The Ascension of the Lord
“He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.” These words from the Nicene Creed that we profess in our Creed, clearly tells us what we are celebrating today.
Today we are celebrating the Solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord into Heaven, the second Glorious Mystery of the Rosary. All our readings today talk about the Ascension of Christ, but our first reading and gospel reading vividly describes the Ascension of Christ into Heaven. According to one Catholic biblical scholar, the Ascension of Christ is the crowning glory of the Old Testament or the Old Testament’s day of triumph, because from the time of our first parents, Adam and Eve, the gates of heaven had been closed to mankind because of original sin. All who died in the Old Testament were denied the sight of God. But with Christ’s Ascension into heaven, He reopened heaven to all mankind, leading a triumphant army of souls, prophets, holy men and women of the Old Testament to their eternal reward. The Ascension marks the opening of heaven to all mankind as it marks the first time a human body entered heaven. Remember when Christ came into our world, He took our human body. When He ascended into heaven, He ascended with this same body, thereby reentering heaven with His human nature as well as His divine nature. The Catechism of the Catholic Church #665 emphasizes this and states that “Christ's Ascension marks the definitive entrance of Jesus' humanity into God's heavenly domain, whence he will come again (cf. Acts 1:11); this humanity in the meantime hides him from the eyes of men (cf. Col 3:3). The Catechism of the Catholic Church #666 continues that “Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, precedes us into the Father's glorious kingdom so that we, the members of his Body, may live in the hope of one day being with him for ever.” Then #667 states that “Jesus Christ, having entered the sanctuary of heaven once and for all, intercedes constantly for us as the mediator who assures us of the permanent outpouring of the Holy Spirit.”
Hence, the Ascension of our Lord shows the supreme Lordship of Jesus Christ over the world and over all things. It confirmed and affirmed to the apostles and disciples that Jesus Christ was the Messiah indeed. This should make us tell everyone how proud we are to be Christians and followers of Christ. Why? Because the Ascension made the disciples of Christ truly believe in their hearts and confess with their lips that Jesus their Master, was the Savior, Redeemer and Messiah. This goes on to confirm the mission given to them by Jesus when He told them to “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.” So my brothers and sisters, since we know what the Ascension of Christ into heaven means and signifies for us Catholic Christians, what does the Ascension do for us today or what is the message of today’s Solemnity of the Ascension of Christ? -The Ascension of Christ teaches us that indeed, Jesus Christ is our Messiah, our Savior and Redeemer, so we need to have Him be the center of our lives by always praising Him, worshipping Him, adoring Him, thanking Him for all His does in our lives and asking Him for our needs. -With this belief in our Lord Jesus Christ, His Ascension helps us deepen our hope and desire to attain the kingdom of God, where He seats at the right hand of His Father.
-The Ascension goes on to remind us as well as emphasize our mission to witness to Christ in the world by proclaiming and living out His gospel and our faith in Him in the world. This is in fact a call for us to go beyond our fears, worries, sinfulness and weaknesses to proclaim Christ to the world as He commanded us in today’s gospel reading saying, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. They will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension of Christ into Heaven today, let us acknowledge our risen Lord as our Messiah by truly believing in Him, by deepening our hope and desire to attain the kingdom of God, and by witnessing to Him in the world today when we proclaim and live out His gospel and our faith in Him in the world.
