Ascension Sunday is that Sunday when we remember that the Lord’s Ascension is our own exaltation. The Ascension is yet another proof of God’s infinite mercy for us.
The first reading, from the Acts of the Apostles, and the Gospel, both bring to us accounts of Christ’s Ascension. By ascending into heaven, by going up into heaven, our Lord brings the lowly human body right into the center of the Holy Trinity. The Catechism teaches, “Jesus' final apparition ends 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” (CCC 659). Christ takes His humanity into the very heart of the divinity.
Think of all the good things that we do with our bodies: the way that we can serve others, the way we can give refreshing downtime to our bodies, the way that we can enjoy God’s creation with our bodies. We need to take care of the legitimate needs of our bodies: food, shelter, security, rest and recreation, appropriate medical care. Think also of the ways that we hurt our bodies, that we sin with our bodies, that we degrade the dignity of our bodies, that we do violence to our bodies: by addictions, compulsions, abuse. Our Lord knows perfectly the dual nature of the human body: He knows that human beings, in their bodies, are capable of great good, and great evil. Knowing all this, realizing all this, Christ still takes the human body into heaven. As Pope Saint Leo the Great puts it, “For it is to you the Ascension is given; it is your lowliness that is exalted in Me above all the heavens and placed at the right hand of God!” (Sunday Sermons of the Great Fathers, M.F. Toal ed., vol. 3, pg. 47-48, 1959).
God desires to bring us, body and soul, into heaven, and into communion with Him. God doesn’t ask us to leave behind our bodies in life eternal. If we die and are raised with Christ, then our bodies will be transformed, glorified, and we will, in a mysterious way, be embodied beings in heaven. In His mercy, God invites us, paupers, beggars, into the heavenly banquet.
There is yet another aspect to the Ascension. In the Gospel of Luke, as He is being taken up into heaven, the Lord is blessing His disciples: “While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven”. The last gesture of the Lord Jesus before He returns to the Father is a gesture of blessing. I think that we should keep this gesture of blessing ever in mind, especially when we become doubtful about God’s goodness, about God’s goodwill to us. As Christ withdrew from his disciples, He blessed them. Let us partake of this blessing always, as we wait for the Lord’s second coming, for, as the angels said in our first reading, “This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven”.
In closing, I would like to leave you with the image of a beautiful icon of the Ascension, which is up on the website of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saskatoon (good things come from Saskatchewan) (https://www.skeparchy.org/wordpress/resources/feast-day-information/feast-of-the-ascension/). In this icon, Jesus Christ is on a cloud, blessing the gathered disciples as He rises up to heaven. Below Him, in the midst of the disciples stands Mary, the Mother of God: she has both of her hands raised in a gesture of prayer. She too will remain with Christians until the end of the age, as she intercedes for the Church, for all believers, and for all of humanity.
As a closing thought, I would like to draw your attention to Blessed Stefan Cardinal Wyszyński. Yesterday, for the first time, the church in Poland celebrated his liturgical feastday. He was beatified last September. Cardinal Wyszyński fought for the Church’s freedom during years of Communism in Poland. He was a Bishop, and the Primate of Poland for decades. He spent three years in confinement, held captive by the Communist government. He was loved by the people and feared by the Communist authorities. He had a deep devotion to Mary, Help of Christians. May Stefan Cardinal Wyszyński intercede for us and for the shepherds of the Church.
As we contemplate the Ascension, let us ever be aware of God’s mercy to us. Let us recall the dignity of our bodies, and of the place, waiting for us, at the heavenly banquet.
(Fr. Pawel Ratajczak, OMI, May 29, 2022)