On the Solemnity of the Ascension, we ponder anew the ministry that Jesus did while he was on earth. As he was thinking of leaving his apostles, he commissioned them to continue to be witnesses to the ends of the earth about what they had seen and heard about/from him. Then in front of their eyes, he ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of His Father. Even if his apostles were sad to see him leave, they were full of joy as they returned to the city of Jerusalem, proclaiming the message of the Kingdom. 

 Jesus did not leave his apostles orphans; he said he would send his Advocate to help them remember his message of love and salvation. True to his word, fifty 

days after Easter, on Pentecost Day, the Holy Spirit showered down on the Apostles in form of tongues of fire, filling them with passionate zeal to spread the message they had heard from Jesus. 

The Holy Spirit can be our consoler and advocate and dwell in us. St. Luke relays Jesus’ message: 

So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives Luke 11, 9-10 

This Holy Spirit renewed the apostles and filled them with a power that would give them courage to go out and proclaim the Good News to all nations, that Christ is risen. 

The Holy Spirit is the source of our power and strength to gives us the energy to live our lives as true followers of Jesus and help us to bear witness to others. It is through our baptism that the Holy Spirit dwells in us, guides us to all truth and is the source of our hope and joy. 

The love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. 

There are different gifts given to us to do our work, but the greatest is love. Jesus commissioned all of us believers to go and proclaim the Good News to everyone we meet. Let us open our hearts and ask the Holy Spirit to guide us, to shower on us the necessary gifts we need for our life as witnesses of Jesus risen from the dead and living forever among us. Let us repeat often: 

“Come Holy Spirt come.’