The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today explore the connection of the Ascension of Christ to our relationship with the Divine today.
The Good Earth
The reading from the Acts of the Apostles shares the promise of the Holy Spirit after the Ascension of Jesus.
* [1:3] Appearing to them during forty days: Luke considered especially sacred the interval in which the appearances and instructions of the risen Jesus occurred and expressed it therefore in terms of the sacred number forty (cf. Dt 8:2). In his gospel, however, Luke connects the ascension of Jesus with the resurrection by describing the ascension on Easter Sunday evening (Lk 24:50–53). What should probably be understood as one event (resurrection, glorification, ascension, sending of the Spirit—the paschal mystery) has been historicized by Luke when he writes of a visible ascension of Jesus after forty days and the descent of the Spirit at Pentecost. For Luke, the ascension marks the end of the appearances of Jesus except for the extraordinary appearance to Paul. With regard to Luke’s understanding of salvation history, the ascension also marks the end of the time of Jesus (Lk 24:50–53) and signals the beginning of the time of the church.1
Psalm 47 praises God’s rule over the Nations.
* [47:6] God has gone up: Christian liturgical tradition has applied the verse to the Ascension of Christ.2
The reading from the Letter of Paul to the Ephesians declares the fullness of him who fills all in all.
* [1:15–23] See note on Rom 1:8 for the thanksgiving form in a letter. Much of the content parallels thoughts in Col 1:3–20. The prayer moves from God and Christ (Eph 1:17, 20–21) to the Ephesians (Eph 1:17–19) and the church (Eph 1:22–23). Paul asks that the blessing imparted by God the Father (Eph 1:3) to the Ephesians will be strengthened in them through the message of the gospel (Eph 1:13, 17–19). Those blessings are seen in the context of God’s might in establishing the sovereignty of Christ over all other creatures (Eph 1:19–21) and in appointing him head of the church (Eph 1:22–23). For the allusion to angelic spirits in Eph 1:21, see Rom 8:38 and Col 1:16. Here, as in 1 Cor 15:24–25 and Col 2:15, every such principality and power is made subject to Christ.3
The Gospel of Mark concludes describing the Ascension of Jesus.
* [16:9–20] This passage, termed the Longer Ending to the Marcan gospel by comparison with a much briefer conclusion found in some less important manuscripts, has traditionally been accepted as a canonical part of the gospel and was defined as such by the Council of Trent. Early citations of it by the Fathers indicate that it was composed by the second century, although vocabulary and style indicate that it was written by someone other than Mark. It is a general resume of the material concerning the appearances of the risen Jesus, reflecting, in particular, traditions found in Lk 24 and Jn 20.4
Molly Mattingly reflects on the painting, The Ascension: Pietá, 1958, by Salvador Dali.
https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/051321-Ascension_clip_image002.jpg
It speaks clearly of what today’s feast is all about: Christ has brought all of creation into heaven, from the cosmic down to the smallest particles. Christ divinized creation in the Ascension and we are already living as the Body of Christ. We have already been swept up into salvation. This, the divine Body of Christ, is what we experience in the Eucharist. You could also see the circles in the painting as the Blessed Sacrament, and the water at the bottom as the water of baptism.
This very exciting truth – our membership in the Body of Christ – is the “hope that belongs to his call,” the unifying expression of “one body and one truth.” If we deeply realize this, as perhaps the apostles did in that moment as they watched Jesus, how can we keep from going “into the whole world to proclaim the Gospel to every creature?” As the angels said to the apostles, “Why are you standing there looking up at the sky?” Don’t you know who you are?! There is still much to be done, much suffering in the world, many people who desperately need good news. Get to work!5
Don Schwager quotes “Jesus ascends to heaven in his body - divine and human nature,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"You heard what came to our ears just now from the Gospel: 'Lifting up his hands, he blessed them. And it happened, while he was blessing them he withdrew from them, and was carried up to heaven.' Who was carried up to heaven? The Lord Christ was. Who is the Lord Christ? He is the Lord Jesus. What is this? Are you going to separate the human from the divine and make one person of God, another of the man, so that there is no longer a trinity of three but a quaternary of four? Just as you, a human being, are soul and body, so the Lord Christ is Word, soul and body. The Word did not depart from the Father. He both came to us and did not forsake the Father. He both took flesh in the womb and continued to govern the universe. What was lifted up into heaven, if not what had been taken from earth? That is to say, the very flesh, the very body, about which he was speaking when he said to the disciples, 'Feel, and see that a spirit does not have bones and flesh, as you can see that I have' (Luke 24:39). Let us believe this, brothers and sisters, and if we have difficulty in meeting the arguments of the philosophers, let us hold on to what was demonstrated in the Lord's case without any difficulty of faith. Let them chatter, but let us believe." (excerpt from Sermon 242,6)6
The Word Among Us Meditation on Acts 1:1-11 comments that the ascension tells us that when Jesus took on our human nature in the Incarnation, he didn’t do it temporarily. The Word became flesh, not just for the thirty-three years Jesus walked the earth, but forever. The Incarnation of Christ was an act of great humility—God stooping down to become a creature. But it was more than God stooping down. He was also lifting us up because Jesus, as much man as he is God, has taken his seat at the right hand of God (Mark 16:19). Now our own human nature is caught up in the life of the Trinity. That’s how much God loves us!
Today, spend some time at Mass reflecting on the great wonder of a God who loves us so much that he would become one of us—not just for a short time, but forever! “Father, I thank you with all my heart for Jesus, the Word made flesh.”7
At the Edge of the Enclosure Suzanne Guthrie quotes Columba Marmion OSB about Christ in His Mysteries.
The hour of this glorification has not yet struck for us. But while awaiting our eternal union with the choir of the blessed, we should in mind and holy desires dwell in that heaven where Christ, our Head, lives and reigns for ever. We are upon earth only as strangers and pilgrims seeking our country; as members of the city of saints and the household of God, we may, says St. Paul, already dwell in heaven by faith and hope. (Philippians 3:20)8
Friar Jude Winkler suggests the role of Theophilus, to whom Luke dedicated the Acts. Greek philosophy presented that the spiritual was greater than the material. Friar Jude reminds us of the later completion of Mark’s Gospel by a scribe.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that Jesus the Christ, in his crucifixion and resurrection, “recapitulated all things in himself, everything in heaven and everything on earth” (Ephesians 1:10). This one verse is the summary of Franciscan Christology. Jesus agreed to carry the mystery of universal suffering. He allowed it to change him (resurrection) and—it is to be hoped—us, too. Christ frees us from the endless cycle of projecting our pain elsewhere or remaining trapped inside of it. This is the fully resurrected life, the only way to be happy, free, loving, and therefore “saved.” In effect, Jesus was saying, “If I can trust it, you can too.” We are indeed saved by the cross—more than we realize. The people who hold the contradictions and resolve them in themselves are the saviors of the world. They are the only real agents of transformation, reconciliation, and newness.
These “saviors” exist in every period of time and in every faith tradition. At times they exist even with no “faith” at all, beyond a consciously held belief that solidarity with all of life is, in fact, the meaning of life. For whatever reason, such people agree to share the fate of God for the life of the world now. These people feel called and agree to not hide from the shadow side of things or the rejected group, but in fact draw close to the pain of the world and allow it to radically change their perspective. They agree to embrace the imperfection and even the injustices of our world, allowing these situations to change them from the inside out, which is the only way things are changed anyway.9
The Ascension reassures believers that Jesus' Incarnation in human flesh is a Divine Choice with eternal consequences.
References
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