This article is part of the Marian Mondays Series, a weekly reflection on the mysteries of the rosary by Jonathan Conrad, owner and founder of The Catholic Woodworker. Subscribe to have these reflections and more sent straight to your inbox every week.
Right before His Ascension, Jesus commissioned His disciples to go out and spread the word of God to all nations. Then He tells them:
“And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)
What would it have been like to hear these words and then watch Jesus ascend?
I imagine the disciples felt both joy and sadness in this moment. Jesus was alive in body and soul and yet He leaves. It makes sense why they would sit there in wonder and maybe with trepidation, staring up at the heavens as He goes.
As Catholics in 2025, we have the great fortune of living in a time when the Church has spent two millennia learning, understanding, and clarifying the theological meaning of Jesus’s words and teachings. We can look backwards and more fully see the beauty and goodness of events like the Ascension.
We know He didn’t really leave the disciples and we know He hasn’t left us, because His presence is everywhere. When we go to church and see the candle lit beside the Tabernacle, He is with us. When we receive the Eucharist, He is with us. When we adore Him in Adoration, He is with us.
Even outside of our churches, He is always with us. Not in the future tense, but right here, right now in the present.
I felt this truth deeply last Wednesday after meditating on the Glorious Mysteries. When I drove to meet some friends later that day, the words “I am with you always” kept playing over and over in my mind.
I found so much comfort in those words that day and since then. They give me the confidence to dare to dream, knowing that Jesus is with me in my own work just as He was with the disciples in theirs. With faith as my guide, I can discern my way through daily decisions, both big and small, and trust that I’m never moving forward alone. And there’s a lot of peace in that.
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