When we think of the Paschal mystery of Christ we tend to think first of his suffering, death and resurrection. We think of Christ’s sacred Body and Blood which Christ freely offered in sacrifice for our sins.
Properly understood, however, the Paschal mystery includes Christ’s entire incarnate life from his conception and birth to his glorious return to the Father in his Ascension. Jesus enters into heaven to be seated at the right hand of the Father, to rule for all eternity as King of Heaven and Earth.
We might rightly see this as a fitting end to his life on Earth but there is a much more profound meaning to the Ascension. I don’t know about you but, at first I wondered why the Ascension is so important.
The Catechism reminds us Christ accomplished the work or redemption “by the Paschal mystery of his blessed Passion, Resurrection from the dead, and glorious Ascension” (CCC 1067). The final work of ascending into heaven is an essential part of the whole process of the Paschal mystery.
St. Thomas reminds us in his famous hymn Adoro Te Devote
In his limitless power and mercy, God could have saved us all by asking Christ to shed a single drop of his blood.
Yet in order to more fully demonstrate his love and mercy in a way that we would understand, God chose to become fully human and to endure the frailty and limits of earthly life. He freely chose to suffer torture at the hands of the Roman soldiers, and finally to endure the most painful death, in order that we would see with our frail human eyes the importance of this sacrifice. In order that we might more fully understand his love.
Likewise, when Christ rose from the dead, he could have done so completely healed of his wounds. Yet even in his glorious risen body, Christ chose to appear to his disciples, still bearing these wounds.
The sacred wounds of Christ are a visible manifestation of his love for us. Christ even entered his exalted state in Heaven with these same wounds (Revelation 5:6). These wounds are not just tokens of his love, but trophies of his victorious love for each one of us. These ugly gaping wounds are transformed into something beautiful and a sign of his victorious love for us.
If we think about what was necessary to satisfy the debt of our sins, we might begin in human terms thinking about paying off an enormous human debt. We might imagine someone working their whole life to pay off millions, or perhaps in our modern world, some gifted soul managing to pay off hundreds of billions. The problem is, because we are talking about paying a debt owed to God himself, we are essentially talking about an infinite debt for each one of us. In reality we mean billions upon billions of infinite debts for the sins of all humanity.
What kind of sacrifice would be necessary to pay this debt?
Only God himself could make this kind of satisfaction on our behalf. Jesus, who is fully God, chose to become a man, to join himself to our humanity. He did not just pay off our debts as some distant benefactor. This is not a heavenly trust fund for our benefit.
Furthermore it is not merely something external. God did not say, “Well you are still pretty much a putz, but I have paid off your debts, so now you are a forgiven putz.” After Jesus made a satisfaction for our sins through his own once for all sacrifice on the cross, he saved us by joining himself to us, so that we are slowly transformed from within, and become like him.
We are not still the old person with a coat of whitewash paint. St. Paul reminds us, “So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Co 5:17).
As we are reminded in Romans, we are literally joined to Christ through Baptism.
“Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in the newness of life” (Rom 6:3–4, cf. Rom 6:8-11, and Galatians 3:27).
Baptism forgives our sins, and in cooperation with this grace, joins us to Christ through the Spirit for all eternity (Acts 2:38). Jesus has become the pattern of our salvation, the new Adam (Rom 5:15). We are a new creation and have been joined to a new Adam. It is in him, and with him and through him that we are saved, by being brought into Communion with him. This communion transforms us from within.
St Gregory of Nyssa points out that Jesus became the firstborn of the new spiritual creation. Taking up the image of firstborn and first fruits from the book of Exodus, this implies that by his bodily Ascension into heaven, Jesus becomes a kind of first fruits or firstborn offering to the Father.
In the book of Leviticus, the first fruits barley offering was the signal to begin the countdown to the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost, 50 days after the barley wave offering. "Beginning with the day after the sabbath, the day on which you bring the sheaf for elevation, you shall count seven full weeks; you shall count to the day after the seventh week, fifty days (Leviticus 23:15–16). At Pentecost second first fruits offering of wheat was made (Exodus 34:22) followed by “the bread of the first fruits” (Leviticus 23:20) which was made from the initial wheat harvest.
We might rightly see this as a fitting end to his life on Earth but there is a much more profound meaning to the Ascension. I don’t know about you but, at first I wondered why the Ascension is so important.
The Catechism reminds us Christ accomplished the work or redemption “by the Paschal mystery of his blessed Passion, Resurrection from the dead, and glorious Ascension” (CCC 1067). The final work of ascending into heaven is an essential part of the whole process of the Paschal mystery.
