors or the desire to evangelize.

We look for success, even apostolic success. Too often in the Church we seek something other than Jesus – and Jesus crucified – that is why we do not find Him. 

If we desire to meet Christ resurrected, it is necessary to go through the crucible of his Passion. We need to descend into the abyss of our poverty – we need to die with Christ.

After having faced our hidden pride without discouragement, after having left all personal and human ambition, after ceasing to seek the first place in the Church, then the Spirit will invade our weakness and Jesus will accomplish great things in us – but not before – otherwise all our deeds would be like “resounding cymbals” which make noise but do little real good. . . 

Then there will be a need for the apostle to be purified through failures and sufferings so that he may die to himself and Christ may live in him.

André Daigneault, The Way of Imperfection, pp. 92-94

References from the Catechism of the Catholic Church

863 The whole Church is apostolic, in that she remains, through the successors of St. Peter and the other apostles, in communion of faith and life with her origin: and in that she is "sent out" into the whole world. All members of the Church share in this mission, though in various ways. "The Christian vocation is, of its nature, a vocation to the apostolate as well." Indeed, we call an apostolate "every activity of the Mystical Body" that aims "to spread the Kingdom of Christ over all the earth."377

864 "Christ, sent by the Father, is the source of the Church's whole apostolate"; thus the fruitfulness of apostolate for ordained ministers as well as for lay people clearly depends on their vital union with Christ.378 In keeping with their vocations, the demands of the times and the various gifts of the Holy Spirit, the apostolate assumes the most varied forms. But charity, drawn from the Eucharist above all, is always "as it were, the soul of the whole apostolate."379

867 The Church is holy: the Most Holy God is her author; Christ, her bridegroom, gave himself up to make her holy; the Spirit of holiness gives her life. Since she still includes sinners, she is "the sinless one made up of sinners." Her holiness shines in the saints; in Mary she is already all-holy.

Questions for Reflection

1.          In my daily life, how do I perceive my mission in the Church? How do I perceive my mission in these challenging times?
2.          What is my reaction when my apostolic works seem to fail or when the projects of others are preferred to mine? What is God telling me in these situations?
3.          How can I cooperate with Blessed Mother who, through her obedience, faith, hope and burning charity, participated in the Savior’s work of saving souls?

Prayer after Sharing

Thank you, God, for allowing me to see the truth about my weaknesses and how it calls upon the abyss of your merciful Love.