Deacon Mike Meyer / Sunday, May 17, 2026 / Categories: Blog, Homilies While We Wait Homily for the Ascension of the Lord, 2026 Did you know that most Americans spend 13 hours a year waiting on hold, 37 hours a year waiting in line, and 38 hours a year waiting in traffic? All told, we spend about 7 years of our lives waiting. And do you know what most of us do while we’re waiting? Sixty-two percent of us turn to our cellphones to pass the time. Only about 20 percent use the time productively. We Christians have been waiting more than 2,000 years for Jesus to return, and I wonder how many of us have used the time productively. Our readings make clear that Jesus doesn’t want us staring at the clouds or our cellphones while we wait. Our first reading makes me feel bad for the apostles. “In a classic case of rubbernecking, the apostles stand there looking at an empty sky for who knows how long.”[1] Their slack-jawed gaze is interrupted only when two men in white suddenly appear and start scolding them. Why do I feel bad? Because I’m sure that if Jesus had ascended unto heaven right before my eyes, I would’ve been staring up at the clouds, too. So why do these mysterious men scold the Apostles? Looking heavenward seems like the natural response to me, especially since the men said that Jesus was going to come back the same way. The men are reminding the Apostles that Jesus had just told them to high-tail it back to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit, who’ll empower them to carry out their mission of proclaiming the Gospel to the ends of the earth. The Apostles have a job to do while they wait for Jesus’ return, and so do we. When we think of the Ascension, which we celebrate today, it’s easy for us to focus on Jesus (like the Apostles did). But the Ascension is equally about the Apostles—it looks forward to their ministry as Jesus’ successors.[2] Jesus’ departure signals the beginning of the Apostles’ (and our) ministry here on earth. Jesus gave the Apostles fair notice that he’d be returning to the Father, and he made clear to them that it would be their job, now our job, to “shoulder the task of the messianic movement he had begun.”[3] How do we do that? By bearing active witness to him and all he taught us while we wait for his glorious return. In today’s Gospel, Jesus explains our threefold mission as his witnesses. First, Jesus calls us to “make disciples of all nations,” to evangelize, to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to all. Spreading the Good News isn’t as easy as it may sound, and it never has been. Countless philosophies, ideologies, religions, and denominations have competed with the Christian message throughout history. But we believe that the Risen Christ is LORD, that his message is Truth, and that through the unbroken succession of the Apostles, we are Christ’s faithful witnesses to the nations. As such, we need to make disciples, and we make disciples by being good examples; we make disciples by living as Jesus taught us to live. We make disciples by living our lives in such a way that when people see us, they’ll say, “If that’s what the disciples are like, show me the Master.” Second, Jesus calls us “to baptize,” to lead God’s people to the sacraments. Over the past two decades, the number of people receiving the sacraments has dwindled to frighteningly low levels, especially the sacraments of baptism and matrimony. More and more people have crossed Church attendance off of their priority lists, and as a result, see no need to have their children baptized. Similarly, destination weddings performed by a friend with a mail-order license are replacing sacramental weddings witnessed by God’s minister in God’s House. But we believe that the sacraments are “doors to the sacred.” They both point to God’s grace (God’s love) and make it really present in our lives. Through the sacraments, we receive a share of God’s trinitarian life of love and participate most fully in it as members of the Body of Christ. We lead people to the great gift of the sacraments by actively participating in them. We lead people to the sacraments by openly speaking about how God’s grace has transformed our lives. We lead people to the sacraments by welcoming all into the Church (or back into the Church) and encouraging them to receive the sacraments. Finally, Jesus calls us to teach the nations to observe all that he’s commanded us. With the steady decline of religious participation comes an increase in Biblical illiteracy and ignorance of Church teachings. Generations of Catholics have suffered under poor catechesis, leaving them largely unaware of the beauty, goodness, and truth of our faith and what it really means to follow Jesus Christ. But we believe that we obey Christ’s commands by acting in accordance with our well-informed consciences, which we educate and form through prayer, study, and good counsel. We also believe that parents are the first and foremost teachers of the faith to our children. So, we teach people to observe Jesus’ commandments by observing them ourselves, by practicing what we preach. We teach people to observe Jesus’ commandments by seeking information, reading Scripture and spiritual works, and attending Bible study and faith formation classes. We teach people to observe Jesus’ commandments by actively and openly passing the faith on to our children, teaching not just what we believe, but why we believe it, too. Making disciples, baptizing, and teaching—that’s what Jesus wants us to do while we wait for his return. We spend a lot of time waiting, especially for Jesus’s return. So maybe instead of flipping through mindless social media posts or looking up Yankee scores on our cellphones, we might use our time more productively by doing what Jesus asked us to do, by continuing his mission here on earth. Jesus wouldn’t tell the Apostles when he was going to return, but he did make clear what he expects us to do in the meantime, and that waiting is part of the plan. So, we have to ask ourselves: If tonight turns out to be our last on this planet, do we want to spend our final moments staring at a screen, or do we want to share with our families and friends how being a follower of Jesus Christ has brought meaning, hope, and love into our lives? We have to ask ourselves: If tonight turns out to be our last on this planet, are we doing what Jesus asked us to do while we wait? Readings: Acts 1:1-11; Psalm 47; Ephesians 1:17:23; Matthew 28:16-20 [1] María Enid Barga, “The Ascension of the Lord,” Workbook for Lectors, Gospel Readers, and Proclaimers of the Word 2026 (Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 2025), 172. [2] Luke Timothy Johnson, The Acts of the Apostles, Sacra Pagina, vol. 5, ed. Daniel J. Harrington (Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1992), 32. [3] Robert W. Hall, “The Acts of the Apostles,” The New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. 10 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2002), 43. What Does Divine Mercy Look Like? Print 43 Please login or register to post comments.