
As we journey through these final days of the Easter season, the Church gives us two portraits of faithful discipleship.

Both readings speak to the same truth: love for Christ is the only foundation for courageous witness, and that love leads where we would rather not go—but always to glory.

Both readings speak to our own situation: we live in a divided world, often facing opposition, yet we are held together by the hope of the Resurrection and the love of the Father.

In the remote Putao Zone of Kachin State, 250 faithful, catechists, listeners, and Rawang traditional elders gathered on May 18 to celebrate RVA Day, marking eight years of the RVA Rawang Service broadcasting the Good News in the local language.

More than 800 faithful gathered at Sacred Heart Church in Myaungmya on May 17 to celebrate the RVA Day of Pwo Karen Service, coinciding with the Feast of the Ascension, in a Eucharistic celebration presided over by Bishop Henry Eikhlein of Pathein Diocese.

We are not called to escape the world, but to live in it as those who belong to Another.

The Catholic Church in Pathein Diocese marked a significant milestone on May 13 with the official opening of Marygone Parish, a new ecclesiastical jurisdiction comprising 13 villages and 230 Catholic families.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus lifts His eyes to heaven and prays. This is His “high priestly prayer,” offered on the threshold of His passion.

In Acts, Paul encounters incomplete disciples, lacking the Spirit’s fullness. In the Gospel, Jesus warns of tribulation yet promises a peace the world cannot give. Together, they teach us that the Spirit of Jesus is our courage and our calm in every storm.

The Ascension is not Jesus leaving us behind; it is Jesus going before us, opening the way to the Father, and sending us forth as His witnesses.