And He Ascended Into Heaven......So Shall We, One Day

                                                               

Today, The Church celebrates the great feast of Ascension. It marks the end of Lord Jesus' earthly stay in the world after His resurrection on Easter Sunday. The Paschal candle which was lit on Easter night vigil and continued to be lit during all Mass celebrations will not be lit after today's celebrations and in a week's time we will celebrate the feast of Pentecost (the day when The Holy Spirit came upon the disciples in the upper room). So why did the Lord stay back for 40 days after his resurrection? He could have said, 'Hi-hello' to His disciples and probably spent some 'quality time' with His beloved Mother and rushed back to heaven or may be he could have just appeared to them in dreams & visions only and thus passed on His message indirectly. But as per the Gospel narratives, He spent time with them physically. When He met them, walked with them, spoke to them, ate with them, He was truly present to them & with them, as in flesh & blood. Just like regular people like you and me are to each other. St Leo, The Great (Doctor of the Church & Pope, 5th Century) gave a sermon 1500 years ago on the importance of Ascension.The following is my understanding along with quotes by the Great Leo himself.

1. To Convince Us of IT's Truth : We all know that the apostles were all completely dejected by the death of their Master on Good Friday. The manner in which He was taken out by Jews and Romans could put the fear of death in the soul of many a brave heart (and these were ordinary people of Israel). So the Lord had to spend time with them, convince them that He was for real, that all that happened to Him was not something which was enforced on Him by anyone but He took it upon Himself. That it was all a part of the great plan of salvation which God, in His love, had manifested through life & death of Christ. Their 'grief laden' minds had to be loved out of mistrust and fear and into a greater & stronger faith. Most of all, it was not just for the sake of the apostles that He remained with but for all those who, in the centuries to come, would start believing in Jesus as the true Saviour but because of human weakness, wisdom of the world and even persecution, would lose hope and way. In effect, the apostles represented the whole of Church which would go through it's lows of sin, heresy & unbelief. Thus solace given to apostles meant consolation also for Church of later years ie, us.


2. To Give Critical Instructions/Ratify His Teachings : Now that He had risen, Jesus had to unravel the deep mysteries of our faith to the disciples, which hitherto, they had no inkling of. The mysteries were ratified and the divine truths were planted in their hearts. Disciples were illumined (as on the road to Emmaus) about how all the Scriptures pointed to Jesus Christ as the Saviour, how breaking of the Bread, the Eucharist ie, must play a role most crucial in their community worship. They had to be taught about the founding of the Church, the primacy of Peter over all disciples (Peter was made the caretaker of earthly flock & was earlier assigned the keys to the gates of heaven).

3. Resurrection of The Flesh Had To Proved : Of all the miracles that Jesus had done during His lifetime, both before and after Resurrection, the most important one was the Resurrection itself. The raising of Lazarus was also nothing but a prelude to The Resurrection. To the unbelieving Thomas, He showed the marks of nail on His palms. ".....He invites them to handle Him with careful scrutiny, because the traces of the nails and spear had been retained to heal the wounds of unbelieving hearts, so that not with wavering faith, but with most steadfast knowledge they might comprehend that the Nature which had been lain in the Sepulchre was to sit on God the Father's throne." All of these miracles point to the fact that not just the soul but even the body will be resurrected on the final day. Because He rose, we will also rise one day and ascend to the glorious highs which He rose to and calls us to be in.


4.The Privileges of Ascension Could Be Appropriated To Mankind : Such was the cathartic power of Ascension that disciples were no longer despondent that The Lord had once again left them. This time, unlike Good Friday, they went back praising & worshiping the Lord. They now knew that they had received much more from Ascension than whatever was taken away by Devil. By the end of the 40th day they were filled with an assurance that they will never be abandoned again. That the Lord will be with them till the end of time.

".....Since then Christ's Ascension is our uplifting, and the hope of the Body is raised, whither the glory of the Head has gone before, let us exult, dearly-beloved, with worthy joy and delight in the loyal paying of thanks. For today not only are we confirmed as possessors of paradise, but have also in Christ penetrated the heights of heaven, and have gained still greater things through Christ's unspeakable grace than we had lost through the devil's malice..."  (St.Leo, The Great)