« And now, Father, glorify Thy Son »

Summary. — I. The splendour of the triumph of Jesus in His Ascension to the right hand of the Father. — II. Chief reasons of this wonderful exaltation of Christ : — He is the

Son of God; He humbled Himself in the ignominy of the Passion. — III. The grace that Christ gives to us in this mystery: we enter with Him into Heaven as members of His mystical body. — IV. Sense of profound joy to which this glorification of Jesus gives rise in us: Tu esto nostrum gaudium. — V. Why an unshaken confidence ought likewise to animate us in this solemnity : Christ enters into the Holy of Holies as supreme High-Priest and remains there as the one Mediator. — VI. We rely upon Christ, in order to be « kept from evil » in the midst of the sorrows and trials of this present life.

FTER His Resurrection, Christ Jesus only remains forty days with His disciples. St. Leo says that these days did not pass in inaction: Ji dies non otioso transiere decursu?. By manifold apparitions to the Apostles, by His conversations with them, Loquens de Regno Dei”, Jesus fills their hearts with joy ; He strengthens their faith in His triumph, in His Person, in His mission ; He also gives them His last instructions * for the establishing and organising of the Church.

Now that the mission of His sojourn here below is fully terminated, the hour has come for Him to reascend to His Father. The Divine Giant has completely achieved His course upon earth: Opus consummavi quod dedisti mihi *. He is now about to taste in all their fulness the profound joys of a marvellous triumph ; the ascension into Heaven gloriously consummates the earthly life of Jesus.

Of all the feasts of Our Lord, I venture to say, that in a certain sense, the Ascension is the greatest, because it is the supreme glorification of Christ Jesus. Holy Church calls this Ascension “admirable”?, and “glorious”?, and throughout the Divine Office of this feast, she makes us hymn the magnificence of this mystery.¹

Our Divine Saviour had asked of His Father to be glorified with that glory which He had, in His Divinity in the eternal splendours of Heaven: Clarifica me, tu, Pater... claritate quam habui priusquam mundus esset apud te*. The triumph of the Resurrection marked the dawn of this personal glorification of Jesus : Haec esi clarificatio Domim Nostri Jesu Christi, quae ab ejus resurrectione sumpsit exordium*. The admirable Ascension establishes it in full noontide : Assumptus est in caelum et sedet a dextris Dei®. It is the divine glorification of Christ’s Humanity, above the highest heavens. 5

Let us, therefore, say a few words on this glorification, on its reasons as regards Jesus Himself, and on the special grace that it brings to us. The Church sums up these points in the collect of the Mass : Concede, quaesumus omnipotens Deus, ut qui hodierna die Unigenitum tuum Redemptorem nostrum ad caelos ascendisse credimus, ipsi quoque mente im caelestibus habitemus. “Grant, we beseech Thee Almighty God, that we who believe that Thy Only-begotten Son, our Redeemer, this day ascended into heaven, may ourselves also dwell there in spirit ”’.

This prayer first of all testifies our faith in the mystery : in recalling the title “Only-begotten Son” and “Redeemer”, given to Jesus, the Church shows forth the reasons for the celestial exaltation of her Bridegroom ; —she finally denotes the grace therein contained for our souls.

I

The mystery of Jesus Christ’s Ascension is represented to us in a manner suitable to our nature : we contemplate the Sacred Humanity rising from the earth and ascending visibly towards the heavens.

1. Litany of the Saints. —2. Secret of the Mass for the Ascension. —²

For the last time Jesus assembles His disciples and leads them towards Bethany on the Mount of Olives. He gives _ them anew the mission of preaching to all the earth, while promising to be ever with them by His grace and the action of His Spirit?. Then having blessed them, He rises, by His own Divine power and that of His: glorious soul, above the clouds, and disappears from their gaze,

But his material ascension, however real it is, however wonderful it appears to us, is at the same time the symbol of an ascension, of which the Apostles themselves did not see the term, an ascension more wonderful still, although incomprehensible for us. Our Saviour rises super omnes caelos?. He ascends “above all the Heavens”, passing all the angelic choirs, staying only at the right hand of God : Assumptus est in caelum, et sedet a dextris Det.

You know that this expression “at the right hand of God” is only figurative and must not be taken literally ; God, being spirit, has in Him nothing that is corporal, but Holy Scripture* and the Church* employ this expression to demonstrate the sublimity of the triumph granted to Christ in the sanctuary of the divinity.

In the same way, when we say that Jesus is “ seated ”, we mean to signify that He has entered for ever into possession of that eternal repose merited for Him by His glorious combats. This repose, however, does not exclude the continual exercise of the omnipotence communicated to Him by the Father in order that He may rule, sanctify and judge all mankind.

