May 17, 2026
Gospel: Mark, chapter 16, verses 15–20
Homily of the Pontiff Samuel
Solemn Feast of the Ascension of Jesus
Let us ascend into the Heart of Mary
so that we may ascend even now
into the Heart of Christ
“Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature”. “Whoever believes and is baptised” will thus become a son and “will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mk 16:15–16).
Beloved brothers and sisters, this is the Word of God, and the Word of God is timeless and eternal. No one among those who wish to be saved will ever be able to change it, water it down or, worse still, distort it. But whoever wishes to be saved must put it into practice and help everyone else do the same, in that holy evangelism which the sons of God—who love God and love their neighbour (Mt 22:37–39)—are called upon to practise every day, so that Jesus may be King of a great people, and many may be saved and few condemned. To do this, Jesus teaches us that our speech must be “yes, yes, and no, no”, because anything more comes from the evil one (Mt 5:37).
We, beloved brothers, beloved sisters, live in a time when ‘yes, yes’ and ‘no, no’ is no longer accepted, no longer practised, because we live in the age of so-called ‘political correctness’, where one must speak a language that suits everyone, that offends no one. But whom must we not offend first, man or God (Acts 5:29)?
We call for peace; we speak out against war. War is caused by the disobedience of man who has strayed from God’s Law and, instead of loving one’s neighbour, out of selfishness, out of a thirst for power, out of a desire to possess more and more, wages war. It is not God who wants war; it is not God who provokes war, but man, precisely because he has strayed from the true Law of God, enacting laws in many countries that are contrary, opposite to the Law of God (Is 10:1-2).
And so, I say to many today: which is the true ongoing war today, at a time when God’s Law is being broken in order to teach a law that is contrary to God’s? It is the war being waged against God Himself, who offered His Son for the salvation of many (Jn 3:16). To preach that all religions lead to God, that all churches are sisters, it is to wage war against that God the Father who sacrificed, who gave His Son, so that all might believe in Him, in Christ, and thus become ‘Christians’, in order to obtain Salvation (Acts 4:12). This is the first war that the world is waging relentlessly against God, by teaching what is contrary to the Gospel we have heard today.
You, beloved brothers and sisters, you, beloved young people, remain steadfast and anchored to the true Doctrine which is Christ (Act of the Magisterium, “Communion in the One Faith: Christ”, 11/05/2025) so that you may bring holy proselytism to all, so that many may be saved, and these words may be fulfilled once more: “Go and baptise in my name” (Mt 28:19), says Jesus; therefore, go and, in the Name of Him who saves, baptise. Whoever allows themselves to be baptised and puts His Teachings into practice — which, through you, will once again become the centre of this humanity — will be saved. Whoever wishes to make a different choice will certainly be free to do so, just as the Father will certainly be free to condemn those who, having refused to believe in the Son, will be condemned.
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension so that we may remain in that Heaven where God’s Law reigns supreme; so that we may already experience today the Heaven which we contemplate in its fullness in Mary, because Mary lived Heaven while she was alive. Mary had already ascended. Why? Because in her Heart there was no longer any trace of humanity, but only the Love of God who became incarnate and remained there to dwell.
Here is the Example that today once again takes centre stage for all those who wish to live this Feast, to truly feel it as their own (Act of the Magisterium, “Mary, the Holy Door of the sons of God”, 24/12/2024). Not a distant Feast, not a Feast that concerns others, but a Feast that concerns you, son of God who celebrates the Master, wishing to follow Him and live Him in that Heaven which has lowered itself down here, thanks to Mary’s “yes” (Lk 1:38), for Mary is the Woman of the “yes”. Mary is the One who made Will, Obedience and Faithfulness the cornerstones of her Life. Obedient to the Word of the Lord. If this world has strayed from the Truth, it is because it has disobeyed these words of the Gospel now proclaimed. But Mary remained faithful to the Promises, to the Word, just as Saint Elizabeth told her when she met her: “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord’s words would be fulfilled” (Lk 1:45). Just as another Mary did, Maria Giuseppina, who believed in the fulfilment of the Words that the Lord proclaimed to her on May 15: she said “yes” and believed, just as she believed every Word. And when the Lord foretold the New Jerusalem to her, she believed, she did not doubt; and she proclaimed it, remaining obedient and faithful to that Invitation which Jesus addressed to her: “My child, at the time I shall indicate to you, announce to everyone that here there is the New Jerusalem, that here I establish My Dwelling” (Revelation of Jesus to Maria G. Norcia, “The Dwelling Place established by Jesus”, 09/03/1997).
Dear brothers and sisters, it is true, God is everywhere and can be found in every place, but it is equally true that every king has a dwelling, establishes his dwelling in a place, and here is the Dwelling of the King, a King – a Brother among brothers – who goes out to meet His sons in every place, in every locality, visiting every community because He loves His sons, especially those who are most in need. And so, the sons make their voices heard. And we must go out to meet these younger brothers and sisters, those who are most in need (Mt 25:40). It is a Christian duty, but first and foremost, a human one, if one does not wish to lose that humanity which many have lost, becoming worse than beasts (Revelation of Jesus to Maria G. Norcia, “The Holy Spirit”, 13/09/1984). Beasts have no soul. Man does, but if the soul is not nourished, if the spirit is not nourished, one becomes worse than a beast, and this must never happen, because, otherwise, it would happen what we observe everywhere else these days.
And behold, the sons of God – who, from “creatures”, have become “sons” (Jn 1:12) – they want to live according to the example of the Son and of that Daughter who became Mother, Queen of Heaven and Earth, Universal Co-Redemptrix (Pontifical Decree, “In Mary, with Mary and for Mary”, 22/12/2019).
