Ascension

EWTN Global Catholic Radio and St. Joseph Communications proudly present Life is Worth Living with Archbishop Fulton Sheen. This 50-part series was recorded on phonograph records in the 1960s, and the sound quality is sometimes limited, but the word of God spoken by Archbishop Sheen is timeless. And now, here is Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Peace be to you. In this lesson, we consider the creed, particularly those words that refer to the ascension of our blessed Lord and the fact that he is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. After the resurrection, our blessed Lord remained 40 days on earth. In that time, he instructed the Apostles about the kingdom of God and laid the structure for his mystical body, the Church. Moses had fasted 40 days before giving the law, and Elias had fasted 40 days before the restoration of the law, and now, for 40 days, the risen Savior laid the pillars of the Church and the new law of the gospel. The forties were about to end, and the Apostles were bidden to await the fiftieth day, which was the day of jubilee. When the Thursday came for the ascension of our divine Savior, he led his Apostles out to Mount Olivet, not from Galilee, but from Jerusalem, where he had suffered, where he would leave earth for his Heavenly Father. Elias was now completed. He gathers his Apostles about him as he prepares to ascend to the heavenly throne. He raises his hands in benediction over them, and the hands that were pulled down from heaven to earth to give them that blessing bore the imprint of nails. Pierced hands best distribute blessings. If you ever want good counsel, go to someone who has suffered. Scripture now, speaking of the resurrection, is not all the text, but just one or two. And even as he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven, and is seated now at the right hand of God. There are several words here which need explanation, such as the fact that our blessed Lord ascended, that he is seated, and that he is at the right hand of the Father. The ascension we are not to think of as a local motion. We are not to think of our blessed Lord, for example, as going beyond the Father's star, or to think of him as being so many millions of light-years away, nor are we to think of him as going up from one point to another, and certainly not are we to envisage him and the ascension as a form of space travel. Our blessed Lord once had a descent, that is to say, came down from heaven, but that really did not mean a physical descent. It was rather a drawing aside of the veil in which divinity was revealed to humanity. So to the ascension is not like a rocket. Our blessed Lord is no closer to heaven when he passes, for example, if we imagined him passing the planet Arcturus. Rather the ascent and the descent that are mentioned in the creed and in Christian doctrine refer rather to humiliation and exaltation. When our blessed Lord came to this earth, he humbled himself. When he ascended into heaven, he was exalted, and that is the way the scripture always speaks of him. He ascended into heaven because he had humbled himself and was made obedient to the death of the cross. But what does the word seated mean? That he is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. The word seated here means repose after conflict. Cross is left behind with all of its dust and thirst and struggle and pain. Being seated does not mean that our Lord is passive. You remember in the book of Genesis, God was said to have rested after creation. Did that mean he was tired? Certainly it did not imply that his creative arm was weary. Our blessed Lord seeks not to recuperate, but because his work is done. On the cross, our blessed Lord said, it is finished. All the types and figures and symbols of the Old Testament have now been completed. Every word of scripture has been fulfilled. There is no other meaning. The cross is the perpetual atonement and satisfaction for the sins of men. As our Lord said to the apostles, I have finished the work. Rather praying to his heavenly Father, he said, I have finished the work that thou hast given me to do. That is the meaning of our Lord being seated. But what does it mean to say that he is at the right hand of the Father? Well, the right hand implies power. And it means, therefore, that he has the power of God and has power throughout the universe. The right hand does not mean a physical nearness. It means a sharing of glory. Our Lord is acting as a mediator between God and man. That is his power. The ascension of our blessed Lord is described in sacred scripture, too, as a high priest entering the sanctuary beyond the veil. That is a rather unusual expression, beyond the veil. What does it mean? It refers to something in the Old Testament. The temple of Jerusalem and the tabernacle in the desert before it had hanging before the Holy of Holies a veil. It was very heavy, gorgeous, mysterious. It was hung and suspended according to the pattern that was given on the mount. It was highly embroidered of purple, blue, scarlet, and finely twisted linen, and then the golden cherubim were woven into it. All of that is described in the book of Exodus. Now behind that veil lay enshrined the gorgeous symbols of Jewish history and Jewish faith. Behind it was the Holy of Holies. The priest was allowed to enter that Holy of Holies only once a year, and then only after he had purified himself with blood and sprinkled this veil with blood. When this happened, the people had for one brief moment some communication, thanks to their priest, with this Holy of Holies, but for the rest of the year it was hidden. And from behind that veil, the sound of bells and the rustle of the beautiful vestments of the priest and the movement of feet, there was some dim adumbration of a mystery. But what must the Jews have said to themselves as they looked at that veil? They knew they could not enter it. They must