Ascension of the Lord

What we celebrate

After the Resurrection, Christ appears to His disciples, strengthens them, and speaks to them about the Kingdom of God. Then He leads them toward Bethany and, blessing them, ascends into heaven. The disciples are not crushed; they return to Jerusalem with joy, waiting for the fulfillment of the promise.

The Ascension shows that the Son of God did not take our humanity for a while, as a temporary garment. He raises it into the glory of the Father. The feast therefore also speaks of the dignity of the human person: our life is called to communion with God, not only to moral improvement.

Not absence, but presence

At first glance, the Ascension may look like a separation. Yet the Church receives it as joy. Christ does not cease to be near His own. He is no longer seen as before, in one place, but He remains present in the Church, the Gospel, the Holy Mysteries, prayer, and active love.

Between the Ascension and Pentecost, the Church waits. This waiting is not emptiness, but prayer. The disciples do not invent a mission of their own; they receive the command, wait for power from on high, and then bear witness to what they have seen.

What a beginner can remember

The Ascension says that Christian life does not stop with the emotion of Pascha. The risen Christ calls the whole human person toward God: body, soul, history, relationships, work, suffering, hope. Nothing truly human is despised when it is healed and united to Him.

For someone beginning the journey of faith, the feast can be received very simply: Christ does not go away in order to leave me alone. He calls me to look higher, without fleeing concrete life, and to wait for the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church.