The Ascension of Christ
May 13, 2021
TODAY is the Feast of the Ascension of Christ, which commemorates the stunning and miraculous event witnessed by the Apostles, Mary and close to 100 others outside Jerusalem when Jesus ascended into the heavens, 40 days after his Resurrection. This miracle was in itself testimony of Christ’s divinity. Only God could suspend the laws of nature in this way. St. Luke gave an account to Theophilus, a Christian in Antioch in the Acts of the Apostles:
The former treatise, I made, O Theophilus, of all things which Jesus began to do and to teach, until the day on which, giving Commandments by the Holy Ghost to the apostles whom He had chosen, He was taken up. To whom also He showed Himself alive after His passion, by many proofs, by forty days appearing to them, and speaking of the kingdom of God.And eating together with them, He commanded them, that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but should wait for the promise of the Father, which you have heard (saith He) by my mouth: for John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. They therefore who were, come together, asked Him saying: Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom of Israel? But He said to them: It is not for you to know the times or moments, which the Father hath put in his own power; but you shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth. And when He had said these things, while they looked on, He was raised up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they were beholding Him going up to heaven, behold, two men stood by them in white garments. Who also said: Ye men of Galilee, why stand you looking up to heaven? This Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come as you have seen Him going into heaven. (Acts i. 1 – 11.)
In Eleanor Parker’s translation of an Old English poem on the subject, Christ II, we get a sense of the soaring of Christ heavenward:
So the beautiful bird ventured into flight.
Now he sought the home of the angels,
that glorious country, bold and strong in might;
now he swung back to earth again,
sought the ground by grace of the Spirit,
returned to the world. Of this the prophet sang:
“He was lifted up in the arms of angels
in the great abundance of his powers,
high and holy, above the glory of the heavens.”
And more:
Thus here on earth God’s eternal Son
sprang in leaps over the high hills,
bold across the mountains. So we men
should spring in leaps in the thoughts of our hearts
from strength to strength, striving after glory,
that we may ascend to that highest heaven
by holy deeds, where there is joy and bliss,
a distinguished company of thegns. It is greatly fitting for us
that we seek salvation with our hearts
where we eagerly believe with our spirits
that the Saving Son will ascend from here
with our bodies, the living God.
And so we should always shun idle desires,
the wounds of sin, and delight in what is better.
We have as a comfort to us a Father in the heavens,
the Almighty. From there he sends
his messengers here, holy from the heights,
to shield us from our enemies’
terrible arrows, lest the hostile ones
wound us, when the lord of sin
sends among the people of God
a bitter shot from his deceitful bow.
The Hallelujah chorus from Beethoven’s 1802 oratorio, “Christ on the Mount of Olives,” also conveys the mysterious wonder of the Ascension.
Beethoven wrote but one oratorio, “Christus am Oelberge” (“Christ on the Mount of Olives”). It was begun in 1800 and finished during the following year. The text is by Huber, and was written, with Beethoven’s assistance, in fourteen days. The first performance of the work is entirely took place at Vienna, April 5, 1803, at the Theater an der Wien.
The closing number, a chorus of angels (“Hallelujah, God’s almighty Son”), is introduced with a short but massive symphony leading to a jubilant burst of “Hallelujah,” which finally resolves itself into a glorious fugue. In all sacred music it is difficult to find a choral number which can surpass it in majesty or power. [Source: Catholic Harbor of Faith and Morals]
The 19th-century monk, Dom Prosper Guéranger, in his Liturgical Year, wrote on the Ascension at a time almost as skeptical of miracles as our own:
All the mysteries of the Word Incarnate were to close with His Ascension; all the graces we receive are to end with outs. This world is but a figure that passeth away; and we are hastening through it to rejoin our divine Leader. In Him are our Life and our happiness; it is vain to seek them elsewhere. Whatever brings us nearer to Jesus, is good; whatever alienates us from Him is evil. The mystery of the Ascension is the last ray of light given to us by our Creator, whereby He shows us the path to His heavenly country. If our heart is seeking its Jesus, and longs to come to Him, it is alive with the true life; if its energies are spent upon created things, and it feels no attraction for its Jesus, it is dead.
Let us, therefore, lift up our eyes as did the disciples, and follow Him in desire who this day ascends to heaven, and prepares a place there for each of his faithful servants. Sursum corda! Hearts on heaven! It is the parting word of our brethren, who accompany the divine Conqueror in His Ascension; it is the hymn wherewith the angels, coming down to meet their King, invite us to ascend and fill up the vacant thrones: Sursum corda!
