A Mystery of Majesty

Fr. Scott Haynes

The mystery of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ is one of majesty and paradox. Christ, having triumphed over death through the Resurrection, now completes the arc of His earthly mission by ascending bodily into heaven, enthroned at the right hand of the Father. Yet His departure is not abandonment. Rather, it marks the beginning of a new and greater intimacy with the Church. The mystery invites deep contemplation, and the Fathers of the Church offer profound insights into the theological and spiritual meaning of this feast. Through their voices—and those of later saints—we are invited to ascend in heart and mind with Christ.

The Ascension in Sacred Scripture

St. Luke recounts the Ascension twice, once at the close of his Gospel and again at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles. The risen Christ leads His disciples out as far as Bethany, and there, lifting up His hands in blessing, He is carried up into heaven (Luke 24:50–51). In Acts, Luke records: “He was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9).

The imagery of the cloud recalls the Old Testament manifestations of divine presence—the Shekinah glory which guided Israel in the wilderness and filled the Temple of Solomon. Christ ascends not into mere distance, but into divine glory. St. Gregory the Great writes: “A cloud received Him, indicating that the Just One was hidden by the mystery of heaven.”¹

St. Augustine: The Ascension as the Perfection of Christ’s Humility

St. Augustine reflects on the Ascension as the culmination of the Incarnation and the prelude to Pentecost. He states: “Today our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven; let our hearts ascend with him.”² For Augustine, the bodily Ascension of Christ is not merely symbolic—it is a reality that perfects the humility of His descent. God did not shrink from becoming man, suffering, and dying. But neither does He leave man in the tomb. In His Ascension, Christ carries our humanity into heaven.

This glorification of human nature has cosmic significance. “He did not leave heaven when he came down to us; nor did he withdraw from us when he went up again into heaven.”³ The mystery, therefore, is not spatial but spiritual: the risen Christ abides with His Church even while enthroned in glory. Augustine underscores that this feast should stir longing in the Christian soul—a desire to follow Christ to the Father.

St. Ambrose: The Ascension as the Path of the Just

St. Ambrose interprets the Ascension as the model for all the righteous who shall follow Christ into eternal life. He proclaims: “Christ has gone before us. Let us follow Him with heart and desire. Let our soul ascend with Him.”⁴ The Ascension, for Ambrose, is both eschatological and moral. The path of virtue is an ascent—a mystical participation in the upward movement of the Savior.

Ambrose compares the Ascension to Elijah’s chariot of fire, lifting the prophet into heaven. But Christ ascends not as a lone prophet, but as the Head of the Body. In His flesh, ours is carried upward. The psalmist’s words become prophetic: “God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet” (Ps. 47:5). Ambrose interprets this triumph as the exaltation of the Church in her Head.

St. Jerome: The Authority and Mission of the Church

St. Jerome, in his commentary on Matthew, reads the Ascension in light of the Great Commission. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me,” Christ says (Matt. 28:18). Then He commands the apostles to go and make disciples of all nations.

Jerome notes the irony: Christ, about to depart, gives a mission that spans the globe and time itself. Yet this is the very point. “Though He was ascending, He promised: ‘I am with you always, to the end of the age’ (Matt. 28:20).”⁵ For Jerome, the Ascension affirms both the divine authority of Christ and the abiding presence of the Word in the preaching of the Gospel. The Church does not lose Christ at His departure; rather, it receives Him anew through mission.

St. Gregory the Great: The Dignity of the Redeemed

St. Gregory the Great writes with deep tenderness about the human nature glorified in Christ: “He who returned to heaven in the body which He had assumed, has exalted our lowly nature above all the hosts of heaven, above the ranks of angels.”⁶ The Ascension, therefore, is not simply a return to glory but an elevation of humanity itself. It is an event of theological anthropology: man is raised with Christ.

Gregory also sees pastoral implications. The Ascension teaches the Christian not to cling to earthly things. “Let us keep our hearts on that glory which we hope for, so that we may bear present troubles lightly.”⁷ The Church, then, lives in time with eyes fixed on eternity. The mystery of the Ascension calls for detachment from the world and attachment to the heavenly homeland.

St. Bonaventure: The Ladder of Ascent

St. Bonaventure, the Seraphic Doctor, meditates on the Ascension as the final step of the Itinerarium Mentis in Deum—the journey of the soul into God. In Christ’s bodily ascent, the soul finds the image of its own spiritual ascent through purification, illumination, and union. “Christ is the ladder,” Bonaventure writes, “and in His Ascension, He draws us upward into the Father.”⁸

The mystery is one of mystical participation. Bonaventure insists that the Christian must not merely celebrate the Ascension externally but allow it to transform his interior life. “As Christ ascended in glory, so must the soul ascend in love.”⁹ The theological virtue of charity, in his thought, is the wings by which the soul rises.

