Solemnity of the Ascension

Solemnity of the Ascension: Stop Gazing Up and Witness That Jesus Lives

On Mary’s Messages: Leading Hearts to Jesus Today, host Cristy Murray and Father Perry Kenaston reflect on the Solemnity of the Ascension, beginning with prayers to the Holy Spirit and the reminder that Christ is risen. Father Perry recounts the Ascension scene in Galilee with the remaining eleven disciples—some still doubting—and highlights Jesus’ mandate to make disciples of all nations through baptism and teaching, alongside His promise to remain with them always. Echoing the angels’ instruction not to keep staring at the sky, the episode urges listeners to proclaim Christ in daily life by using their gifts in family life, friendship, work, service, volunteering, and stepping beyond comfort zones, emphasizing prayer in the morning and at night and basic Catholic practices. The conversation previews Pentecost and mentions a future episode on Our Lady of Fatima.

00:00 Welcome to Marys Messages
00:39 Ascension Topic and Prayer
01:34 Ascension Gospel Scene
02:29 Mandate and Angels Message
04:01 Everyday Witness Ideas
09:07 Serving Beyond Comfort
11:15 Living Sermon Reflections
13:55 Multitasking and Daily Prayer
16:13 Catholic Home Basics
18:10 Closing Prayer and Farewell

