THE HISTORICAL ORIGIN OF ASCENSION SUNDAY
Transliterated by: "Michael AngelOh"
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"Ascension Sunday" After his resurrection, Jesus Christ remains forty days with his disciples then ascends into the clouds before them and a recorded 200 observers. This glorious event is celebrated throughout the world of Christendom on the 7th Sunday after "Ressurrection or Easter Sunday". It is this ascension of Christ which is confessed in the Apostolic Creed's second Article, "I believe in Jesus Christ, who... ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty..." and is recorded in Mark 16:14-20 as follows:
14 � Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.
15 � And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
16 � He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
17 � And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues.
18 � They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
19 � So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
20 � And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.
By His conversations with them, Jesus fills his diciples hearts with joy, strengthens their faith in His triumph, in His purpose and His mission. The hour had come for Him to reascend to His Father as he had completed His course upon the earth. His ascension into Heaven gloriously consummated beyond his earthly life as he asked His Father to be glorified with that glory which He had, in His Divinity in the eternal splendours of Heaven. The triumph of the Resurrection marked the dawn of the glorification of Jesus: [Concede, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus, ut qui hodierna die Unigenitum tuum Redemptorem nostrum ad caelos ascendisse credimus, ipsi quoque mente in caelestibus habitemus.] translated: "Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we who believe that Thy only begotten Son, our Redeemer, this day ascended into heaven, may ourselves also dwell there in spirit..."
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We contemplate the Sacred Humanity rising from the earth and ascending visibly towards the Heavens. For the last time Jesus assembles His disciples and leads them towards Bethany on the Mount of Olives. He gives them the mission of preaching to all the earth, while promising to be ever with them by His grace and the action of His Spirit. Then having blessed them, He rises, by His own Divine power and that of His glorious soul, above the clouds, and disappears from their gaze... Such is the splendour of the triumph into which the Humanity of Jesus entered forever, on the day of His glorious Ascension, sharing with us the Divine glory, the infinite beatitude and almighty power of the sovereign Being.
"That the world may know that I love the Father, His perfections, and His glory, His might and His good pleasure..."
With supreme fidelity, Jesus had accomplished the work that His Father had given Him to do. And now all was expiated, the price was paid and redemption accomplished, the powers of darkness were defeated, the perfections of the Father were acknowledged and His rights avenged, and the gates of the kingdom of heaven were opened to all of the human race...
"Father, glorify Thy Son, so that in His turn, Thy Son may glorify Thee in manifesting to us Thy Divine Being, Thy perfections, and Thy will..!"
The works of God are full of ineffable and secret harmonies which ravish faithful souls. Divine Justice crowns Him with honour and glory where in the hour of darkness, were preluded mighty combats, now arises the radiant dawn of an incomparable triumph. Having come down from heaven, from the bosom of the Father, to take upon Himself our nature, Christ thither ascends as to His native abode. And as for ourselves, shall we not penetrate into the heavens? Are we to remain shut out from this sojourn of glory and beatitude? Have we not a part in the Ascension of the Christ Jesus..? He said:
"There is no means of entering into heaven if one is not born again of God..." There is an eternal birth in the bosom of the Father; that is My birth; of full right, I ascend into heaven, because I am God's own Son, begotten in holiness and splendour. Such is the marvel of Divine mercy. "God, who being rich in mercy for His exceeding charity wherewith He loved us..."
Unceasingly souls are ascending into heaven, until that day when the kingdom of God shall have attained it's measure of fulness. 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..." Let us say to Him: Draw us after You, great and almighty Victor. Grant us to ascend into the heavens with You, there to dwell by faith, hope and charity..! Grant that we may detach ourselves from all earthly things, which are only passing, so that we may only seek the joys that are true and abiding. Grant that in heart we may be where we know that Your Sacred Humanity has corporally ascended... Lifting up our souls towards heavenly realities, it quickens in us detachment from passing things. It gives us patience in adversity, for, says St. Paul:
"If we suffer with Christ, we shall also share in His glory...
If we love Him, we shall rejoice in His glorification; we shall rejoice in that, having finished His course, He ascends to His Father's right hand, to be there exalted to the highest heaven, there to taste, after His labours, sufferings, and death, eternal repose in incommensurable glory. Bliss, such as is incomprehensible to us, envelops and penetrates Him forever in the bosom of the Divinity. God is ascended with jubilee, and the Lord with the sound of the trumpet. Sing praises to our God, sing ye sing praises to our King, sing ye..! God shall reign over the nations. God sitteth on His Holy throne. Thou has put on praise and beauty and art clothed with light as with a garment. Who makest the clouds Thy chariot: Who walkest upon the wings of the winds..."
Jesus also said: "I ascend to My Father and to your Father, to My God and your God..." Jesus has but gone before us. He does not separate Himself from us, He does not separate us from Him. If He enters into His glorious Kingdom, it is to "Go and prepare a place" for us. He promises to come again one day to take us to Himself, so that, as he says, "Where I am, you also may be..." We have in Him, Who is the source of our confidence, the most efficacious motive for fidelity and patience in the midst of the sadness, the disappointments, the trials, and the sufferings that we must undergo here below until the end of our exile. With Christ, offering for us His merits to His Father, there is no temptation that we cannot vanquish, no difficulty that we cannot overcome, no adversity that we cannot support, no senseless folly from which we cannot detach ourselves. Within the higher octaves of Ascension Sunday we shall fully participate in the glorious Ascension ourselves one day...
"ASCENSION SUNDAY SCRIPTURE PASSAGES"
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"I ascend to My Father and to your Father, to My God and your God... I Go and prepare a place, so that Where I am, you also may be..."
~Jesus Christ~
"God sitteth on His Holy throne. Thou has put on praise and beauty and art clothed with light as with a garment. Who makest the clouds Thy chariot: Who walkest upon the wings of the winds..."
~St. Paul~
"For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life..."
~John 3:16~
"I believe in Jesus Christ, who... ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty..."
~Mark 16:14-20~
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