659
"So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into
heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God."531 (Mk 16:19.) Christ's body was
glorified at the moment of his Resurrection, as proved by the new and
supernatural properties it subsequently and permanently enjoys.532 (Cf ⇒ Lk 24:31; ⇒ Jn 20:19, ⇒ 26. ) But during
the forty days when he eats and drinks familiarly with his disciples and
teaches them about the kingdom, his glory remains veiled under the appearance
of ordinary humanity.533 (Cf. ⇒ Acts 1:3; ⇒ 10:41; ⇒ Mk 16:12; ⇒ Lk 24:15; ⇒ Jn 20:14-15; ⇒ 21:4. ) 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.534 (Cf. ⇒ Acts 1:9; ⇒ 2:33; ⇒ 7:56; ⇒ Lk 9:34-35; ⇒ 24:51; ⇒ Ex 13:22; ⇒ Mk 16:19; ⇒ Ps 110:1.) Only in a
wholly exceptional and unique way would Jesus show himself to Paul "as to
one untimely born", in the last apparition that established him as an
apostle.535
660
The veiled character of the glory of the Risen One during this time is
intimated in his mysterious words to Mary Magdalene: "I have not yet
ascended to the Father, but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending
to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."536 (Jn 20:17. ) This indicates the difference in manifestation between the glory of the risen Christ and that of
the Christ exalted to the Father's right hand, a transition marked by the historical
and the transcendent event of the Ascension.
661
This final stage stays closely linked to the first, that is, to his descent
from heaven in the Incarnation. Only the one who "came from the
Father" can return to the Father: Christ Jesus.537 (Cf. ⇒ Jn 16:28. ) "No one has
ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man."538 (Jn 3:13; cf. ⇒ Eph 4:8-10. ) Left to its own natural powers humanity does not have access to the
"Father's house", to God's life and happiness.539 (Jn 14:2. ) Only Christ can
open to man such access that we, his members, might have confidence that we too
shall go where he, our Head and our Source, has preceded us.540 (Missale Romanum, Preface of the Ascension: sed ut illuc confideremus, sua membra, nos subsequi quo ipse, caput nostrum principiumque, praecessit. )
662
"and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to
myself."541 ( Jn 12:32.) The lifting up of Jesus on the cross signifies and announces
his lifting up by his Ascension into heaven, and indeed begins it. Jesus
Christ, the one priest of the new and eternal Covenant, "entered, not into
a sanctuary made by human hands. . . but into heaven itself, now to appear in
the presence of God on our behalf."542 (Heb 9:24. ) There Christ permanently exercises
his priesthood, for he "always lives to make intercession" for
"those who draw near to God through him".543 (Heb 7:25. ) As "high priest of
the good things to come" he is the center and the principal actor of the
liturgy that honors the Father in heaven.544 (Heb 9:11; cf. ⇒ Rev 4:6-11. )
663
Henceforth Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father: "By 'the
Father's right hand' we understand the glory and honor of divinity, where he
who exists as Son of God before all ages, indeed as God, of one being with the
Father, is seated bodily after he became incarnate and his flesh was
glorified."545
664
Being seated at the Father's right hand signifies the inauguration of the
Messiah's kingdom, the fulfillment of the prophet Daniel's vision concerning the
Son of man: "To him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all
peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an
everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall
not be destroyed."546 (Dan 7:14. ) After this event, the apostles became witnesses of
the "kingdom [that] will have no end".547
IN
BRIEF
665
Christ's Ascension marks the definitive entrance of Jesus' humanity into God's
heavenly domain, whence he will come again (cf ⇒ Acts 1:11); this humanity in the
meantime hides him from the eyes of men (cf ⇒
Col 3:3).
666
Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, precedes us into the Father's glorious
kingdom so that we, the members of his Body, may live in the hope of one day
being with him forever.
667
Jesus Christ, having entered the sanctuary of heaven once and for all,
intercedes constantly for us as the mediator who assures us of the permanent
outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
GO TO:
Copyright © 2020 by Ekklesia Katholos (Acts 9:31)
CHAPTER TWO
ARTICLE 4 "JESUS CHRIST SUFFERED UNDER PONTIUS PILATE, WAS CRUCIFIED, DIED AND WAS BURIED"
ARTICLE 5 "HE DESCENDED INTO HELL. ON THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE AGAIN"
ARTICLE 5 "HE DESCENDED INTO HELL. ON THE THIRD DAY HE ROSE AGAIN"
Copyright © 2020 by Ekklesia Katholos (Acts 9:31)
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