Elsewhere, Her figure is belittled; everyone is urged not to venerate Her as Co-Redemptrix. And once again, people stray from the Truth. Others, however, who wish to cling to tradition, write ‘as sons’ to one who can never lead them to the Son because he is animated by a different, contrary spirit (1 Jn 4:2-3): an inconsistency, just as there are so many inconsistencies among those who claim they wish to preserve tradition, but in reality, in secret, they cover up and conceal many abuses and injustices that cry out before God. And all will be made manifest (Lk 12:2) so that many may open their eyes, while others, red-faced and covered in shame, may withdraw in good order.
The sons of God must remain anchored to Mary. This I repeat to you, and this I will always repeat: love Her more than yourselves, live Her more than your own lives, for only thus can we already ascend, now, just as She did. The Mystery in which the Divine Essence is alive—this is Mary (Revelation of God the Almighty Father to Maria G. Norcia, “Mary Immaculate dwells in Us”, 28/06/1983); thanks to Her Will: that Will we must have ourselves every day to remain faithful to God; thanks to Her Obedience: that Obedience we must practise in order to be able to say “yes” and renew that “yes” to God every day. This is the Faithfulness of the faithful Bride.
Who is the Bride? Where the Bride is, there is also the Bridegroom (Rev 21:9). Therefore, wise and discerning is the one who remains anchored to Mary and follows in Her footsteps. For where Mary is, there is Jesus; where the Mother is, there is the Son.
Whoever wishes to find Jesus today, let them follow Mary, let them consecrate themselves to Her Immaculate Heart (Revelation of Jesus to Maria G. Norcia, “Mary, I consecrate myself to You”, 10/03/1986) so as to be able to ascend, rise, and elevate themselves above a world that has betrayed God and His Law, a world that no longer lives in love for Mary. Indeed, I tell you, they have cast Her aside, Mary. They do everything in their power to put Her “on the back burner”, as they say.
Blessed are those who place her back at the centre of their lives, consecrating themselves every day to her Immaculate Heart and ensuring that many, indeed everyone, may do the same, for only in this way it will be possible to truly ascend already, even now, to experience already now that Heaven which is near, present, and alive.
Thus, as is written in the Gospel reading proclaimed today, “no poison shall harm them” (Mk 16:18). Behold, the “poison” of the world will have no power in the hearts that have Mary as their antidote. Behold the Mother, who stands as a protection for her sons. Here is the Mother, good and tender, who nourishes her sons with her Milk and her Honey (Is 66:11-13) so that she may give everyone the joy of being able to already ascend, even now, and experience the Son in his fullness, the Son who came down here as he had promised.
Behold today’s Feast returning once more. “Jesus ascended into heaven and two men,” it is written, “two men” said to those first friends of that time: “Why are you standing there looking up? In the very way you have seen him go into heaven, so shall he return” (Acts 1:10-11). “Two men” who foretold what was to come; and so it was. Jesus kept His Promise: He descended here in the same way as He ascended (Revelation of Jesus to Maria G. Norcia, “The Return of Jesus”, 30/10/1994). Here is also the Revelation that Jesus gave to His Maiden, the Ascent into Heaven which we have been meditating on these past few days. Jesus says: “As I ascended to Heaven, I could already see everything: the future history, my sons being massacred; yet I also saw a corner, in a land far from the place where I was born and raised. I saw Myself as an Infant, a Maiden playing in a meadow; and then two Maidens, a people, a crowd”. (Revelation of Jesus to Maria G. Norcia, “The Ascent to Heaven”, 13/04/1995). Everything has come true, dear brothers and sisters, we are living through it all.
Blessed are those who remain faithful to the Lord’s promises. Blessed are those who let themselves be distracted by nothing and no one. Blessed are those who remain anchored to the Gospel of Jesus Christ so as not to give in to fairytales (2 Tim 4:3-4). “No one who puts his hand to the plough should look back,” says Jesus, for otherwise, whoever looks back is not worthy of the Kingdom (Lk 9:62), because in the Kingdom of God there is no place for the indecisive and the doubtful (Revelation of Jesus to Maria G. Norcia, “The Holy Place of Jesus’ Return”, 19/92/1995), but there is room only and exclusively for those who wish to be a “rock” in the faith, following the example of Him who is the Rock, because we must strengthen our brothers in the faith; for this reason we must be “rocks”, dear brothers, dear fellow-brothers, to strengthen the faithful in the faith (Lk 22:32).
Here is the Example that once again becomes the centre for all: here is Mary who once again becomes the centre for all. Why? Because Mary has given us the universal Example so that we may put into practice every teaching of the Master. Mary was the first to put the Master’s Teachings into practice perfectly. And by looking to the Teacher, we cannot help but put into practice everything the Master teaches us.
This is the Way, dear brothers. This is the Truth, dear brothers and sisters. And this will lead us to live eternal Life (Jn 14:6), dear brothers and sisters, for outside this Teaching there is no Salvation. There may be other things; there may be human applause; there may be those who, applauding total inclusion, will applaud, but the Will of God will not be done (Mt 7:21). Respect for every creature, yes, but ‘sons’ (1 John 3:2) are only those who, believing in God, in Jesus, in His Promises and in His final Coming which has been fulfilled here… will be saved.
This is the Feast of the Ascension which we celebrate today to confirm everyone in the true Faith.
Whoever wishes to be saved, let them remain true to this Teaching. Whoever wishes to do otherwise is free to do so, but let them not misuse the Name of Jesus, nor quote His Teachings out of context, for that would be to speak falsely (Ex 20:7). And this is the House of Truth (Jn 8:32). We leave falsehood to others, where the liar has taken up residence and there he shall remain (Jn 8:44).
Lift up your hearts, dear brothers and sisters, in Christ and in Mary. So be it.