St. Paul has celebrated this divine glorification of Jesus, in magnificent terms, in his Epistle to the Ephesians. “What is the exceeding greatness of (God’s) power towards us, who believe, according to the operation of the might of His power, which He wrought in Christ, raising Him up from the dead, and setting Him on His right hand in the heavenly places. Above all principality, and power, and virtue, and dominion, and every name that is named,

1. He dwells also by the Real Presence in the Sacrament of the Hucharist, — 2. Ephes. Iv, 10. — 3. Ps. crx, 1 ; Mare. xvi, 19 ; Ephes. not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. And He hath subjected all things under His feet, and hath made Him head over all the Church” ?.³

Henceforward Christ Jesus is and remains for every soul the one source of salvation, of grace, of life, of benediction; henceforward, says the Apostle, His name has become so great, so resplendent, so glorious that every knee shall bow before it, in heaven, on earth, and in hell, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus lives and reigns “in the glory of God the Father ” ?.

Consider how, in very truth, since that blessed hour, the countless multitudes of the elect in the Heavenly Jerusalem, of which the Lamb that was slain is the eternal light, cast their crowns at His feet, and fall down before Him ; proclaiming in a chorus like the sound of many waters, that He is worthy of all honour and glory because their salvation and beatitude have their beginning and their end in Him *.

Since that hour, upon all the face of the earth, every day, during the holy action of the Mass, the praise and supplication of the Church ascend to Him Who alone can sustain her in her conflicts, because He is the one source of all strength and of all virtue : ‘‘ Thou Who sittest at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us. For Thou only art holy, Thou only art the Lord : Thou only O Jesus. Christ with the Holy Ghost, art most high in the glory of God the Father” : Tu solus Altissimus, Jesu Christe... in gloria Dei Patris.

Again since that hour, the princes of darkness, from whom the victorious Christ has snatched their prey for ever : Captivam duxit captivitatem*, are filled with terror at the very name of Jesus, and constrained to flee, and bow down their pride before the victorious sign of the cross.

Such is the splendour of the triumph into which the Humanity of Jesus entered for ever, on the day of His admirable ascension.

II

You will now ask what are the reasons of this supreme exaltation of Jesus, of this incommensurable glory conferred upon His holy Humanity ?⁴

We can resume them all in two chief reasons : The first is that Jesus Christ is God’s own Son ; the second, that to redeem us, He chose to sound the abyss of humiliation.

Jesus is God and Man. As God, He fills heaven and earth with His divine presence ; it is therefore as Man that He arose to the right hand of the Father. But the Humanity in Jesus is united to the Person of the Word ; it is the Humanity of a God ; in this quality it enjoys the right of Divine glory in the eternal splendours.

During Christ’s mortal life-—except on the day of the Transfiguration,—this glory was veiled and hidden. . The Word willed to unite Himself to a humanity, feeble like our own, to a humanity subject to infirmity, suffering and death.

We have seen that from the dawn of His resurrection, Jesus entered into possession of this resplendent glory ; His Humanity is henceforth glorious, and impassible. But it still remained here below, in a place of corruption where death reigns. To attain the summit, the full expansion of this glory, the Risen Jesus had need of an abode that responded fittingly to His new condition ; He needed the heights of heaven, whence His glory and His power might henceforth radiate in their fulness upon the entire company of the elect.

As Man-God, Son of God, equal to His Father, Jesus has the right of sitting at His right hand, of sharing with Him the Divine glory, the infinite beatitude and almighty power of the sovereign Being *.

The second reason of this supreme glorification is its being a recompense for the humiliations that Jesus underwent out of love of His Father and charity for us.

I have often said, that in entering into this world, Christ yielded Himself up entirely to the will of the Father. Ecce

1. If we consider the Humanity of Jesus as to its nature, this nature being created, ‘‘ to sit at the right hand of God ”’, evidently does not signify that it has equality with the Divine Being in Hisessential glory, but that it has a sublime and eminent participation in the infinite beatitude and power.

Me Vu venio ut faciam, Deus, voluntatem tuam +. He accepted to accomplish to the full all the abasements that had been foretold, to drink to the dregs the bitter chalice of sufferings and of untold ignominies ; He annihilated Himself even to the malediction of the Cross. And why was this ? Ut cognoscat mundus quia diligo Patrem*, “ That the

_ world may know that I love the Father”, His perfections, and His glory, His might and His good pleasure.

“For which cause”, Propter quod (remark these words, borrowed from St. Paul, they show the reality of the motive) God has glorified His Son, and has exalted Him above all things : Propter quod et Deus exaltavit illum *.

After the combat, it is with joy that earthly princes reward the valiant captains who have defended their prerogatives, won the victory over the enemy, and by their conquests widened the boundaries of the kingdom.

Was it not this that took place in heaven on the day of the Ascension, though with an incomparable glory ? With sovereign fidelity, Jesus had accomplished the work that His Father had given Him to do : Quae placita sunt et facio semper... * Opus consummavi® ; abandoning Himself to the action of Divine justice, as a holy Victim, He had descended into an incomprehensible abyss of sorrows and humiliations. And now all was expiated, the price paid, and redemption accomplished, the powers of darkness were defeated, the perfections of the Father were acknowledged, and His rights avenged, and the gates of the kingdom of heaven were opened to all the human race. If we may thus lisp about such mysteries, what joy for the Heavenly Father, to crown His Son after the victory gained over the prince of this world ! What divine gladness to call the Sacred Humanity of Jesus to the enjoyment of the splendour, the beatitude and power of an eternal exaltation !

