X — THE LORD’S ASCENSION

Presence of God. — O Jesus, ascending into heaven, grant that I too may dwell with my heart in heaven.

Meditation

1 — The central thought of today’s liturgy is to lift our hearts to heaven, to begin to dwell in spirit there where Jesus has gone before us: “Christ’s ascension,” says St. Leo, “is our elevation; and the body has the hope of one day being where its glorious Head has gone before” (RB.). In fact, already in the discourse of the Last Supper the Lord had said: “I go to prepare a place for you. And when I have gone and prepared your place, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am, you also may be” (Jn. 14, 2 and 3). Ascension is therefore a feast of joyful hope, of sweet foretaste of heaven: by entering it, Jesus, our Head, has given us the right to follow him one day; indeed, we can say, with St. Leo, “that in Christ we ourselves have penetrated into the highest heaven” (RB.). As in Christ Crucified we died to sin and in Christ risen we have risen to the life of grace, so in Him ascended to heaven we too have ascended to heaven. This vital participation in Christ’s mysteries is the great consequence of our incorporation into Him; since He is our Head, we, his members, are totally dependent on Him and intimately bound to his lot. “God, rich in mercy,” teaches St. Paul, “for the great love with which He loved us... brought us to life in Christ... in Christ Jesus He raised us up and made us sit in the heavens” (Eph. 2, 4-6). The right to heaven is acquired, the place is ready; it is for us to live in such a way as to merit occupying it one day. Meanwhile, in waiting, we must carry out the beautiful petition that the liturgy puts on our lips: “Grant us, almighty God, that we too may dwell with our spirit in the heavenly abode” (Collect). “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Mt. 6, 21), Jesus said one day. If Jesus is truly our treasure, our heart can only be in heaven near Him. This is the great longing of the Christian soul, so well expressed in today’s Vespers hymn: “Jesus, be the goal of our hearts, be the comfort of our tears, be the sweet reward of our life” (RB.).

2 — But alongside hope and joyful expectation of heaven, the feast of Ascension also has a note of melancholy. Before Jesus’ definitive departure, the Apostles must have been seized by a sense of dismay, the dismay of one who sees his dearest friend and support depart forever and finds himself alone before life’s difficulties. The Lord intuited his own disciples’ state of soul and once more comforts them by promising the coming of the Holy Spirit, the consoling Spirit: “He commanded them,” we read in the Epistle, “not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait there for the Father’s promise... You shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” But this time too the Apostles did not understand! - How much they needed to be illumined and transformed by the Holy Spirit to be fit for the great mission that would be entrusted to them! And indeed Jesus resumed: “You shall receive power from the Holy Spirit... and you shall be my witnesses... to the ends of the earth.” But for the moment they are there around the Master, weak, fearful, dismayed, a little like children who see their mother leaving for a distant and unknown land. In fact, while their gaze is fixed on Him, Jesus is lifted up and a cloud hides Him from their eyes. Two Angels must come to draw them out of their great bewilderment and recall them to the reality of the accomplished fact; then, trusting in Jesus’ word, now their only support, they return to Jerusalem and shut themselves in the Cenacle to await in prayer the fulfillment of the promise. It was the first novena of Pentecost: “they all persevered with one accord in prayer... with Mary the Mother of Jesus” (Acts 1, 14).

Retreat, recollection, prayer, concord with brothers, union with Mary Most Holy: these are the characteristics of the novena that must prepare us too for the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Colloquy

“O my God, O my God, O my Jesus, you are going and departing from us! Oh, what joy there will be in heaven! But we remain down here on earth. O eternal Word, what has the creature done to you, for whom you have wrought so many things and now ascend to heaven for her greater glory? Tell me, what has she done to you that you love her so much? What do you give her? What do you seek from her? You love her so much that You give her yourself, who are everything, and outside of you there is nothing. You want from her all her willing and knowing, because by giving You this she gives You all she has. O infinite Wisdom, O supreme Goodness, O Love, O Love little known, less loved, and possessed by few! O our ingratitude, cause of every evil; O purity little known and little desired! O my Spouse, O my Spouse, now that You are with your Humanity in heaven seated at the right hand of the eternal Father, create in me a pure heart and renew a right spirit within me” (St. Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi).

“Alas, Lord, how long this exile is! How much heavier the desire to see you makes it!

“Lord, what can a soul enclosed in this prison do?... But I desire to please you. Here I am, Lord! If, to serve You in something, it is necessary for me to live still, I refuse none of the crosses that may await me on earth. But, alas, Lord, alas! I have only words; nor am I capable of anything else. Make, my God, that before You at least my desires may have value, without looking at the smallness of my merits.

“Ah, my services would always be poor, my God, even if I rendered You many! And then, why remain in this life so full of miseries? Only to do your will. Is there perhaps a greater gain than this? Hope then, my soul, hope. Watch carefully because you know not the day nor the hour. All passes quickly, although your impatience makes a short time seem long. Think that the more you fight, the more proofs of love you give your God and the more you will enjoy your Beloved in joy and endless happiness” (T.J. Excl. 15).