(LifeSiteNews) — Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has released a powerful Ascension Day sermon – the first published since the election of Leo XIV – urging Catholics to persevere through the current ecclesial crisis with supernatural faith and hope.

In the homily, Viganò reflects on Christ’s words in John 16:16 and draws a striking contrast between appearances of abandonment associated with the Ascension, and the reality of divine victory.

“The absence of our King and Lord,” he writes, “gives us the opportunity to testify to Him of our fidelity … not when He conquers and triumphs … but when even His generals betray Him.”

Recalling the apostles watching the Lord ascend, he exhorts the faithful to see events not “from below,” but “from above” – with eyes fixed on Heaven.

The Ascension, he explains, is not Christ’s retreat but the prelude to Pentecost and the beginning of the Church’s battle, culminating in the return of the Rex tremendæ majestatis (“King of Tremendous Majesty”).

While acknowledging the exhaustion caused by decades of scandal, apostasy, and inversion of authority, Viganò insists this is the time to unite ourselves with the cross of Christ: “It is our cross … a cross that the Lord has wisely calibrated so that with His Grace we may be able to carry it to the end.”

“Without the passio Ecclesiæ, it is impossible for the Mystical Body to triumph with Her Divine Head.”

Viganò rejects the inversion of authority presumed by many: “It is not up to the flock to command the shepherds, the student to teach the teacher, the patient to give lessons to the doctor.”

On that basis, he defends those who “reject the novelties introduced by false shepherds and mercenaries,” stating that “we will not be judged on the basis of Amoris Lætitia or Nostra Ætate, but on the basis of the Gospel.”

Viganò closes by noting that “It is not up to us – to any of us – to provide ordinary solutions in completely unique and extraordinary circumstances.”

The answer is to endure until the end, confident in Christ’s grace: “The flame of the Paschal Candle may be extinguished, but the flame of the red sanctuary lamp … remains alive and burning.”

The full text of Archbishop Viganò’s homily is available via Exsurge Domine.