And what still further enhanced this divine gladness, was that Jesus, when about to consummate His sacrifice, had asked of His Father that glory which was to extend that of the Father : “ Father, the hour is come : glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may glorify Thee”’ ®.

1. Hebr. x,9; cf. Ps. xxxrx, 8. — 2. Joan. x1v, 31. — 3. Philipp. Il, 9. — 4. Joan. vu, 29. — 5. Ibid. xvu, 4. — 6. Ibid. xvm, 1. The Church gives us this text in the Mass for the Vigil of the Ascension.

Christ in His Mysteries. 20

Yea, Father, the hour is come. Thy justice has been satisfied by expiation ; may it be so likewise by the glory that comes to Thy Son Jesus, because of the love that He has manifested to Thee in His sufferings. O Father, glorify Thy Son! Establish His reign in the hearts of those who love Him ; bring under His sceptre the souls that have turned away from Him ; draw to Him those who, sitting in darkness, do not yet know Him. Father, glorify Thy Son, so that in His turn, Thy Son may glorify Thee in manifesting to us Thy Divine Being, Thy perfections, Thy ‘will ! Pater, clarifica Filium tuum ut Filius tuus clarificet ues

The works of God are resplendent with ineffable and secret harmonies which ravish faithful souls.

Where was it that the Passion of Jesus began? At the foot of the Mount of Olives. There, during three long hours, His blessed soul—foreseeing in the divine light, the sum of afflictions and outrages which were to constitute His sacrifice.—was a prey to sadness, weariness, fear and anguish. We shall never know what poignant agony was undergone by the Son of God in the Garden of Olives : Jesus suffered there in anticipation all the sorrows of His Passion : “Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from Me” ?,

And where was it that our Divine Saviour entered into the joys of His Ascension ? Jesus, Eternal Wisdom, Who, let us not forget it, makes only one with His Father and the Holy Spirit, chose the summit of this same mountain that had witnessed His sorrowful abasements from whence to ascend to Heaven. There, in the same place where it fell upon Christ like a vengeful torrent, Divine Justice crowns Him with honour and glory? ; there, where in the horror of darkness, were preluded mighty combats, now arises the radiant dawn of an incomparable triumph.

Is not the Church, our Mother, justified in extolling as “admirable” the Ascension of her Divine Head ? Per admirabilem ascensionem tuam.⁵

Such is the mystery of the Ascension of Jesus : it is the sublime glorification of Christ above every creature, at the right hand of God.

Jesus “came forth from the Father” E-xivi a Patre, and He has returned to the Father, after having fulfilled His mission here below: Et vado ad Patrem*. He “hath rejoiced as a giant to run the way” : Exultavit ut gigas ad currendam viam ; He came forth from the highest heaven, from the sanctuary of the Divinity, A summo caelo egressio ejus ; and He now reascends to the summit of all things, there to enjoy divine glory, beatitude and power : Et occur- Sus ejus usque ad summum ejus ?.

In that which, properly speaking, is divine, this triumph is the exclusive privilege of Christ, the Man-God, the Incarnate Word. Jesus alone, being the Son of Ged, Redeemer of the world, has a right to this infinite glory. This is why St. Paul exclaims : “To which of the Angels said (God) at any time : Sit on My right hand” * ?

Our Lord Himself expressed the same thought in His conversation with Nicodemus. ‘“‘ No man hath ascended into heaven, but He that descended from heaven, the Son of man Who is in heaven” : Nemo ascendit in caelum, nisi qui descendit de caelo, Filius hominis qui est m caelo *. Jesus is the Son of man by His Incarnation ; but in becoming incarnate He remains the Son of God, Who is ever in heaven. Having come down from heaven, from the bosom of the Father, to take upon Himself our nature, Christ thither ascends as to His native abode ; to Him alone, God’s true Son, belongs the full right to ascend to the Father, and to share in the sublime honours of the Divinity. They are reserved only to Him. Nemo ascendit... nisi qui descendit.

And as for ourselves, shall we not penetrate into the heavens ? Are we to remain shut out from this sojourn of glory and beatitude ? Have we not a part in the Ascension of Jesus ? Certainly we have ;—but, as you know, it is through Christ and in Christ that we enter into heaven.⁶

How does this come to pass? Through baptism which makes us children of God. Our Lord revealed this in the same conversation with Nicodemus : Nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqua et Spiritu Sancto, non potest introtre in regnum Dei. “Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God”. It is as if He said : There is no means of entering into heaven if one is not born again of God ; there is an eternal birth in the bosom of the Father ; that is My birth ; of full right, I ascend into heaven, because I am God’s own Son, begotten in holiness and splendour. But there is another category of children of God : those who are born of God by baptism : Ex Deo nati sunt ?.

These are children of God, and in consequence, says St. Paul, His heirs. S% filii et heredes ; “ heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ”, Coheredes Christi *, therefore partaking of His own eternal inheritance.

In making us God’s children, baptism also makes us living members of the Mystical Body of which Christ is the | head. St. Paul is so explicit upon this! Vos estis corpus Christi, et membra de membro * ; “ Now you are the body of Christ, and members of member” ; and even more emphatically ; “No man ever hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it... we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones” : De carne ejus et de ossibus ejus °.

