Refocusing on the Ascension of Christ
The Ascension of Jesus into the presence of the Father reveals that while our existence necessarily involves this present world, it most certainly does not end with this present world. Certain mysteries in the life of the Church and certain beliefs and practices can become obscure over time, for a variety of reasons. A third, less obvious but also important, factor that can obscure the Ascension is certain modern biblical scholarship. What meaning …can we attach to such phrases in the creed as ‘descended into hell’ or ‘ascended into heaven’? We no longer believe in the three storied universe which the creeds take for granted…no one who is old enough to think for himself can really take seriously the fact that there is a God who lives in a local heaven for there is no longer any heaven in the traditional sense of the word. Such a theological tendency, articulated in Bultmann, can lead in both the academic and popular realms to an undercutting of the full significance of what Jesus does for us in the paschal mystery. To counter the influence of such a viewpoint, other theologians such as Joseph Ratzinger, encourage us to look at the actions of Jesus in the Scriptures and to more deeply contemplate their meaning in order to better understand the significance of the Ascension. In the account from the first reading of the Feast of the Ascension, we hear the following:
When they had gathered together, they asked [Jesus], “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. We see that the actions of Jesus at his ascension into heaven culminate with “the irreversible entry of his humanity into divine glory, symbolized by the cloud and by heaven, where he is seated from that time forward at God’s right hand. Saint Thomas Aquinas also notes that although Christ ascends by the power of His own person into Heaven, “he was raised up and taken into heaven by the Father, since the Father’s power is the same as the Son’s. The Ascension of Jesus is reveals that while our existence necessarily involves this present world, it most certainly does not end with this present world. Left to its own natural powers humanity does not have access to the “Father’s house”, to God’s life and happiness. In his passion and death on the Cross on Good Friday, Jesus paid the debt that we owed to God the Father for our sins. The Catechism further explains the significance of Jesus lifting up to heaven for us as connected to the rest of his passion:
The lifting up of Jesus on the cross signifies and announces his lifting up by his Ascension into heaven, and indeed begins it. Just as seeing the world around us clearly is essential, so is seeing how every aspect of the Paschal Mystery is redemptive for us in unique and complementary ways. The Ascension of Jesus reveals both the union of heaven and earth in the Incarnate person of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This self-referentiality that divorces the city of man from the city of God is at the heart of the cynical skepticism and outright atheism that the Church has struggled against for most of the twentieth century and in our current day in so many forms. May the glorious ascension of Jesus into heaven as well as Our Lady of Fatima and Saint John Paul II help us to keep our eyes rightly fixed on the mystery of faith in this world so that we may soar to the heights and depths of its mysteries in the life that heaven imparts to us. iii Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth – Holy Week: From the Entrance into Jerusalem To the Resurrection, (San Francisco, CA: Ignatius Press, 2011) 282. If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts.
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