have said, separate it, separate it, cut off we are from God. That sentiment must have continued in the heart of every true man of the Old Testament. Now the veil in the New Testament is called the flesh of our Lord. When our blessed Lord died on the cross, that veil of the temple was raised asunder. It went from top to bottom, as if to indicate that it was not done in any way by the hand of man. In other words, this barrier between heaven and earth, between God and man, was now destroyed. In the midst of the death of Christ, there was access to heaven, access to the Heavenly Father. There might have been indeed some symbolism in the fact that the centurion pierced the side of our blessed Lord, for as I said, sacred scripture calls his flesh the veil, and when that side was pierced, there was indeed revealed the Holy of Holies, which is the heart of the all-loving God. But in any case, since humanity before the redemption could never enter behind that veil, now Christ took upon himself our human nature. He bore it, he lived it, he died in it, and he resumed it after he had laid it down. He glorified it, and he broke down that middle wall of partition between God and man, and thus he made peace. I look down to my nature laden with sin, I despair. I look up to Christ's nature that has now risen and descended, and I'm full of joy. I look to my own nature and I see my helplessness. I look up to Christ's nature, I see my hope. I look down to my nature, see my sin, I look up to his and I see his holiness. And it is that holiness of the human nature of Christ that has risen now to heaven. What does it mean to us? It means many things, but we will just mention two. Firstly it means that human nature like ours is in heaven. Think of it. The model of what our body will be if we live in it the very life of Christ. Secondly it means that we have a high priest in heaven who can sympathize with our weaknesses because he once bore our human lot. First we say there's a human nature in heaven. When God came to this earth he took upon himself a human nature. That human nature we said was thrown into the fires of Calvary in reparation for the sins of man, risen and now ascends so that there is a continuity between the incarnation and the ascension. In the incarnation our Lord took a body, yes, but not just a body to suffer, otherwise he would have taken it for a time. If he took that human nature just in order to suffer for our sakes, why did he not divest himself of that human nature? After all his garments had been soiled and stained, they had borne the heat and burdens of the day. Why not throw them off? No, because human nature was taken not just to atone for our sins. The end and purpose of God coming to this earth was to bring us to perfect union with the Father. How could he do this? By showing that our flesh is not a barrier to that intimacy. By taking it up to heaven itself, by showing that those who pass through trials, suffering, whatever they do in this life, misunderstanding, will have their body glorified. By sharing in Christ's cross, we share in his glory. The goal of all humanity is in some way reached in the ascension. That's the full beauty of our Lord returning again to the Father. He brought back with him something that he did not have when he came to this earth. He brought his divinity, yes, he took his divinity back with him, but he also took something else back. He took back the human nature. And the most blessed and wonderful truth is taught. In that fact, remember our Lord reiterated it when he was talking to Caiaphas, and he told him that one day we would see the Son of Man seated on the right hand of power? In other words, that human nature that was so humiliated is no longer a humiliated human nature. It's now glorified. His ascension is the true carrying of that winged humanity, complete in all of its parts, body and soul, up to the very throne of God. What is the purpose of the incarnation to be our model, to be our pattern? In a certain sense, because he's the new Adam in heaven, you and I are there. We are not yet there actually, but we are there potentially so long as we remain in the state of grace on this earth. But that's not the only reason he took with him a human nature. He also took a human nature in order that he might be able to sympathize with our own weaknesses. The epistle of the Hebrews has a beautiful text on this point. It reads, it is not as if our high priest was incapable of feeling for us in our humiliations. He has been brought through every trial, fashioned as we are, only sinless. Our blessed Lord, therefore, in heaven, is our high priest. He is our mediator. He is one who can understand us, he's not apart from us, because he had our human nature. That human nature, when it was on this earth, was so sensitive that it was thrilled with the beauty of a lily, was moved with the fall of a wounded sparrow, was keenly touched by anything that could touch a human heart, whether high or low, good or bad, friend or enemy. No man can be beyond the reach of that all-comprehending sympathy, because no man can ever be beyond the embrace of that love. He can sympathize with the poor, because he was poor, with the weary and the heavy laden, because he has been tired and worn, with the lone and misrepresented and persecuted, simply because he has been in that position. Because he was tried, tried in mind as well as in heart, tried by fear, by sad surprise, by little perplexity, with a hard conflict with evil, great spiritual depression, he's able to feel to the uttermost the keenest sorrows of our earthly lot. And the beauty of it all is that this tried one is without sin, and that is what enabled him to drink in sympathy, and nothing but sympathy in all sorrows, simply because he was without sin, so that we have a human nature, therefore, in heaven, a pattern human nature that knows all of our weaknesses and all of our trials. What a