Now the members share in the glory of the head, and the joy of a person reacts upon all his body : this is why we share in all the treasures that Christ possesses : His joys, His glory, His beatitude become ours.

Such is the marvel of Divine mercy. “God, (Who is rich in mercy) for His exceeding charity wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together in Christ, (by Whose grace you are saved), and hath raised us up together, and hath made us sit together in the heavenly places, through Christ Jesus. That He might shew in the ages to come the abundant riches of His grace, in His bounty towards us in Christ esuss ne:⁷

And as all that the Father does, the Son does likewise 2, Christ Jesus takes our humanity up with Him to give it a place in His glory and beatitude. This is the great action of Jesus, the magnificent exploit of the Divine Giant : to re-open by His sufferings the gates of heaven to fallen humanity, and to transport it, in His train, into the splendours of heaven : Unitam sibi fragilitatis nostrae substantiam, in gloriae tuae dextera collocavit*... Est elevatus in caelum, ut nos divinitatis suae tribueret esse participes *.

When Christ ascended into heaven, says St. Paul, a whole train of holy souls, a glorious conquest, entered therein with Him : Captivam duxit captivitatem. But these souls of the just who escorted Jesus in His triumph are only the firstfruits of innumerable harvests.. Unceasingly souls are ascending into heaven, until that day when the kingdom of Jesus shall have attained the measure of its fulness.

“ Christ’s Ascension is therefore also our own, upon the glory of the Head rests the hope of the body. On this holy day, we have received not only the assurance of entering into possession of eternal glory, but we have already entered into the heights of heaven with Christ Jesus” >. “The wiles of the old enemy tore us away from the first sojourn of felicity, the earthly paradise ; the Son of God, in incorporating us with Himself placed us at the right hand of His Father”. Quos inimicus primi habitaculi felicitate dejecit, eos sibi concorporatos Dei Filius ad dexteram Patris collocavit ®,

How well we understand the chorus of thanksgiving sung by the elect in praise of the Lamb slain for man! How well we understand those acclamations and adorations that

1. Deus qui dives est im misericordia, propter nimiam caritatem suam, qua dilexit nos, et cum essemus mortut peccatis, convificavit nos in Christo Jesu : ut ostenderet in saeculis supervenientibus divitias gratiae suae in bonitate super nos in Christo Jesu. Ephes. u, 4-7. — 2. Joan. v, 19. — 3. Communicantes for the Mass of the Ascension. — 4. Preface from the Mass of the Ascension. — 5. Christi ascensio nostra provectio est ; et quo processit gloria capitis eo spes vocatur et corporis ; hodie non solum pavadisi possessoves firmati sumus, sed etiam caelorum in Christo superna penetyvavimus. S. Leo. Sermo I De Ascensione Domini, C. Iv. — 6. S. Leo. Sermo I De Ascenstone Domini, Cc. IV. they ceaselessly offer to Him Who, by indescribable torments, bought their unending beatitude !...

The hour of this glorification has not yet struck for us. But while awaiting our eternal union with the choir of the blessed, we should in mind and holy desires dwell in that heaven where Christ, our Head, lives and reigns for ever.

We are upon earth only as strangers and pilgrims seeking our country ; as members of the city of saints and the household of God, we may, says St. Paul, already dwell in heaven by faith and hope.

This is also the grace that the Church asks on this solemnity in the collect already quoted : /psi quoque mente in caelestibus habitemus.

In the postcommunion of the same Mass, we ask that we may obtain the invisible effects of these mysteries in which we visibly participate : Ut quae visibilibus mysteriis sumenda percepimus, invisibili consequamur effectu.

By Communion, we are united to Jesus : in coming to us, Our Lord grants us to share, in hope, that glory of which He enjoys the reality : He gives us the very pledge of it : Et futurae gloriae nobis pignus datur ?.

Let us say to Him: Draw us after You, great and almighty Victor: Trahe nos post te. Grant us to ascend into the heavens with You, there to dwell by faith, hope and charity ! Grant that we may detach ourselves from all earthly things, which are only passing, so that we may only seek the joys that are true and abiding. Grant that in heart we may be where we know that Your Sacred Humanity has corporally ascended: Ut illuc sequamur corde, ubt eum corpore ascendisse credimus *.

IV

The Ascension of Jesus gives rise to manifold sentiments in the faithful soul that contemplates it. If Christ no longer merits, His Ascension has, however, the virtue of efficaciously producing the graces that it signifies or symbolises.⁸

It strengthens our faith in the Divinity of Jesus ; it increases our hope by the vision of the glory of our Head ; by stirring us up to the observance of His commandments, on which our merits rest, and that are themselves the principle of our future beatitude, it still further enkindles our love. It engenders in us wonder at so marvellous a triumph, and gratitude for the share in it that Christ gives to us. Lifting up our souls towards heavenly realities, it quickens in us detachment from passing things : Quae sursum sunt quaerite, ubi Christus est in dextera Dei sedens, non quae super terram', It gives us patience in adversity, for, says St. Paul, if we suffer with Christ, we shall also: share in His glory : Si tamen compatimur ut et conglorificemur ?. /

There are two dispositions upon which I would dwell with you a few instants, because, springing with special abundance from the contemplation of this mystery, they are singularly profitable for our souls : they are joy and confidence.

