It appears that the life of the Christian is characterised by several fundamental oppositions and antagonisms, for instance, in the world but not of the world and salvation that has been wrought already for us yet we must wait patiently to enter into the fullness of the Kingdom. Therefore it must be asked how are we to understand this glorious occasion? It may truly be said that even though a great joy overcame the Apostles when the Risen Lord rose above in might to return to the Father, a sadness or a time of unknowing, maybe of fear, could have followed.
In considering the Mystery of the Ascension of our Divine Saviour and the period afterwards until the day that the Holy Ghost descended upon our fathers in the Faith, we may justly liken it to Holy Saturday.
After the shedding of the blood of the Divine Victim upon the Tree of Life, the paying of a debt that man could not offer to the Father, our Lord descending to the depths left the Apostles dispersed and scattered. One would struggle to imagine their thoughts during this 'abandonment' by the Lord who had brought together this motley bunch of no-hopers. Should we return to our ships and nets? To collecting taxes? Should we attach ourselves to another teacher in the hope of him achieving the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel?
The Lord Himself had declared His Resurrection openly to these men but it is only in light of the actual event and the subsequent Descent of the Paraclete that they could enter into this mystery with the required Faith to proclaim in their turn the Kingdom of God.
Likewise, we here live far removed from the time when the Logos humbled Himself to take flesh from the spotless Virgin, yet through our baptism and our incorporation into our Lord's Mystical Body we are enabled to experience the same. However it will not do to assign a facile historical approach to this mystery just as it will not do to assign a psychological understanding to our putting on of Christ.
Our Saviour has ascended on high with jubilee and with the sound of a trumpet to prepare a place for us. At this moment He is still risen and acts in us to will and to accomplish. Although seated at the right-hand of the Eternal Father with His Mother on His own right, He is not far removed from us where we could only hope to be united with Him in some indeterminate point in the far-off future. Such an approach is not fidelity to Christianity and reduces the grace given to us to a sentimentalised humanism. Whoever eats the flesh of the Son of Man lives in Him and receives life and immortality from Him just as He lives by the Father. Is this not such close union that man seeks? He dwells in us through sanctifying grace, He is the Priest of the Mass, the One who removes our bounds in Penance and speaks through the universal, ordinary and extraordinary magisterium. He has certainly been removed from our sight yet He is now closer to us rather He was simply by physically appearing to the men of Galilee.
'But I will see your again and your heart shall rejoice: and your joy no man shall take from you'. What a consolation we have in these words. However, what is the difference between now if Christ is present in our midst as He promised and the lot of the resurrected bodies and glorified immortal souls of the saints in light? We are still on pilgrimage here before, our bodies grown for their redemption and we are still to be what we shall appear as. Salvation can be lost on this earth but there our wills and intellects will be terminated by the One Who created them and Who brought us to Himself out of His abundant mercy and love. We long to see Him with full glory unveiled not as under appearances but just as He is. Our time here is image but there is reality.
Without the operations of the Holy Ghost and His gifts, without the renewal of the Sacrifice of the Cross in an unbloody manner in the Mass et cetera, the glory of the sons of God would remain far-off and unattainably so. It is only because He lives in us that we can come to Him for a happy eternity unmoved from bliss.
Where He is, our treasure must be. Where our hearts are, so shall we.
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