The Ascension of Our Lord, which occurred 40 days after Jesus Christ rose from the dead on Easter, is the final act of our redemption that began on Good Friday.
The Feast takes place ten days before Pentecost; thus taking on a special anticipation of the gift of the Holy Spirit.
It does not commemorate a departure. Oh, no! It celebrates a presence and a promise:
I am with you always, even to the end of time. Jesus is with us at all times and in all places. This sentence is the core of our faith.
During the 40 days before the Ascension, Jesus continues to fortify our faith. He appears to many, that they might see that He is truly risen. The Apostle Thomas famously bears witness to the Lord’s wounds, which he recognizes on Jesus’ Risen Body. The Lord eats and drinks, proving He is not a ghost or apparition. Jesus strengthens our faith by leaving the Church with credible evidence that He was indeed
raised from the dead.
Jesus commissioned His followers to spread the Good News to the ends of the Earth and promised His Spirit as a helper and advocate.
After this promise, “He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him from their sight” (Acts 1:9). His followers are left behind, looking up at where He went, and then two figures appear and say, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into Heaven will return in the same way as you have seen Him going into Heaven.”
The reality of Christ’s Ascension is so important that the Creeds (the basic statements of our belief) of Christianity all affirm that “He ascended into Heaven, sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.”
Jesus’ Ascension should point our entire being towards Heaven, and guide our every thought and deed. We should have Heaven as our goal and seek it, using whatever means are most fruitful.
This coming Thursday, celebrate the Ascension! Hear the promise! Believe the Word!
Receive new hope!
Let us continue to pray for one another!