And first of all why should we rejoice ?

Our Lord Himself said to His Apostles before leaving them : Si diligeretis me, gauderetis utique quia vado ad Pairem *, “ because I go to the Father”. To us too Christ repeats these words. If we love Him, we shall rejoice in His glorification ; we shall rejoice in that, having finished His course, He ascends to His Father’s right hand, to be there exalted to the highest heaven, there to taste, after His labours, sufferings, and death, eternal repose in incommensurable glory. Bliss, such as is incomprehensible to us, envelops and penetrates Him for ever in the bosom of the Divinity. Supreme power is given to Him over every creature.

How can we fail to rejoice in that justice is rendered in all fulness to Jesus, by His Father.

See how the Church invites us, in her liturgy, to celebrate with gladness this exaltation of her Bridegroom, our God and our Redeemer.⁹

At times she urges all nations to let the fulness of tneir joy burst forth in repeated hymns. Ommes gentes plaudite manibus : “O clap your hands, all ye nations ; shout unto God with the voice of joy” ! Jubilate Deo in voce exsultationis. “God is ascended with jubilee, and the Lord with the sound of the trumpet. Sing praises to our God, sing ye: sing praises to our King, sing ye! God shall reign over the nations : God sitteth on His Holy throne” : Ascendit Deus in jubilo et Dominus im voce tubae?. “ Exalt the King of kings, and sing a hymn to God ” : Eraltate Regem regum, et hymnum dicite Deo ?.

At other times the Church calls upon the angelic powers: “Taft up your gates, O ye princes... and the King of glory shall enter in” : Afttollite portas, principes, vestras, et introibit Rex gloriae. Astonished, the Angels ask : “ Who is this King of glory” ? Quwis est iste Rex gloriae? “It is the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle” : Dominus fortis et potens, Dominus potens in praelio. And the heavenly spirits repeat : “ Who is this King of glory” ? “Tt is the Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory” : [pse est Rex gloriae*!

And again, in language full of poetry borrowed from the Psalmist, she addresses Jesus Himself : “ Be Thou exalted, O Lord, in Thy own strength, we will sing and praise Thy power”: Exaltare, Domine, in virtute tua: cantabimus et psallemus virtutes tuas*, “For Thy magnificence is elevated above the heavens”’®. “ Thou hast put on praise and beauty : and art clothed with light as with a garment ; Who makest the clouds Thy chariot : Who walkest upon the wings of the winds”: Confessionem et decorem induisti, amictus lumine sicut vestimento ®,

Yes, let us rejoice! Those who love Jesus experience a deep and intense joy in contemplating Him in the mystery of His Ascension, in thanking the Father for having given such glory to His Son, and in felicitating Jesus in having been the object of it.¹⁰

Let us rejoice yet again in that this triumph and this glorification of Jesus are likewise ours.

Ascendo ad Patrem meum et Patrem vestrum, Deum meum et Deum vestrum': “JT ascend to My Father and to your Father, to My God and your God”. Jesus has but gone before us : He does not separate Himself from us, He does not separate us from Him. If He enters into His glorious Kingdom, it is to “ go and prepare a place” for us : Vado parare vobis locum ; He promises to come again one day to take us to Himself, so that, He says, “ where I am, you also may be” ?. Thus, we are already, participants in the glory and bliss of Christ Jesus ; we shall be there one day in reality. Did He not ask of His Father : Volo, Pater, ut ubi sum ego, et illi sint mecum*®. What power in this prayer, and what sweetness in this promise !

Let us then give ourselves up to this intimate and wholly spiritual joy. Nothing will so much “dilate” our hearts, and make us run with more generosity in the way of the Lord’s precepts : Viam mandatorum tuorum cucurri, cum dilatasti cor meum*. Often let us repeat to Christ Jesus during these holy days, the ardent aspirations of the hymn for this feast :

Tu esto nostrum gaudium Qui es futurus praemium ; Sit nostra in te gloria

Per cuncta semper saecula®.

“Be Thou our joy, Thou Who wilt one day be our recompense ; and grant that Thy glory may abide in us, for ever, and for ages of ages” !

V

With this deep joy we ought to combine unshaken confidence. ‘This confidence especially finds its support in the almighty power of mediation that Christ has with His Father, not only as an invincible King entering into His triumph, but as a sovereign High Priest interceding for us, after having offered to His Father an oblation of infinite worth. Now, it is on the day of His Ascension that Jesus, in a special manner began this unique mediation.¹¹

We have here a very interior aspect of the mystery on which it is highly useful to dwell for some instants. St. Paul, who has revealed it to us in his Epistle to the Hebrews, himself declares it to be ineffable : Jminterpreiabilis sermo'.

I am, however, going to try, following the teaching of the great Apostle, to give you some idea of it. May the Holy - Spirit grant us to understand how marvellous are the divine works.

