ASCENSION DAY May 9, 2024 – A reflection from our Interim Priest

Ascension, the elevation of Jesus Christ into heaven by His own power in presence of His disciples the fortieth day after His Resurrection. It is narrated in St. Mark and St. Luke, and in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles.

Although the place of the Ascension is not distinctly stated, it would appear from the Acts that it was Mount Olivet, since after the Ascension the disciples are described as returning to Jerusalem from the mount that is called Olivet, which is nigh Jerusalem, within a Sabbath day’s journey. Tradition has consecrated this site as the Mount of Ascension and Christian piety has memorialized the event by erecting over the site a basilica.

St. Helena built the first memorial, which was destroyed by the Persians in 614, rebuilt in the eighth century, to be destroyed again, but rebuilt a second time by the crusaders. This the Mohammedans also destroyed, leaving only the octagonal structure which encloses the stone said to bear the imprint of the feet of Christ, that is now used as an oratory.

Not only is the fact of the Ascension related in the passages of Scripture cited above, but it is also elsewhere predicted and spoken of as an established fact. Thus, in St. John, 6v 63, Christ asks the Jews: “If then you shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before?” and 20v 17, He says to Mary Magdalen:- “Do not touch Me, for I am not yet ascended to My Father, but go to My brethren, and say to them: I ascend to My Father and to your Father, to My God and to your God.” Again, in Ephesians, 4v 8-10, and I Timothy, 3v 16, the Ascension of Christ is spoken of as an accepted fact.

The language used by the Evangelists to describe the Ascension must be interpreted according to usage. To say that He was taken up, or that He ascended, does not necessarily imply that they locate heaven directly above the earth; no more than the words “sitteth on the right hand of God” mean that this is His actual posture. In disappearing from their view “He was raised up and a cloud received Him out of their sight” (Acts, 1, 9), and entering into glory He dwells with the Father in the honor and power denoted by the Scripture phrase.

Like most works that are more than a century old, though, it may occasionally use anachronistic language or present outdated scientific information. We need to guard against this, and I remember disputing this at seminary some 35 years ago. Anachronism is taking any historical custom, person, object, or event into a time period other than its own. The Biblical narratives exist in a time, but relate to eternity.

The Ascension of Jesus Christ is meaningful for two reasons:

1) It signaled the end of His earthly ministry. God the Father had lovingly sent His Son into the world at Bethlehem, and now the Son was returning to the Father. The period of human limitation was at an end.

2) It signified success in His earthly work. All that He had come to do, He had accomplished.

Today our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven; let our hearts ascend with him. Listen to the words of the Apostle: “If you have risen with Christ, set your hearts on the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; seek the things that are above, not the things that are on earth.” For just as he remained with us even after his ascension, so we too are already in heaven with him, even though what is promised us has not yet been fulfilled in our bodies.

…We cannot be in heaven, as he is on earth, by divinity, but in him, we can be there by love.

Augustine: Sermon for the Lord’s Ascension

Pax et Bonum

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