Solemnity of the Ascension of Our Lord: 5-8-16
Peace be with You,
As we near the end of the Easter Season, we have come to another great celebration in the life of the Church, the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord. Though a bit difficult to conceptualize, this feast has a beautiful message for us. Let us begin by recalling that last Sunday, Jesus told us that “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” With these words, we were made aware that by living a life of love, we participate in the very life of God through Jesus Christ. That this is not mere metaphorical language is clarified by the feast we celebrate today.
Recall Whom we believe Jesus Christ to be: the Son of God & the Son of Man; completely God and completely human. We believe Him to be the One Who unites us to God by having been put to death and rising again, thereby conquering sin and the subsequent death which had become our rightful inheritance after the fall. Moreover, His resurrection makes evident that the body is not something to be escaped, but rather, the body was made good by God and restored to goodness by Christ. For its part, the Ascension, tells us that we, as complete human persons, body and soul, are meant to live for eternity in loving communion with God! What could be more perfect?! In fact, it’s so good it’s almost unbelievable! Well, it gets better!
You see, we are not simply meant to live the life of Heaven once we pass from this life. Rather, we are meant to begin living the life of Heaven here and now! As St. Augustine says: “While in heaven [Christ] is also with us; and we while on earth are with him…We cannot be in heaven, as he is on earth, by divinity, but in him, we can be there (i.e. Heaven) by love.” My friends, we are the Church, the Body of Christ, meant to make His life present to the world, through lives of self-giving love! To the degree that we accomplish this, we bring God’s Kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven to the here and now! Today, you are called to live and to share in the life of that Kingdom!
Your servant in Christ,
Tony
Tony Crescio is the founder of FRESHImage Ministries. He holds an MTS from the University of Notre Dame and is currently a PhD candidate in Christian Theology at Saint Louis University. His research focuses on the intersection between moral and sacramental theology. His dissertation is entitled, Presencing the Divine: Augustine, the Eucharist and the Ethics of Exemplarity.
Tony’s academic publications can be found here.