St. Paul first of all recalls the rites of the most solemn sacrifice of the Old Covenant. Why does he recall them ? Doubtless because he was speaking to the Jews. It was necessary to speak to them in a way they would understand. But there was a deeper reason. What was this? The Apostle discloses it himself. It is on account of the most close relation established by God, between the ancient ceremonial and the sacrifice of Christ. And what is this relation °

As you know, God’s eternal foreknowledge embraces the whole series of centuries. Moreover, being Infinite Wisdom, God disposes all things with perfect measure and equilibrium. Now, He has willed that the principal events that have stood out in the history of the Chosen People, and the sacrifices He had prescribed to Israel should be so many unfinished types and obscure symbols of the magnificent realities that were to succeed them when the Incarnate Word appeared here below : Haec omnia in figura contingebant illis?... Umbra futurorum 8,

Therefore the Apostle insists first of all upon the Jewish sacrifices. It is not for the pleasure of establishing a simple comparison to help his hearers to comprehend his exposition, but because the Old Covenant presaged, in outline, the splendours of the New Law laid down by Jesus Christ.

St. Paul also recalls what was the structure of the temple of Jerusalem of which God Himself had ordained all the details. There was, he says, a tabernacle called the Holy ; the priests entered there at all times for the service of worship ;—beyond the veil was a second tabernacle called the Holy of holies, where stood the altar of incense and the ark of the Covenant ?.¹²

This “ Holy of holies” was the most august place upon earth. It was the centre towards which the worship and desire of Israel converged, towards which the hands of the entire Jewish people were raised. And’ why was this ? Because it was there that God made His special dwelling ; He had promised that His eyes and heart should be there always : Erunt oculi mei et cor meum ibi cunctis diebus? ; there He received homage, blessed the vows and heard the prayers of Israel ; there He entered, so to speak, into contact with His people.

But this contact, as you likewise know, was ey established by the intermediary of the high priest. So redoubtable indeed was the majesty of this tabernacle, that only the high priest of the Jews might enter there, and the entry was forbidden to any other under pain of death. The high priest entered the Holy of holies clad in pontifical vestments, wearing upon his breast the mysterious “ rational ”, composed of twelve precious stones, upon which were engraved the names of the twelve tribes of Israel ; it was only in this symbolical manner that people had access into the Holy of holies.

Moreover, the high priest himself might only cross the threshold of this holy tabernacle once a year ; and, first of all, he had to immolate outside, two victims,—one for his own sins, the other for the sins of the people ;—he sprinkied with their blood the propitiatory where reposed the divine majesty, while the levites and people filled the courts.

This solemn sacrifice, by which the high priest. of the Jewish religion offered to God, once a year, in the Holy of holies, the homage of all His people, and the blood of victims for sin, constituted the supreme and most august act of his priesthood.

And yet, as St. Paul teaches, all this was but in figure : Quae parabola est temporis instantis*, And what imperfections in these symbols! This sacrifice was so lack-

1. Hebr. rx, 2-4. — 2. III Reg. 1x, 3. — 3. Hebr. 1x, 9. sts CHRIST IN HIS MYSTERIES ing in power that it needed renewing each year ; this high priest was so imperfect that he had no power to open the door of the sanctuary to the people whom he represented ; and he himself might only enter there once a year, and under the protection, as it were, of the blood of the victims offered for his own sins.

Where then are the realities ? Where is the one perfect sacrifice, which is to replace for ever these repeated and powerless offerings °

We find these realities—and with what plenitude !—in Christ Jesus.

Christ, says St. Paul, is the supreme High Priest, but, “a High Priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens”? ; he enters into a tabernacle not made by the hand of man : Non hujus creationis ? but in the “heaven of heavens”’, in the sanctuary of the divinity : Ad interiora velamims® ; like the high priest, He enters therein bearing the blood of the victim. What victim ? Was it the blood of animals, as under the ancient covenant ? No, this blood is none other than “ His own Blood” : Per proprium sanguinem *, precious Blood, of infinite value, shed, “ outside” that is to say upon the earth, and shed for sins, no longer for the sins of the people of Israel alone, but for the sins of all mankind ;—He enters through the veil, that is to say, by His Sacred Humanity ; it is through this veil that the way to heaven is henceforward open to us : Initiavit nobis viam novam per velamen, id est carnem suam® ; finally, He does not only enter there once a year, but once for ever : Semel® ; for His Sacrifice being perfect and of infinite value, it is unique, and suffices to procure for ever the perfection of those whom He wills to sanctify : Una enim oblatione consummavit in sempiternum sanctificatos 7,

But—and it is above all in this that the divine work is admirable, and that the reality surpasses the figure—Christ does not enter there alone. Our High Priest takes us with Him, not in a symbolical manner, but in reality, for we are His members, “ the fulness of Him Who is filled all in all ” 8, as the Apostle says. rt. Hebr. Vi, 26..— 2. Ibid. rx, 115 chiibid 24.3. Thid. vi nau

— 4. Ibid, rx, 12. — 5. Ibid. x, 20. — 6. Ibid. rx, 12. —'7. Ibid. x,_14. — 8. Hphes. 1, 23.