St. Robert Bellarmine: The Kingship of Christ

In his Controversies, St. Robert Bellarmine defends the truth of Christ’s Ascension against heretical errors. But he also reflects on the kingship established by it. “By ascending into heaven and sitting at the right hand of the Father, Christ shows that He is Judge of the living and the dead, and King of all creation.”¹⁰ Bellarmine connects the Ascension to the Creed: it is the enthronement of the victorious Christ.

This kingship is not one of domination but of glorified wounds. Bellarmine notes that Christ ascended still bearing the marks of His Passion. “He enters heaven with trophies, not in gold but in scars.”¹¹ These glorified wounds are the visible sign of divine love. Christ reigns by suffering, and His power is manifested through sacrifice.

St. Francis of Assisi: Longing for the Ascended Christ

St. Francis wrote said that the Christian soul longs constantly for union with the ascended Lord. In one of his sayings, he cries: “Who are You, most sweet Lord my God, and who am I, a worm and Your servant?”¹² The saint’s heart is always directed upward, yearning to be with Christ.

Francis lived the conformitas Christi so fully that his whole life was a spiritual ascent. The stigmata he bore near the end of his life made visible the same mystery St. Robert Bellarmine described—the wounds of the Crucified Christ glorified in the risen and ascended Lord. Francis teaches us that mystical union with Christ leads the soul to desire nothing but heaven.

Spiritual Implications of the Ascension

The Ascension is a feast of paradox: Christ departs, yet remains; He ascends, yet draws us with Him; He is hidden, yet more fully revealed. The spiritual implications are many:

1. Hope: The Ascension is the pledge of our own glorification. As St. Leo the Great said, “Where the Head has gone before in glory, the Body is called to follow in hope.”¹³

2. Desire: The feast awakens longing for the heavenly homeland. As St. Paul writes, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Col. 3:2).

3. Mission: The departing Christ commissions His apostles. The Church is born between Ascension and Pentecost, called to proclaim the Gospel to every nation.

4. Sacramental Presence: Though Christ is seated in glory, He is also present in the Eucharist. The Ascension is not a withdrawal but a transformation of presence. As St. Thomas Aquinas noted, “Christ's Ascension is the cause of our elevation, and His absence is the occasion for greater faith.”¹⁴

Conclusion: Lift Up Your Hearts

The liturgy of the Mass echoes the Ascension in the words of the Preface: Sursum corda—“Lift up your hearts.” The faithful respond: “We lift them up to the Lord.” This dialogue is not merely liturgical formality; it is the heartbeat of the Christian life. In every Mass, the Church ascends mystically with Christ, lifted by grace to the heavenly altar.

Let us, with St. Augustine, “follow Him in heart and mind, and not grow weary along the path.”¹⁵ Let us, with St. Gregory, disdain what is earthly and yearn for what is above. And let us, with St. Bonaventure and St. Francis, love with a fire that rises like incense to the throne of God.

Christ has ascended into heaven—alleluia! Let us ascend with Him.

Footnotes

1. Gregory the Great, Homilies on the Gospels, 29.

2. Augustine, Sermon 261, in Sermons (230–272B) on the Liturgical Seasons, trans. Edmund Hill (Hyde Park, NY: New City Press, 1993), 325.

3. Augustine, Sermon 263, ibid., 328.

4. Ambrose, Exposition of the Christian Faith, 4.6.71, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 2, Vol. 10, ed. Philip Schaff (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1994).

5. Jerome, Commentary on Matthew, 4.28.

6. Gregory the Great, Homilies on the Gospels, 29.

7. Ibid.

8. Bonaventure, Itinerarium Mentis in Deum, 7.1.

9. Ibid., 7.4.

10. Robert Bellarmine, De Christo, Book IV, in Controversies of the Christian Faith, trans. Kenneth Baker (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2016).

11. Ibid.

12. The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi, trans. Raphael Brown (Garden City, NY: Image Books, 1958), 23.

13. Leo the Great, Sermon 73.2, in The Fathers of the Church, Vol. 93, trans. Jane Freeland (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2000), 181.

14. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, III, q. 57, a. 6.

15. Augustine, Sermon 261, 325.