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Transcript

Restream recording May 18, 2026 • 04:41:32 AM 0:02

Welcome to Mary's Messages, Leading Hearts to Jesus Today, the podcast where we listen to the voice of the Blessed Mother and allow her to guide us ever closer to her Son in our modern world. I'm Cristy Murray, along with Father Perry Kenaston, and each week we explore stories of faith, conversations with Catholic voices, and practical spiritual tools to help you encounter Christ more deeply. In a world longing for peace and clarity, Mary continues to speak to her children with love, hope, and a mother's gentle wisdom. Thank you for joining us as we open our hearts to Mary's message and let her lead us into the loving embrace of Jesus. Father Perry, so today we are going to talk about the Solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord. Would you like to start us with prayer? Sure. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. Well, first of all, it's not a prayer. It's just a happiness. The happiness is that He is risen. And just as I, I wanna share this little poem with you here. With love and a grateful heart, we assure you of our prayers for you and your family. And that goes for all of us and also Christ. The other one here is, O Holy Spirit, soul of... so my soul, I adore you, enlighten, guide, strengthen, and console me. Tell me what I ought to do and command me to do it. I promise to be submissive to everything that you permit to happen to me. Only show me what your will is. So welcome, my friends, to the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord. The disciples climbed the hill in Galilee and saw the Lord being taken up into heaven. There were 11 disciples at this time. Judas Iscariot had dropped out of the school, society, and life. His replacement, Matthias, had not yet been chosen, so just 11 disciples were there. And Jesus, Jesus was there, but still doubt... They still doubted. I find that strangely comforting that some of them doubted. If these people could not doubt-- could doubt after all their experiences of the Lord, then there is nothing wrong with me or my faith. When I have quest-questions and doubts, I'm only acting like a human being. Jesus gave the s- disciples a m- mandate and promise. The mandate was to go make disciples of all nations, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all that I have commanded you. The promise was that they would not, they would not do this alone. Know that I am with you always until the end of time. Matthew twenty-eight, verse tw-twenty There are angels in today's r- verse reading. They appear standing with the disciples as the disciples stare at Jesus ascending into heaven. They say to the disciples and say, "Men of Galilee, men and women of the new to Israel, men and women of the church, why are you looking up? Men and women of Galilee, men and women of the new Israel, men and women of the church, don't look at the sky, and don't turn into yourself. Don't be con- contemplating your navel. No, get to work. Others need to know about the heights and the depths of God's working in our lives." And so we are told to, to tell the world that Jesus lives. Know that I am with you always. The solemnity of the ascension is a call for us to tell the world that Jesus is still with us. How do we do this? How do we proclaim Christ in our everyday life? Simply utilizing the gifts the Lord has given to us. Here are a few suggestions. Are you a mother or a father, a husband or wife? God has given you the gift to be the way to Him. For your spouse, through your marriage, your spouse needs to see that Jesus lives through you. Parents are given the responsibility and the joy of raising children of God. You parents are the first teachers of your ca- church child's faith. Your best lessons are the ones your child witnesses when they see how mom and dad treat each other. Treat them with, and treat them with others with the charity and kindness of Jesus Christ. Do you make friends easy? Then befriend those who are alone in the world. Perhaps that loner at school, that elderly man in an apartment, that cousin no one talks about or to. Perhaps they and many others need to know that they are not alone. Your friendship can help them understand the value before the... their value before the Lord. Do you multitask? Well, how do you? Are you one of those people who can do things at once while texting in the background? Then use your talent to do things for others. How can you say you are too busy? You have the ability to be busy doing the Lord's work while you are still doing your normal projects. Some people can't even go from one thing to another But you can. Fill your day in giving witness to Jesus, being loving and caring. Show the world that Jesus lives. Do you have a particular expertise that can help others? Are you a teacher, a lawyer, a doctor, a nurse, a paramedic, or one of the many other services professionals? Well, stop seeing people as paying customers and start seeing them as people sent to you so that you can use your expertise to help them find God. Perhaps a teacher can tutor a sick child, or the member of a m- medical profession can volunteer in a clinic, or a lawyer can give advice to the impoverished, all making it very clear that they are treasured by God. That's how you can show them that Jesus lives. Are you really good with your hands? Does carpentry come easy to you? Well, you have a skill. Have you ever considered volunteering for an organization like Habitat for Humanity? How about fixing things? Are you good at that? Do you have any idea how much you are needed by the elderly trying to do their best to stay in their homes and not knowing what to do when something breaks? Check in in and on them. Fix things for free and let them know that Jesus lives. Perhaps if you are good with cars, you can help a neighbor get back on the road. Do you have a determination within you to serve the country? Your fellow citizens need you. Americans need soldiers and sailors, air force, and n- now space force people. If you decide to serve, then serve not just your country, but g- your God. Bring the presence of God into the military with you. Show others the virtue of fortitude Chri- church. But to do this and tr- and treat it with charity. That way, they will see that you're a real strength in your Christian character. Do you like to travel? Does the thought of going off to an exotic land excite you? Then consider volunteering to help the poor in Haiti, the Caribbean, Central America, Africa, Asia, or perhaps traveling within the United States to the poor in the Appalachia. Let others know that you are happy to understand a journey to them And if it helps them take a closer step to God, that's how you can tell the world that Jesus loves you. Does your heart go out to the poor? This is a gift. Have you ever thought of volunteering in a soup kitchen or a homeless shelter? Let these people know that you are with them because Jesus cares for them. Perhaps you are convinced that you need to do something that is not all that comfortable for you. Maybe you think that you are called to the jail or prison ministry, even though jails and prisons frighten you. But you think there are people there who have the time to look closely at their lives and com- conform their lives not just to society, but to God. Or maybe you have considered spending time with people in the last days of their lives, but the thought of being with a dying person upsets you. Still you know you can do it, and you ha- you can have to do it. Remember, the Lord came to comfort