The Ascension of Jesus Christ into Heaven
May 12, 2024
Jesus Christ: Yesterday, Today, and Forever ~
This Sunday we celebrate the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ into heaven. I found this good summary of the Ascension, abridged for space, written by Fr. Rick Poblocki at www.thestationofthecross.com/catholic-qa-the-ascension-of-the-lord/. I hope you enjoy it.
In Christ the Risen & Ascended Lord,
Fr. Thomas Nathe
Catholic Q&A: The Ascension of the Lord
By Fr. Rick Poblocki
What is the Ascension of the Lord?
At His Ascension, the Lord Jesus ascended Body and Soul into heaven (Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:9-11). The Ascension took place in broad daylight on the Mount of Olives, in the presence of His Apostles and disciples.
What happened when Our Lord ascended into heaven?
The Lord Jesus gave the Apostles and disciples His final instructions (Acts 1:6-8) and promised to be with them and us until the end of time: “I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matthew 28:20). Then, in a traditional Jewish form of blessing, He raised his hands (Luke 24:50) and continued to bless them as He ascended into the heavens by His own power, until a cloud received Him from their sight (Luke 24:50-51).
How does the Catholic Church celebrate the Ascension of Our Lord?
The Ascension of the Lord is commemorated by the Catholic Church as a Solemnity and Holy Day of Obligation. The Ascension is celebrated on Thursday 40 days after Easter in the ecclesiastical province of New York. In other areas of the United States, the Ascension is transferred to the Seventh Sunday of Easter.
How does the Ascension of Jesus complete God’s saving plan?
Jesus’ Ascension into heaven accomplished four things:
1. He entered into the exalted glory He merited.
2. He ascended into heaven in order to send down upon us the promised Gift of the Holy Spirit.
3. He ascended into heaven in order to be our Intercessor before the Eternal Father.
4. He ascended into heaven in order to prepare a place for us.
If Jesus is God and His Body was glorified in the Resurrection, why is His Ascension into Heaven so necessary?
It is true that Our Lord was “glorified” at the moment of His Resurrection. But in reciting these words of the Lord Jesus to Saint Mary Magdalene: “I have not yet ascended to the Father, but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God” (John 20:17), the Catechism of the Catholic Church points out: “This indicates a difference in manifestation between the glory of the Risen Christ and that of the Christ exalted to the Father’s right hand, a transition marked by the historical and transcendent event of the Ascension” (Catechism, 660). In other words, as the Lord Jesus appears to His Apostles and disciples after His Resurrection, they experience Him in a risen and glorious state. In the Ascension and exaltation of the Lord Jesus in glory at the Father’s right hand, the disciples are also able to experience Jesus’ risen glory as one of triumph and exaltation.
If Jesus possesses glory as God, why does His human nature need to be glorified?
As God, Jesus already possesses endless and infinite glory. The significance and importance of the Ascension is that Jesus’ human nature – His Body and His Soul – are exalted in the Ascension. He lets this happen because by the exaltation of His human nature, He can pass that exultation and glory on to those who become “members of His Body,” the Church, through being united to Him by the Holy Spirit in Baptism. So, by being exalted in His human nature, Jesus makes it possible for us to be exalted and to share in His exalted glory. In His human nature Jesus was exalted so that our human nature could be exalted! The Ascension is a saving act.
Would it be possible for humans to get to heaven without Jesus?
Left to our own natural powers, our unaided human nature cannot gain us “access” to the “Father’s House,” that is, God’s life and eternal happiness. By taking to heaven a body and soul like ours, Christ – and only He – can give us and anyone else access to the blessedness of heaven (the beatific vision). That’s why we speak of Christ as our “Head,” or as “Head of the Mystical Body.” The ancient peoples believed that life flowed from a person’s head into, and throughout the body. So, the head was seen as the “source of the body’s life.” Based on this understanding, the Christians refer to Christ as their “Head” or the “Head of the Mystical Body,” because he alone is the Source of this new kind of life – gained for us by His Cross, Resurrection and Ascension.
How is the Lord Jesus able to “raise” us up from the dead and brings us into heaven?
When we die, our body and soul separate from one another – and we do not have the power to reunite them – which is why those who die stay dead. In Baptism we receive the Holy Spirit, Who joins our body and soul to His Being as God. Because in Baptism our bodies and souls are joined to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit has power and control over them – so even if our body and soul separate, both of them are still united to the Holy Spirit. On the Last Day, the Holy Spirit will reunite our bodies and souls, and we will come back to life in a resurrected state. That’s why it’s so important to be baptized.
What do we mean when we speak of Christ being “seated at the right hand of the Father?”
In this biblical world, being seated at the right hand of a King or Ruler was the mark of receiving the highest honor (cf. Psalm 110:1-2). As God, Christ is equal to the Father, but as it is stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the exaltation of Christ – God and Man – at the Father’s right hand, is the beginning of the Messiah’s Kingdom and the fulfillment of the prophet Daniel’s prophecy concerning the Son of Man, Who receives endless dominion, glory, and rule over all the nations and peoples (Daniel 7:14). Through the Ascension, this dominion is also bestowed upon Jesus’ human nature.
How long will the Dominion, Lordship, and Kingdom of Our Lord Jesus Christ last?
It will last forever. The exalted Lordship of Jesus ascended into heavenly glory will last forever. The Nicene Creed professes: “…and of His Kingdom, there will be no end” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 664).
What does the Catholic Church mean when it professes in the Creed that Christ “will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead”?
By this we mean, that on the Last Day, Christ Our Lord will return to earth in His kingly, exalted, and glorified state to pronounce a sentence of either eternal reward, or eternal punishment upon every human being who has ever lived in the history of the world.
