Jesus' time on earth began with his birth. It was interrupted for three days by His death on the Cross. During that time, He descended into the realm of the dead and preached the Gospel to the good people who died before Him. This allowed those good and holy souls--the righteous dead, as we call them--who accepted Christ as their Savior to proceed to heaven. On the third day after his death and burial, Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, an event we call the Resurrection. He spent the next 40 days preaching and preparing His disciples to perform the work of preaching and baptizing all people. Show At the end of this 40 day period, Jesus ascended into heaven. We call this the Ascension. The Bible tells us what happened on that day:
(Acts of the Apostles 1:1-11) It is said that by His death and Resurrection, Jesus opened the gates of heaven for all humanity. This is true, and His Ascension demonstrates this to us. It is His proof that those of us who believe in Him in faith and follow Him will also be raised on the last day, and enter into heaven. From heaven, Jesus hears our prayers and intercedes for us with His Father. We celebrate this on Ascension Sunday, which is celebrated forty days after Easter. Traditionally it is celebrated on a Thursday as a Holy Day of Obligation. The Church presently observes it on a Sunday to allow more of the faithful to attend Mass. It remains a Holy Day of Obligation, and the faithful are reminded that all Sundays are obligatory by default. The Ascension should not be confused with Pentecost, which is celebrated 50 days after Easter. Pentecost commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples of Christ, after His Ascension. ARTICLE 6 - Catechism of the Catholic Church "HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN AND IS SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE FATHER"
660 The veiled character of the glory of the Risen One during this time is intimated in his mysterious words to Mary Magdalene: "I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." 536 This indicates a difference in manifestation between the glory of the risen Christ and that of the Christ exalted to the Father's right hand, a transition marked by the historical and transcendent event of the Ascension. Hi readers, it seems you use Catholic Online a lot; that's great! It's a little awkward to ask, but we need your help. If you have already donated, we sincerely thank you. We're not salespeople, but we depend on donations averaging $14.76 and fewer than 1% of readers give. If you donate just $5.00, the price of your coffee, Catholic Online School could keep thriving. Thank you. Help Now > 661 This final stage stays closely linked to the first, that is, to his descent from heaven in the Incarnation. Only the one who "came from the Father" can return to the Father: Christ Jesus. 537 "No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man." 538 Left to its own natural powers humanity does not have access to the "Father's house", to God's life and happiness. 539 Only Christ can open to man such access that we, his members, might have confidence that we too shall go where he, our Head and our Source, has preceded us. 540 662 "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself." 541 The lifting up of Jesus on the cross signifies and announces his lifting up by his Ascension into heaven, and indeed begins it. Jesus Christ, the one priest of the new and eternal Covenant, "entered, not into a sanctuary made by human hands. . . but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf." 542 There Christ permanently exercises his priesthood, for he "always lives to make intercession" for "those who draw near to God through him". 543 As "high priest of the good things to come" he is the center and the principal actor of the liturgy that honors the Father in heaven. 544 663 Henceforth Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father: "By 'the Father's right hand' we understand the glory and honor of divinity, where he who exists as Son of God before all ages, indeed as God, of one being with the Father, is seated bodily after he became incarnate and his flesh was glorified." 545
IN BRIEF665 Christ's Ascension marks the definitive entrance of Jesus' humanity into God's heavenly domain, whence he will come again (cf. Acts 1:11); this humanity in the meantime hides him from the eyes of men (cf. Col 3:3). 666 Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, precedes us into the Father's glorious kingdom so that we, the members of his Body, may live in the hope of one day being with him for ever. 667 Jesus Christ, having entered the sanctuary of heaven once and for all, intercedes constantly for us as the mediator who assures us of the permanent outpouring of the Holy Spirit. - The Catechism of the Catholic ChurchMore Lent & EasterEaster 2022 / Lent 2022 |