St. Thomas reminds us in his famous hymn Adoro Te Devote
O loving Pelican! O Jesu Lord! Unclean I am but cleanse me in Thy Blood; Of which a single drop, for sinners spilt, Can purge the entire world from all its guilt (St. Thomas Aquinas).
In his limitless power and mercy, God could have saved us all by asking Christ to shed a single drop of his blood.
Yet in order to more fully demonstrate his love and mercy in a way that we would understand, God chose to become fully human and to endure the frailty and limits of earthly life. He freely chose to suffer torture at the hands of the Roman soldiers, and finally to endure the most painful death, in order that we would see with our frail human eyes the importance of this sacrifice. In order that we might more fully understand his love.
Likewise, when Christ rose from the dead, he could have done so completely healed of his wounds. Yet even in his glorious risen body, Christ chose to appear to his disciples, still bearing these wounds.
The sacred wounds of Christ are a visible manifestation of his love for us. Christ even entered his exalted state in Heaven with these same wounds (Revelation 5:6). These wounds are not just tokens of his love, but trophies of his victorious love for each one of us. These ugly gaping wounds are transformed into something beautiful and a sign of his victorious love for us.
If we think about what was necessary to satisfy the debt of our sins, we might begin in human terms thinking about paying off an enormous human debt. We might imagine someone working their whole life to pay off millions, or perhaps in our modern world, some gifted soul managing to pay off hundreds of billions. The problem is, because we are talking about paying a debt owed to God himself, we are essentially talking about an infinite debt for each one of us. In reality we mean billions upon billions of infinite debts for the sins of all humanity.
What kind of sacrifice would be necessary to pay this debt?
Only God himself could make this kind of satisfaction on our behalf. Jesus, who is fully God, chose to become a man, to join himself to our humanity. He did not just pay off our debts as some distant benefactor. This is not a heavenly trust fund for our benefit.
Furthermore it is not merely something external. God did not say, “Well you are still pretty much a putz, but I have paid off your debts, so now you are a forgiven putz.” After Jesus made a satisfaction for our sins through his own once for all sacrifice on the cross, he saved us by joining himself to us, so that we are slowly transformed from within, and become like him.
We are not still the old person with a coat of whitewash paint. St. Paul reminds us, “So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Co 5:17).
As we are reminded in Romans, we are literally joined to Christ through Baptism.
“Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in the newness of life” (Rom 6:3–4, cf. Rom 6:8-11, and Galatians 3:27).
Baptism forgives our sins, and in cooperation with this grace, joins us to Christ through the Spirit for all eternity (Acts 2:38). Jesus has become the pattern of our salvation, the new Adam (Rom 5:15). We are a new creation and have been joined to a new Adam. It is in him, and with him and through him that we are saved, by being brought into Communion with him. This communion transforms us from within.
St Gregory of Nyssa points out that Jesus became the firstborn of the new spiritual creation. Taking up the image of firstborn and first fruits from the book of Exodus, this implies that by his bodily Ascension into heaven, Jesus becomes a kind of first fruits or firstborn offering to the Father.
In the book of Leviticus, the first fruits barley offering was the signal to begin the countdown to the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost, 50 days after the barley wave offering. "Beginning with the day after the sabbath, the day on which you bring the sheaf for elevation, you shall count seven full weeks; you shall count to the day after the seventh week, fifty days (Leviticus 23:15–16). At Pentecost second first fruits offering of wheat was made (Exodus 34:22) followed by “the bread of the first fruits” (Leviticus 23:20) which was made from the initial wheat harvest.
Jesus ascended on the 40th day (Acts 1:3), and sent the Spirit ten days later at Pentecost (Acts 2:2-4). The intervening nine days between these events were a period of prayerful waiting and watching (Acts 1:4). This is the origin of the practice of praying nine day novenas.
For the ancient Israelites, "first fruits" meant more than merely the first to be born of the herds and flocks or the first ripe harvest. They believed that the whole was contained in the first part which was offered (Rom 11:16). When the first part was offered to God, then the whole of the crops or the herds were sanctified along with it. Using this way of thinking the whole is contained and even concentrated in the first fruits.
We often see this way of thinking in the New Testament. We are joined to Christ’s Body and he is the Head (1 Corinthians 12:13) . He is the Vine and we are the branches (John 15). The consecrated Bread which we eat in the Eucharist is a participation or communion with Christ (1 Cor 10:16-17).
