“THE natural man understandeth not the things that are of God. A holy life, a supernatural life, is deemed visionary, idle, superstitious. If there is to be any virtue at all, it is to be only within the sphere of sense and nature to round and perfect both, such as the manly virtues of prudence, justice, temperance, and fortitude, provided they strike not deeper nor rise higher than the life that ‘now is.’
“It is idle to speak of the expediency of the Ascension or, indeed, of the supernatural at all to such as these; nor do I, except by way of warning. We live in an age of no belief, or half belief, or make belief. But the truth, ‘The word of the Lord endureth forever,’ and our attitude towards it, can make no difference. God is still in the world, behind its forces, and guiding and controlling them, even though men neither see nor believe in Him. Men and women are still His creatures, the works of His hands–adorned with grace and destined for glory. We are on earth, it is true, but our eyes and heads, aye, and hearts too, point to the skies. No sophist, nor school of sophists, with all their arts of style and argument, have ever yet persuaded mankind at large that life ends at the grave, and that the happiness we crave and strive for and can never reach on earth is an empty dream, never to be realized. No! God made nothing in vain. We are made and destined for a higher, larger, and nobler life than the present, of which the Ascension forcibly reminds us. It reminds us, too, of the life of grace, the life of true, pure holiness over and above mere natural rectitude, a necessary precedent to the life of glory; and which our Lord, by withdrawing Himself visibly, enables us, if we will, to live.
“Let us therefore lift up our hearts to heaven where Christ has gone ‘to prepare a place for us.’ We have not seen Him ascend; but we know by faith He is there. He is the head of the mystic body of which we are members, and limbs should join the head. ‘Ubi caput praecessit ibi spes vocatur et corporis.‘ Be faithful, then, to grace, lead a life not of pleasure, but of duty. Peace is only found where God placed it – in a dutiful, self-denying life.”
— Rev. William Graham, “The Ascension of Our Lord,”
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