Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord (Year B) - 12 May
12th May 2024
“Today our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven; let our hearts ascend with Him … and although He ascended alone, we also ascend, because we are in Him by grace.” - St Augustine of Hippo
A reflection on today's Gospel by the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J Sheen:
"For those forty days after His Resurrection, Our Divine Saviour was preparing His Apostles to bear the loss of His Presence through the gain of the Comforter who was to come. It was not a period when He dispensed gifts, but rather one in which He gave out laws and prepared the structure for His Mystical Body, the Church. Moses had fasted days before the giving of the Law; Elias fasted forty days before the restoration of the Law; and now for forty days the Risen Saviour laid the pillars of His Church, and the new Law of the Gospel. But the forties were about to end, and the Apostles were bidden to wait upon the fiftieth day - the day of jubilee.
"Christ led them out as far as Bethany, which was to be the scene of the last adieu; not in Galilee but in Jerusalem, where He had suffered, would take place His return to His Heavenly Father. His sacrifice being completed, as He was about to ascend to His Heavenly throne, He raised His hands bearing the imprint of nails. That gesture would be one of the last recollections the Apostles would have, save one. The hands were raised first to heaven and then pulled downward to earth as if to draw down its blessings on men. Pierced hands best distribute benediction. In the Book of Leviticus, after the reading of the prophetical promise of the Messiah, there came the high priestly benediction; so too, after showing that all prophecies were fulfilled in Him, He prepared to enter the heavenly sanctuary. Hands that held the sceptre of authority in heaven and on earth now gave the final blessing: And even as He blessed them He parted from them, And was carried up into heaven…(Luke 24:51) And is seated now at the right Hand of God. (Mark 16:19) So they bowed down to worship Him, And went back full of joy to Jerusalem, Where they spent their time continually In the temple, praising and blessing God. (Luke 24:52, 53)
"Had Christ remained on earth, sight would have taken the place of faith. In heaven, there will be no faith because His followers will see; there will be no hope, because they will possess; but there will be love for love endureth forever! His leave-taking of the earth combined the Cross and the Crown that governed the smallest detail of His life. The Ascension took place on Mount Olivet at the base of which is Bethany. He led His Apostles out through Bethany, which meant passing through Gethsemane and the very spot where He wept over Jerusalem! Not as from a throne, but from a mountain elevated above the garden with the twisted olive trees crimsoned with His Blood, did He give the final manifestation of His Divine power! His heart was not embittered by His Cross, for the Ascension was the fruit of His Crucifixion. As He said, it was fitting that He suffer in order to enter into His glory.
"In the Ascension the Saviour did not lay aside the garment of flesh with which He had been clothed; for His human nature would be the pattern of the future glory of other human natures, which would become incorporated to Him through a sharing of His life. Intrinsic and deep was the relation between His Incarnation and His Ascension. The Incarnation or the assuming of a human nature made it possible for Him to suffer and redeem. The Ascension exalted into glory that same human nature that was humbled to the death."
(Life of Christ)
Ascension Prayer
We Beseech you, Almighty God, that we who believe Your only-begotten Son our Redeemer, to have ascended this day into Heaven, may ourselves dwell in spirit and heavenly things. Amen. 💐🙏💖