Before Him, none might enter into the heavens. This interdiction was symbolised by the rigorous prohibition to pass the veil of the Holy of Holies ; the Holy Spirit Himself declares this, as St. Paul bears witness : Hoc significante Spiritu sancto nondum propalatam esse sanctorum viam ,

But Christ Jesus, by His death, has reconciled man to God ; with His pierced Hands He has blotted out “ the handwriting of the decree” of our expulsion? ; and therefore it was that when He dies, the veil of the Temple, as you know, was torn in twain. What did this prodigy signify ? Not only that the Old Covenant with the Jewish. people had ceased, that symbols had henceforward given place to a higher and more efficacious reality, but likewise that Christ had reopened to us the gates of heaven that we might enter into the eternal inheritance.

On the day of His Ascension, Christ, the supreme High Priest of the human race, took us with Him into heaven, by right and in hope.

Never forget that it is only by Him that we can enter there ; no man can enter into the Holy of holies except with Him ; no creature can enjoy eternal bliss except by following Jesus : it was His merits that won for us infinite beatitude. Throughout eternity, we shall say to Him : O Christ Jesus, it is through You, through Your Blood shed for us, that we are before the Face of God ; it is Your sacrifice, Your immolation, that has gained for us each instant of our glory and beatitude : to You, O Lamb slain for us, be all honour, all praise, all thanksgiving !

Whilst awaiting that Christ Jesus will come to take us to Himself, as He promised, He is preparing us a place, and above all He aids us by His prayers. St. Paul tells us that He has entered into Heaven, “that He may appear now in the presence of God for us ” Ut appareat NUNC vultui Dei pro nobis*, His priesthood is eternal, and consequently His mediation is eternal. And what infinite power in His mediation !

He is there before His Father unceasingly presenting to Him His sacrifice, recalled by the marks of His Wounds which He has willed to retain. He is there “ always living to make intercession for us” : Semper vivens ad tnterpellandum pro nobis *.¹³

A High Priest Who is always heard, He repeats for us the sacerdotal prayer of the Last Supper : “ Holy Father, keep them in Thy Name whom Thou hast given Me... that they may have My joy filled in themselves... Father, I will that where I am, they also whom Thou hast given Me may be with Me ; that they may see My glory which Thou hast given Me... that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me, may be in them, and I in them” ”.

How can these sublime truths of our faith fail to give rise within us to an unshakable confidence ? Souls of little faith, what can we fear ? What is there we may not hope ? Jesus is praying for us, always. As St. Paul says, if the blood of animal-victims purified the flesh of those who were sprinkled with it, “how much more shall the Blood of Christ, Who... offered Himself unspotted unto God, cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the Living God” ® ?

Let us, then, have absolute confidence in the sacrifice, the merits and the prayer of our High Priest. He has entered to-day into the heavens ; He inaugurates, with His triumph, His unceasing mediation ; He is the beloved Son in Whom the Father is well pleased ; how can He fail to be heard, after having manifested by His Sacrifice such love to His Father ? Exauditus est pro sua reverentia 4.

-O Father, look upon Thy Son ; look upon His Wounds : Respice in faciem Christi tui ; and by Him, in Him, grant us to be one day where He is, so that also by Him, in Him and with Him, we may render Thee all honour and all glory !

VI

When you communicate during these holy days, let your souls give themselves up to these thoughts of joy and confidence.

In uniting yourself with Jesus Christ you incorporate yourself with Him ; He is in you, and you are in Him ; you stand in the presence of the Father. Undoubtedly you do not behold Him ; but by faith, you know yourself to be with Jesus in the bosom of the Father, in the sanctuary of the divinity. This is for us the grace of the Ascension : to share, in faith, in the ineffable intimacy that Christ Jesus has in Heaven with His Father.¹⁴

It is related in the life of St. Gertrude, that one day, on the festival of the Ascension, when she received the Sacred Host from the hand of the priest, she heard Jesus say to her, ‘‘ Behold Me: I come, not to bid thee farewell, but to take thee with Me to heaven, and present thee to My Father” +. Leaning upon Jesus, the soul is powerful, because Christ makes her a partaker of all His riches and of all His treasures : Quae est ista quae ascendit de deserto, delictis affluens innixa super dilectum suum?! In spite of our miseries and our weaknesses, never let us fear to approach God, by the grace of the Saviour, and with Him, we can be for ever in the bosom of our Father in heaven.

Let us, then, turn to Christ Jesus and lean upon Him, not only in prayer, but in all that we do. And we shall be strong. If without Him we can do nothing : Sime me, nihil potestis facere* ; with Him, we can do all things : Omnia possum in eo qui me confortat*. We have in Him, Who is the source of our confidence, the most efficacious motive for fidelity and patience in the midst of the sadness, the disappointments, the trials, and the sufferings that we must undergo here below until the end of our exile.

When the mortal life of Jesus was drawing to its close, ‘He made a touching prayer to His Father for the disciples whom He was about to leave : “ Holy Father, when I was with them, I kept them in Thy name... And now I come to Thee... I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldst keep them from evil” : Cum essem cum eis, ego servabam eos ; nunc autem ad te venio ; non rogo ut tollas eos de mundo, sed ut serves eos a malo ®.