beautiful hope this is to all of us, a high priest who can understand our infirmities. Now that he's taken this human nature, now that it is in glory, at the right hand of the Father, what does he do there? Hasn't he worked? Certainly. He's a mediator. We might almost say that he's constantly showing his scars to his Heavenly Father, and he's saying, see these, I was wounded in the house of those that love me. I love men, I suffered for them, forgive them, Heavenly Father. He's our sacrifice, he's ever-present before the Father, the scripture puts it, ever-making intercession for us. You see, we very often get a wrong understanding of the life of our blessed Lord. We think of him as just living on this earth, preaching of the attitudes and suffering. No, our blessed Lord did not come down just for that. He is living, making intercession for us, the representative of all who invoke him. He has finished the work of justice on earth, because he pays the debt of sin, but the work of mercy in heaven is unfinished. That goes on and on, and the reason it goes on is because we need his intercession. I would very much like to continue speaking of this mystery of the ascension, but we ought to treat one other little point in the creed, namely, that from heaven our Lord will come to judge the living and the dead. Our Lord on this earth said he would come to judge the world. No other teacher ever said that, and he said that as the judge he would return seated on the throne of glory, attended by angels to judge all men according to their works. Imagination recoils at the thought of any human being able to penetrate into the depths of consciences, to feather out the hidden motives, to pass judgment on them for all eternity, but this final judgment is not hidden from the eyes of God as well as man. The scripture puts it, or rather as our Lord put it, then the sign of the Son of Man will be seen in heaven. Then it is that all the tribes of the land will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming upon the clouds of heaven with great power and glory, and he will send out his angels with a loud blast of the trumpet to gather his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. When he comes, it will not be to judge a mere circumscribed area of the earth in which he labored and revealed himself, it will be to reveal himself and to judge all nations and all empires. When that time is, nobody knows. He refuses to tell us, he only says that it will be sudden, be sudden like a flash of lightning. He the Savior is the judge. What a beautiful way to have a judgment. Can you imagine any earthly judge saying to a criminal before him, you are guilty, I am going to take all of your sins and crimes upon myself, I will suffer for you. What a judge he would be when our blessed Lord took upon himself all of our sins as we stood before the power of divine justice. And he who suffered for us will come to judge us. And what a judgment it will be when we will see one who loved us so much. And as the gospel of Matthew puts it, he will sit down upon the throne of his glory and all nations will be gathered in his presence where he will divide men one from the other as the shepherd divides the sheep from the goats. He will set the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. And the king will say to those who are on his right hand, come, you have received a blessing from my father, take possession of the kingdom which has been prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you brought me home, naked and you clothed me, sick and you cared for me, a prisoner and you came to me. Thereupon the just will answer, Lord, when was it that we saw thee hungry and fed thee or thirsty and gave thee to drink? When was it that we saw thee a stranger and brought thee home or naked and clothed thee? And the king will answer them, believe me, when you did it to one of the least of my brethren here, you did it to me. Then he will say to those who are on his left hand, go far from me, you that are accursed into that eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you never gave me food. I was thirsty and you never gave me drink. I was a stranger and you did not bring me home. I was naked and you did not clothe me. I was sick and in prison and you did not care for me. Whereupon they in their turn will answer, Lord, when was it that we saw thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to thee? And he will answer them, believe me, when you refused it to one of the least of my brethren here, you refused it to me and thee shall pass on to eternal punishment and the just to eternal life. Such is the gospel of Matthew and the story of the return of our Lord. The point now is that our blessed Lord took upon himself a patterned human nature. That human nature was something like a dye that a government makes when it wishes to mint coins. In the dyes fashioned, millions of coins can be fashioned like unto it. Christ our patterned man was born, he suffered, he overcame temptations, he rose from the dead and was glorified at the right hand of the Father. Here are the coins. Because he was born, we are to be born, not physically, but spiritually. Because he denied himself and suffered, we are to deny ourselves. The cross becomes the condition of the empty tomb. Once our life is patterned upon his crucifixion, then our life shall be patterned also upon his glorious resurrection and his glorious descension. Are we his coins? He will ask for coins and he will say, whose inscription is there on? Is it Caesar's? Do we belong to the world or do we belong to God? May it be so. God love you. This has been Life is Worth Living with Archbishop Fulton Sheen. For more information about this series, contact St. Joseph Communications at 1-800-526-2151. Outside the U.S., call 818-331-3549. And please join us again next time for Life is Worth Living with Archbishop Fulton Sheen on EWTN Global Catholic Radio.