the afflicted, and afflicted the comfortable. He often calls us out of our comfort zone, so go out and do it. Tell the world that Jesus lives. People are led to the Lord by the other people, people who l- give witness to the living presence of Jesus Christ in their actions. People are led to the peop- Lord by people like us, who stop gazing up into the sky and go out to show the world that Jesus lives. So my friends, that's it. That's our mand- mandate. And how are we doing that? Are we doing it okay? Or do sometimes we, uh, we falter this is our big stand. That's it for the Ascension. Go make disciples of all nations. Yeah, that's what it says in Matthew. Matthew says, "Go out and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." Mm. So I'm not saying that you have to go out there and stand on a soapbox, but at the same time, uh, there's a saying out there, the living sermon, and basically, um, well, and St. Francis told it too. He said, "Most of the time I don't talk to people. I just let them w- look at me and see how I treat others." Hmm. They can... I tell you what, I don't know if you're a people watcher- But all you have to do is sit on a park bench someday. Yeah. All the people go by. And I have to tell you what, if you don't, if you want a lesson in humanity and how people treat each other, there's, there it is right there. And you'll be surprised how they treat each other. They don't even realize they're smacking the... They're, and they don't even realize that, you know, they're not being Christ to one another. Yeah. So I, that's it for me. I, unless you have some questions, I don't know, you know. This is Ascension and next week, now next week is Pentecost, is which we'll, we'll start our Pentecost thing. Uh, and I've got enough material here to, to take it for a while so. Okay. Pentecost is, it's the time that when the Holy Spirit came down and baptized everybody, and alls you have to do is, uh, listen to the readings next week. And at the same time, if you ever get a chance to go to the Holy Lamb, you'll go to the upper room, and you'll live it out. And we spent, on the tour that I did several years ago, we spent three hours in there just experiencing what to experience. Mm-hmm. Don't try so hard, right? Goodness. You, you go on a, you know, you go on a trip, you know, you, uh... Well, look at, look at the guys here. If you look at our graphic today, you know, Jesus has risen, and he's got everybody, he's, he's got everybody right there, and he says, "Hi, guys. I'm going to heaven. Now I'm building a place for you, too. But for now I have a mandate for you." The mandate is to go and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And guess what they did? They did, and now look at us. We're quite a few bunch of people. And that's it, you know? Now we're here getting bitty, busy and multitasking. It's, it's interesting how you said the word multitasking. I think there's so many things that we're, you know, we think we have to do, and we're, we're trying to multitask and sometimes we lose focus and we tire out. Well, I, when I was coming back from the church today, after I went to a concert, I, people were driving by and I saw some of them talking on their cell phone, plus trying to drive the car. And I'm, is that really s- in, is that really necessary? I mean, one or two things. You either drive the car or don't talk on the cell phone. The choice is yours. Mm-hmm. But when you get up in the morning, what do you do? Do you multitask? You brush your teeth and comb your hair at the same time? Well, I, I'm kind of serious because you should start every day, you should start every day with prayer. Mm-hmm. You know, "Good morning, Lord. How are we doing today?" You know what? There's a... You know, I hate to, I hate to say this to you to a certain extent, but a lot of the stuff that we used to do as kids, especially when I was a kid, we used to say the guardian angel prayer, "Angel of God, my guardian dear," stuff like that. How many parents today, how many parents today actually get up in the morning and get the kids out of bed and say some morning prayers? You should say them. That's a, that's a good reminder. Well, not only that, but what about nighttime? Does school sports, do school p- sports, are they more mandatory than telling each other, "Good night, Mommy. Good night, Daddy"? And if Daddy, if Daddy or Mommy or one of the kids have a headache, why don't you short, say a short little prayer over them? Sure, they can take the Tylenol and stuff like that, but remember, Jesus is the healer. Mm-hmm. And, you know, I don't know. A- the other... I'll, and I'll close with this. They used to, in my day, which wasn't too far ago, but anyway, you know. I, I knew Barney and Fred real quick, you know. But, but right at... They used, we used to have right at the door before we went out to the house, we used to have these little holders with holy water in them. Mm-hmm. I would be curious to find out, ask the normal Catholic, "Do you have that in your home or not?" And if the answer to that is no, then you rip on them to a certain extent. Why? It's right there. The water doesn't cost anything, and the, those little things cost maybe about $20 or $30- Mm-hmm at the very most. You put that right there by the front door, and if you want to, oh my... If you want to, you put it in each of the rooms, each of the bedrooms. And then, you know, uh, mommy and daddy can just walk by the kids there and, well, you know. And if they're sound asleep or something like that, you accidentally on purpose just sprinkle them with holy water, you know? Yeah. And you're bringing up your kids the right way according to Catholic tradition. So, I got, uh, oh, I could say stuff, but I... We gotta get back to the basics, people. I'm sorry, but- Mm-hmm the basics, basics are ru- it's what running the church here. And, uh- You know, we're doing the Ascension now, and next week we'll be doing the Pentecost. Mm-hmm. So praise God for that. Yes. And then we'll, we'll-- The last, um, yeah, the Feast of the Fatima, um, just finished, but we'll, we'll be having a, an episode about Our Lady of Fatima too. Yeah. I'd just, just like to close with this. I said a prayer for you today. I said a prayer for you today, and know God, I must have heard it. I felt the answer in my heart although all through. He spoke no word. I didn't ask for wealth or fame. I knew you wouldn't mind. I asked Him to send treasures of far more lasting kind. I asked that He'd be near you at the start of each new day. I grant you health and but blessings and friends to share your way. I ask for happiness for you in all things great and small, but it was for His loving care I prayed for all you today. No, that's it. That's a wonderful closing prayer. All right. Well, thank you for joining us today on Mary's Messages, um, Leading Hearts to Jesus today. If this conversation brought you closer to Jesus, I invite you to subscribe, leave us a five-star review, and share this episode with someone who needs a little hope. And every time you do, you help Mary's message reach more hearts. For links, resources, and ways to stay connected, be sure to check out the show notes below. And if you'd like to go deeper, we now have a newsletter just for you. Head to our subscription landing page in the show notes to join our community and receive reflections, resources, and Marian inspiration delivered straight to your inbox. And you get to ask Father Perry questions or spiritual direction. And until next time, may Mary's message echo in your heart and lead you ever closer to the loving embrace of Christ.