Ascension 2006

It’s a bit puzzling why the Ascension of our Lord into heaven should rank so high among the mysteries of His life. It is a solemnity–once celebrated as an obligatory observance for a Thursday–now transferred to Sunday. The difficulty with the Ascension–from my own viewpoint–is that it’s a celebration of an event that must have been devastating. Jesus was leaving His beloved disciples behind and going to the Father. Should one rejoice over His departure from them? From us? Ought not one rather lament the loss of His easy and familiar access to His Church? Do we not prefer that our Lord should have stayed on earth in the full visibility of His humanity rather than ascend into heaven?

I know by faith that this line of reasoning cannot be right because the Church does rejoice in this event. Our Lord Himself said that it was "expedient" that He should leave His disciples and go the Father; that it was ‘better’ that He should go. Our Lord must speak the truth for He cannot, would not deceive us. Yet it remains difficult to appreciate how the Ascension could have been of any advantage to us. Had Jesus stayed on earth, would not things have been better in every sense?

In order to gain some sense of why the Ascension was good and even necessary for us, I want to imagine what would have happened had He willed to remain on earth with us rather than ascend. (Of course–just to be clear–we know that He is present in the Church in various ways, most notably in the Holy Eucharist. His Ascension was leaving us only in the sense of a visible departure.)

Here’s how I image that things would have been if the Lord had stayed on earth. He would remain with us in His risen Body, that is, in the state his Body enjoyed after Easter. Had he stayed on, His divine and human Presence would have been localized. Perhaps He would have chosen to remain in the area we call the Holy Land. Here He could be consulted on all matters of faith and morals. His miracles would probably have continued. One could come visit Him, speak to Him, and hope for any number of other benefits to be gained by the availability of His Presence.

While these advantages would certain be compelling reasons for us to wish He had remained on earth, yet this short list of benefits immediately shows that our Lord had already provided for all these things and that, furthermore, there would some other things that would amount to a near infinite loss had He decided to stay with us in that way. Consider, for example, that precious few persons would have come to know Him. He would have had a limited contact with the human race through His localized Presence. Perhaps He would have traveled from place to place in a manner like that of the former Pope John Paul II. But, as we know from those visits, accessibility is a very limited thing granted to a chosen few. Would not most of us be like the crippled man sitting at the pool while everyone else would have preference before we might have a chance?

Moreover, had He stayed, it is rather unlikely that He would have instituted the Holy Eucharist. There would not have been a reason for us to have His Body in sacramental form if it were with us in the more ordinary form of a man. But in that case, would we not have suffered a far greater restriction, not only in that fact that only a few could travel to see, speak with and touch Him, but in that we would have neither the frequency nor the intimacy with God that we have through Holy Communion.

Finally–and this is most difficult–would remaining with us have been a real asset to our faith? Before we respond ‘yes’ too quickly to that, we need to consider that although an earthbound Jesus would readily be available to ‘prove Himself’ (so to speak) by His miracles, would He be an advantage for us as those "blessed...who believe and have not seen?" There’s a reward, a prize, given to us for holding on to our Catholic faith, even though we don’t see Christ and don’t necessarily see the truth of what the Catholic Church commands us to believe. There is merit that we gain from this trust, this utter confidence of faith without seeing. And these merits will be exchanged in heaven for a reward in proportion to the degree of faith that we gained on earth. Now, had the Lord remained, ?would this have been for our greater advantage or disadvantage in the eternity? The question answers itself when one gets the larger picture.

There is no doubt that the departure of Jesus from His disciples was a cause of grief. He said as much to them in advance. But He also told them that this sorrow would be changed into joy. He promised also that the Holy Spirit would come and teach the Church all things, remind them of everything our Lord had said, infuse His might into the Church, and sanctify the souls of all the faithful.

This brief exercise of the imagination is not intended to be complete–one might easily think of other things that might have happened had Jesus remained behind with us. But it does help a little in making us understand to a limited degree why our Lord chose the Ascension. It was for our good, both now in time, and in eternity. Moreover, in ascending, He took with Him the souls in Limbo. Presumably, had He not Ascended, these souls would have had to await the final resurrection. And, more, without the ascension, we would not have Jesus as our High Priest in heaven, pleading on our behalf, seated at the right hand of the Father.

The Ascension is but one more proof that our Lord does all thing well: He is perfect in all His works.