“Go, make disciples of all the nations.”

Feast of the Ascension

This feast of the Ascension brings to a close the period of post-Resurrection appearances of the Lord. It marks a significant moment as the Lord hands over to the apostles the responsibility of continuing his mission: “Go therefore and make the disciples of all the nations.”

This is an extraordinary command: “Go therefore and make the disciples of all the nations.” Even Jesus himself did not envisage his mission as being so extensive. He said that he had come for the “lost sheep of the House of Israel”. The disciples, this motley band of twelve, was, in the words of St Luke, to be his witnesses “not only in Jerusalem, but throughout Judea and Samaria, and indeed to the ends of the earth”.

By any standards this is an enormous expectation. And look at the apostles – fishermen, tax collectors, ordinary folk. Consider their self-doubt and uncertainty.

This was an impossible mission. However, the Lord was confident that they could do it. He declared that “all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me”. In his name, exercising his authority, they could do it. Or rather not they but God’s Spirit acting in them.

Here he issued an important instruction to them – they were not to leave Jerusalem, but, as the Lord said, “to wait for what the Father had promised”. And what did the Father promise? Jesus explains, “It is what you have heard me speak about: John baptised with water but you, not many days from now, will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.”

It will be in the power of the Holy Spirit that these very human men will fulfil this great mission. The Lord explains that only when the Holy Spirit comes on them will they be able to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth.

Thus, with the Ascension of the Lord, a new era in human history is ushered in: it is the era of the Spirit, the era of the Church. And we live in this new dispensation. We live in the era of the Spirit, and the era of the Church. We can testify that the Great Commission has been fulfilled and continues to be fulfilled. The Gospel has been taken to the ends of the earth. The Gospel has been embraced by peoples of all nations and cultures.

What was impossible for these mortal men has been achieved, even if there is still so much more to be done. The work of the evangelisation of humanity has, in the end, not been the accomplishment of the men, but a great work of the Spirit.

Pope St Paul VI reminds us in his milestone document on evangelisation, Evangelii Nuntiandi, that “Evangelization will never be possible without the action of the Holy Spirit”. (EN 75)

He goes on to state, “In fact, it is only after the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost that the apostles depart to all the ends of the earth in order to begin the great work of the Church’s evangelization.” (ibid)

Pope Paul VI comments on the critical role that the Holy Spirit plays in evangelisation saying,

Techniques of evangelisation are good, but even the most advanced ones could not replace the gentle action of the Spirit. The most perfect preparation of the evangeliser has no effect without the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit the most convincing dialectic has no power over the heart of man. Without Him the most highly developed schemas resting on a sociological or psychological basis are quickly seen to be quite valueless. (EN 75)

The Holy Spirit is the critical agent in the evangelising process. As Pope St Paul VI says,

It is the Holy Spirit who, today just as at the beginning of the Church, acts in every evangeliser who allows himself to be possessed and led by Him. The Holy Spirit places on his lips the words which he could not find by himself, and at the same time the Holy Spirit predisposes the soul of the hearer to be open and receptive to the Good News and to the kingdom being proclaimed.

There could have been no evangelisation without Pentecost and indeed it is true that there can be no effective evangelisation in the Church today without the Holy Spirit.

At the Ascension the Lord entrusted this great mission to his apostles. For all time it will remain the mission of the Church. Today it is our mission. We are incapable of fulfilling this mission, but the Holy Spirit is still at work and will use those who rely upon Him.

Today, let us hear the Lord say to us as he said to the apostles, “Go, make disciples of all the nations.”

Archbishop Julian Porteous

Sunday, 24 May 2020