Homily given by Bishop Anthony Randazzo
Bishop of Broken Bay
Ascension of the Lord 2025
1 June 2025
Grace and peace to you, my sisters and brothers in Christ, on this Feast of the Ascension, in this Holy Year of Hope. Today, the Church lifts up with joy and gratitude the sacred witness of families, children, grandparents, and the elderly. In doing so, we celebrate not only the beauty of human love in all its forms, but the living presence of Christ in every generation.
Today, as we remember the Ascension of the Lord, we might be tempted to think of Jesus as departing, leaving His disciples behind. But that is not what the Ascension truly means. It is not a farewell; it is a commissioning.
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells His disciples: “You are witnesses to this. And now I am sending down to you what the Father has promised.”
And in the letter to the Ephesians, Saint Paul prays that we may be given “a spirit of wisdom and perception of what is revealed... so that you can see what hope his call holds for you.”
This hope, that we are never alone, that Christ remains with us through the gift of the Holy Spirit, is the heart of today’s feast.
The Ascension is not about absence. It is about presence in a new and even deeper way: Christ reigning in heaven, yet present in His Body on earth, in the Church, in the sacraments, in our families, and in our love for one another.
This is why the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents, and the Elderly is not simply a theme, but a sign, a living reminder of where Christ is to be found today.
The family, in its many shapes and stories, is where we first learn what it means to love and to be loved. It is often within the embrace of a grandparent, the steady presence of a parent, or the innocent wonder of a child that we first encounter the face of God.
The elderly remind us of the wisdom of time. The young remind us of the promise of tomorrow. Together, they form the sacred communion we call the domestic Church. Yet we know that family life today is not without its challenges. Many are burdened by economic stress, illness, loneliness, or loss. Some families feel broken. Some feel forgotten.
But here, too, the Gospel speaks a word of hope. Because hope is not based on perfection. Hope is not a fantasy. Hope is a person, Jesus Christ, who promises, “I am with you always,” and sends us His Spirit to renew the face of the earth, one home, one heart, one act of love at a time.
In this light, I want to give heartfelt thanks to God for the everyday witness of you, my dear people, the people of the Church of Broken Bay, a community of faith that seeks to live out the mission of Christ with compassion and courage.
As a diocese, we are not called to stand apart from the world, but to step into its joys and its sorrows, its messiness and its beauty.
We do not simply speak of love; we seek to embody it.
Whether it is comforting a neighbour in grief, supporting a struggling parent, reaching out to someone elderly and alone, or walking alongside a family in crisis, you, the faithful of this Church, become the hands and feet of Christ. In countless quiet and often unseen ways, you remind each person they are seen, they are heard, and they are loved.
This is what the Church looks like when it takes the Ascension seriously, not staring into the sky, but going out into the world. Not waiting passively for the kingdom to come but helping to build it here and now, especially in the lives of the most vulnerable, the forgotten, and those on the margins.
So today, on this great feast and in this Jubilee Year, let us remember who we are:
We are the people of the Ascension, called not to live in fear, but to live in mission.
We are witnesses to a love that does not abandon.
We are bearers of a hope that is stronger than death.
And we are members of a family far wider than our own, united in Christ, across generations and across time.
To our families: thank you for your faith and your fidelity. To our grandparents and elders: thank you for your wisdom, resilience, and prayer. To our children: thank you for reminding us of what it means to hope and to trust. And to those who feel far from this joy, know that you are not forgotten. You belong. You are loved.
Today we walk forward together, renewed in the Spirit that Christ has poured out upon us.
We are a Church of presence, not absence.
Let us proclaim, with our words and with our lives:
We are all God’s children. Amen.