What wholly divine solicitude is revealed in this prayer !¹⁵

Our Lord says it for us all. And’the Church, who always enters into the dispositions of her Spouse, is inspired by it in the “secret” of the Mass for the Feast of the Ascension. ‘Receive, O Lord, the gifts which we offer Thee in memory of the glorious Ascension of Thy Son, vouchsafe to deliver us from the dangers of this present life, and bring us to everlasting life, through the same Jesus Christ our Lord”. Why is this prayer of Jesus repeated by the Church ?

Because there are obstacles that hinder us from going to God ; and these obstacles are all summed up in sin, which turns us away from God. Our Lord asks that we may be delivered from evil, that is to say from sin, which, in keeping us away from our Heavenly Father is the one true evil: Ut serves eos amelo. Left to ourselves, to our weakness, we cannot avoid these obstacles ; but we can do so if we lean upon Christ. He ascends to-day to heaven, victorious over Satan and the world : Confidite, ego vici mundum...? Princeps mundi hujus in me non habet quidquam*. He enters, as an all-powerful High Priest, into the divine sanctuary : Per hostiam swam apparuit*. By Communion, Our Lord gives us a share in His power and His triumph. That is why we ought with such trust to seek our support in Him. ;

With Christ, offering for us His merits to His Father, there is no temptation that we cannot vanquish, no difficulty that we cannot overcome, no adversity that we cannot support, no senseless joy from which we cannot detach ourselves. Until we rejoin Jesus in Heaven, or rather until He takes us there Himself, since He has gone to prepare a place for us, let us live there, by faith in the boundless power of His prayer and of His mediation, by hope of one day partaking of His felicity, by the love that yields us up joyously and generously to the faithful and entire fulfilment of His will and good pleasure ® : it is thus that we shall fully participate in the glorious Ascension of Jesus : /psi quoque mente in caelestibus habitemus.

1. Suscipe, Domine, muneva quae pro Filii tui gloriosa ascensione deferimus ; et concede propitius, ut a praesentrbus periculis liberemur, et ad vilam perveniamus aeternam. Per eumdem D. N. J. C. — 2. Joan. XVI, 33. — 3. Ibid. xtv, 30. — 4. Hebr. rx, 26. — 5. Fac nos tibi semper et devotam gerere voluntatem et majestati tuae sincero corde servive. Collect for the Sunday within the Octave of the Ascension.

XVII. + THE MISSION OF THE HOLY

SPARIE (Pentecost).

Footnotes

1. 1. Seymo I de Ascensione Domini, c. 11. — 2. Act. 1, 3. — 3. Ibid. 2. — 4. Joan. XVI, 4.
   ↩
2. 3. Joan. Xvu, 5. — 4. S. August. Tractatus in Joan. Civ, 3. — 5. Marc. XVI, 19.
   ↩
3. 1. 20 et Jv, 10; Col. mr, 1. — 4, Apostles’Creed, Nicene Creed, and Quicumque.
   ↩
4. 1. Ephes. I, 19-22. — 2. Philipp. m, 10-11. — 3. Apoc. passim. — 4. Ephes. rv, 8.
   ↩
5. 1. Matth. xxvI, 39. — 2. Hebr. ny, 9.
   ↩
6. 1. Joan. XvI, 28. — 2. Ps. XVII, 6&7. — 3. Hebr. 1, 13. — 4. Joan. TIES.
   ↩

7. " 1, Joan. m1, 5. — 2. Ibid. 1, 13. — 3. Rom. vm, 17. —-4. I Cor. xu, 27. — 5. Ephes. v, 30. ↩

8. 1. Philipp. mt, 20. — 2. Antiphon for the Feast of Corpus Christi, O sacrum convivium. — 3. S. Gregor. Homil. xxix in Evangel. c. u.
   ↩
9. 1. Col. mm, 1-2. —2. Rom. vim, 17. — 3. Joan. xrv, 28.
   ↩
10. 1. Ps. XLVI, 1, 6-7, 9. — 2. 4 Antiphon from Lauds of the Ascension. — 3. Ps. XxmI, 7-16. — 4. Ibid. xx, 14.— 5. Ibid. vm, 2. — 6. Ibid. CUI, 1-3.
    ↩
11. 1. Joan. xx 17. — 2. Ibid. xiv, 2-3. — 3. Ibid. xv, 24. — 4. Ps. CXVIII, 32. —5. Hymn for Vespers and Lauds. (Monastic Breviary).
    ↩

12. 1, Hebr. v, 11. — 2.1 Cor. x, 11. — 3. Col. u, 17. ↩

13. 1. Hebr. rx, 8. — 2. Cf. Col. 1, 14. — 3. Hebr. 1x, 24.
    ↩
14. 1. Ibid. vil, 25. See above p. 86 and following pages concerning the oblation of Christ in Heaven, — 2. Joan. xv, 11, 13, 24, 26. — 3. Hebr. rx, 13-14. — 4. Ibid. v, 7.
    ↩
15. 1. The Herald of Divine Love. — 2. Cant. vat, 5. — 3. Joan. Xv, 5. — 4. Philipp. Iv, 13. — 5. Joan. XV, 12-13, 15.
    ↩