I decided to skip my usual annual bellyache over the idea of Ascension “Sunday” which is offensive to the literal 40 days after Easter, a Thursday, and instead find some other fun things about this historical event. Yes, better than any UFO films leaked by the government, Jesus literally lifted Himself into Heaven and people saw it, witnessed it, and recorded it. There is one statement by Fr. Hardon applicable to this bad math, however… he frequently said that “no heresy catches on without the bishops.”
The Ascension Completed Our Redemption.
First things first: Many people think redemption was done on the resurrection. Not so! There was yet the work of redeeming bodies. The Cross redeems us from sin and the Resurrection restores life, but redemption is not complete until glorified humanity is brought into heaven in both body and soul. Christ’s Ascension finishes the work because it is the moment Jesus Christ, as Man, enters the final destiny He won for us. Without the Ascension, the Resurrection would be incomplete for human beings (who are not pure spirits).
So on to my other notes gleaned from Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J. He has tons of lectures, sermons, and discussion on the Ascension. He didn’t traffic in gentle metaphors or therapeutic spirituality. He taught what the texts actually say, and he repeated the parts that cut against what most people assume. I decided to pass along some surpassing facts about the Ascension that hit hard.
1. Christ ascended by His own human power and freedom, not just divine power. He chose to rise from the ground as man. The glorified body moves wherever and whenever it wills. Your own glorified body will do the same. No planes, no cars, no traffic. Distance stops mattering. Fr. Hardon called this the direct consequence of the Ascension for every human being who reaches Heaven.
2. Heaven is not “up there with the stars.” The sun, moon, and stars are not the destination. Heaven is the place and state where rational persons — angels and humans — actually enjoy the presence of God. No rational persons enjoying God means no heaven. This rules out both crude materialism and the modern claim that heaven is just a feeling or inner state. It’s literally a place with space.
3. At the Ascension, the souls of the just from the Old Testament finally entered heaven, but their bodies did not. Christ took the souls with Him. The bodies of Abraham, the patriarchs, and the holy women of the Old Testament remained. Your own resurrection on the last day will also be your assumption into heaven. Mary’s assumption was the first full realization of what the Ascension promises for the rest of us.
4. Heaven will have actual places because glorified bodies occupy space. You will not pass through other people like ghosts. Bodies take up room. And since we mentioned it above, you’ll have a glorified body. Fr. Hardon explained this many times when preaching on the the Gospel where Jesus says He is preparing “a place” for us. Heaven is embodied community, not vague spiritual mist. This undercuts both the fear that heaven will be boring and the fantasy that we’ll all just dissolve into light. No, it’ll be like being here, but without achy joints, allergies, or runny noses.
5. “Seated at the right hand of the Father” means the human Jesus now holds supreme royal power and the right to judge. It is not a literal chair. It declares that the man Jesus Christ has been elevated to the highest glory and authority a creature can receive. The Man who ascended is King of the universe right now.
6. Christ retains the wounds of His Passion in His glorified body forever. This is not a flaw. It is a forever trophy of His Victory over death! These wounds, probed even by St. Thomas, are also the permanent sign that suffering with Him is the path to glory. Fr. Hardon draws the line plainly: the more you suffer with Christ here, the greater the joy there. “No pain, no joy” is the law he kept repeating. Your pain is not meaningless. Let this one cross your mind the next time God asks you to suffer something because He may well be helping you have scars like He does… trophies of victories!
7. Jesus did not leave the earth when He ascended. He remains here in the Blessed Sacrament — the same identical Jesus who rose from the dead and ascended. Hardon repeated this across his Ascension talks because people casually say “when Jesus was on earth” as if His bodily presence among us ended. It didn’t. The Ascension changed the mode of His presence, not the fact of it. That is why Fr. Hardon frequently told priests to hold fast to this faith: it is the heart of the priesthood. It is also why Our Lady mentions the Real Presence as the other weapon to her rosary. Jesus is here in the Blessed Sacrament, thus, He is still “on earth.”
A Terrible Implication of the Ascension (our bodies mean something good)
The implication to our day is wild. The Ascension is the pattern and pledge of our own bodily glorification, which is exactly why Pius XII defined the Assumption in 1950 and immediately warned about the coming war on the body. Right after defining Mary’s bodily assumption (the first full fruits of what Christ’s Ascension promises for the rest of us), Pius XII told the bishops that the second half of the twentieth century would see the evil spirit use the pleasures of the body to seduce millions from the faith. The Ascension does not spiritualize us away from our bodies. It glorifies them. That is why the cultural assault on the body’s meaning and destiny is ultimately an assault on the meaning of the Ascension itself.
The Ascension is not a polite exit. It is the moment the human race, in Christ, entered the glory that is now offered to every body that will rise.
This article, 7 Surprising Facts about the Ascension (gleaned from Fr. Hardon) is a post from The Bellarmine Forum.
https://bellarmineforum.org/7-surprising-facts-about-the-ascension-gleaned-from-fr-hardon/
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