By offering his own sacred humanity to the Father, Jesus makes a way to sanctify the whole of humanity. Jesus becomes the new or second Adam (Rom 5:15). By entering the heavenly Temple in his sacred humanity, Jesus consecrates and the new creation initiated in the incarnation. Christ offers and sanctifies his humanity and becomes for us the font and origin of ascended life.
St. Thomas Aquinas notes that, “Christ's Ascension is the direct cause of our ascension, as by beginning it in Him who is our Head, with whom the members must be united” (ST, III, 57, 6). Aquinas highlights three effects of the Ascension. First by his Ascension Christ prepared a way for us to enter heaven (John 14:2). Secondly, just as the high priest entered the sanctuary into God's presence to represent the people, Christ entered heaven to intercede for us. And finally, enthroned in heaven as God and Lord, Christ will send down gifts upon men (Eph. 4:10).
What does the Ascension mean for each of us personally?
In the Acts of the Apostles we are told that the Ascension is directly related to the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit. The disciples are promised that in a few days they would be “baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5). This baptism would be the source and power of their ministry. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8). Mark likewise affirms that “These signs will accompany those who believe” (Mark 16:17, cf. John 14:12) with a list of supernatural deeds of the Spirit to follow.
The Ascension allows Christ to release from heaven the promised Holy Spirit. As his disciples we are called to imitate his ministry of preaching the Gospel and healing the sick (John 14:12). Through the Spirit we are enabled to enter into a new intimate relationship with God, to become friends of God (John 15:15). The Spirit now within us cries out ‘Abba father’ in our hearts (Romans 8:15).
The Ascension is an invitation to a new level of intimacy with God. It is the font and origin of a new ascended life. Earlier in John’s Gospel Jesus declared, “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink” (John 7:37), John tells us that Jesus “said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive” (John 7:39).
Do you thirst for greater intimacy with God? Then come to Jesus and drink. Jesus wishes to offer each one of us a personal Pentecost. Lord Jesus, come by your Spirit and fill the hearts of your faithful.
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For the ancient Israelites, "first fruits" meant more than merely the first to be born of the herds and flocks or the first ripe harvest. They believed that the whole was contained in the first part which was offered (Rom 11:16). When the first part was offered to God, then the whole of the crops or the herds were sanctified along with it. Using this way of thinking the whole is contained and even concentrated in the first fruits.
We often see this way of thinking in the New Testament. We are joined to Christ’s Body and he is the Head (1 Corinthians 12:13) . He is the Vine and we are the branches (John 15). The consecrated Bread which we eat in the Eucharist is a participation or communion with Christ (1 Cor 10:16-17).
By offering his own sacred humanity to the Father, Jesus makes a way to sanctify the whole of humanity. Jesus becomes the new or second Adam (Rom 5:15). By entering the heavenly Temple in his sacred humanity, Jesus consecrates and the new creation initiated in the incarnation. Christ offers and sanctifies his humanity and becomes for us the font and origin of ascended life.
St. Thomas Aquinas notes that, “Christ's Ascension is the direct cause of our ascension, as by beginning it in Him who is our Head, with whom the members must be united” (ST, III, 57, 6). Aquinas highlights three effects of the Ascension. First by his Ascension Christ prepared a way for us to enter heaven (John 14:2). Secondly, just as the high priest entered the sanctuary into God's presence to represent the people, Christ entered heaven to intercede for us. And finally, enthroned in heaven as God and Lord, Christ will send down gifts upon men (Eph. 4:10).
What does the Ascension mean for each of us personally?
In the Acts of the Apostles we are told that the Ascension is directly related to the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit. The disciples are promised that in a few days they would be “baptized with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:5). This baptism would be the source and power of their ministry. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8). Mark likewise affirms that “These signs will accompany those who believe” (Mark 16:17, cf. John 14:12) with a list of supernatural deeds of the Spirit to follow.
The Ascension allows Christ to release from heaven the promised Holy Spirit. As his disciples we are called to imitate his ministry of preaching the Gospel and healing the sick (John 14:12). Through the Spirit we are enabled to enter into a new intimate relationship with God, to become friends of God (John 15:15). The Spirit now within us cries out ‘Abba father’ in our hearts (Romans 8:15).
The Ascension is an invitation to a new level of intimacy with God. It is the font and origin of a new ascended life. Earlier in John’s Gospel Jesus declared, “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink” (John 7:37), John tells us that Jesus “said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive” (John 7:39).
Do you thirst for greater intimacy with God? Then come to Jesus and drink. Jesus wishes to offer each one of us a personal Pentecost. Lord Jesus, come by your Spirit and fill the hearts of your faithful.
Share |
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