The Words of Archbishop Fulton Sheen
Had Christ remained on earth, sight would have taken the place of faith. In heaven, there will be no faith because His followers will see; there will be no hope, because they will possess; but there will be love for love endureth forever! His leave-taking of the earth combined the Cross and the Crown that governed the smallest detail of His life. The Ascension took place on Mount Olivet at the base of which is Bethany. He led His Apostles out through Bethany, which meant passing through Gethsemane and the very spot where He wept over Jerusalem! Not as from a throne, but from a mountain elevated above the garden with the twisted olive trees crimsoned with His Blood, did He give the final manifestation of His Divine power. His heart was not embittered by His Cross, for the Ascension was the fruit of His Crucifixion. As He said, it was fitting that He suffer in order to enter into His glory.
In the Ascension, the Savior did not lay aside the garment of flesh with which He had been clothed; for His human nature would be the pattern of the future glory of other human natures, which would become incorporated to Him through a sharing of His life. Intrinsic and deep was the relation between His Incarnation and His Ascension. The Incarnation or the assuming of a human nature made it possible for Him to suffer and redeem. The Ascension exulted into glory that same human nature that was humbled to the death.
A Coronation upon the earth, instead of an Ascension into heaven, would have confined men’s thoughts of Him to the earth. But the Ascension would cause men’s minds and hearts to ascend above the earth. In relation to Himself, it was fitting that the human nature which He took as the instrument for teaching, and governing, and sanctifying, should partake of glory as it shared in shame. It was very hard to believe that He, Who was the Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief, was the beloved Son in Whom the Father was well pleased. It was difficult to believe that He, Who did not come down from a Cross, could ascend into heaven, or that the momentary glory that shone about Him on the Mount of the Transfiguration was a permanent possession. The Ascension put all such doubts away by introducing His human nature into intimate and eternal communion with God.
The human nature which He took was mocked as a Prophet when they blindfolded Him and asked Him to tell who struck Him; He was mocked as a King when they put upon Him a mock-robe of royalty and gave Him a reed of straw for a scepter; finally He was mocked as a Priest when they challenged Him, Who as offering Himself as a Victim, to come down from the Cross. By the Ascension His triple office of Teacher, King, and Priest was vindicated.
(excerpt from Life of Christ)
Reflection on the Archbishop's Words from Father Andrew Apostoli
As the Church celebrates the Solemnity of our Lord’s Ascension, the archbishop’s meditation gives us insights into the meaning of this great event. It was part of the paschal mystery of Christ since it involved His glorification in heaven along with His sending of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. The archbishop tells us that if Jesus had remained on earth after rising from the dead, the faith of His disciples would have still been focused on life in this world rather than on the next. Only a few moments before He ascended into heaven, His disciples were still asking Him, “Lord, are you going to restore the rule to Israel now?” (Acts 1:6). Jesus needed to draw His disciples beyond the focus of this world, and He would do so precisely by leaving this world and ascending into the next. It would now be part of the disciples’ spiritual growth to desire to be with Christ Whom they could no longer see with bodily eyes, just as we, too, must long to be with Christ Whom we can only see with the eyes of faith. Then, as the archbishop writes, “In heaven there will be no faith because His followers will see; there will be no hope, because they will possess; but there will be love, for love endureth forever!”
The archbishop’s words are in keeping with the point of St. Paul who tells us that we must set our hearts on what pertains to higher realms where Christ is seated at God’s right hand. “Be intent on things above rather than on things of earth. After all, you have died! Your life is hidden now with Christ in God. When Christ our life appears, then you shall appear with Him in glory” (Col 3:2-4). The archbishop tells us that Jesus did not lay aside the garment of flesh with which He had been clothed when He went to heaven. There was a heresy in the early Church called Monophysitism. (This name came from two Greek words: mono = “one” and physis = “nature.”) This heresy held that once Jesus had accomplished the work of our salvation and returned to heaven, He cast off the human nature He took from the Virgin Mary, and retained only the divine nature He had from all eternity. If our Lord had done this, then He would not have had a glorified humanity which would be the pattern for our glorified humanity in heaven. Furthermore, Jesus, keeping His human nature in heaven as the Son of Man along with His divine nature as the Son of God, retained the greatest sign of His incomparable love for us because He remains one of us, one of our human family, for all eternity.
Finally, the archbishop reminds us that Jesus, Who was humiliated on earth in His three-fold mission as teacher, king and priest, has now been vindicated by being in the place of glory at the right hand of His Heavenly Father. We are reminded that the world that hated Him will also hate us because we have chosen to follow Him. But we must also remember that He has overcome the world and has won the final victory over sin and death. If we persevere with Him, we shall share in that final victory with a glory that no one can take from us because we will be glorified in Christ in His Heavenly Kingdom!
(Fr. Andrew Apostoli, CFR is the Vice-Postulator of the Cause for Canonization of Archbishop Fulton Sheen. Please visit our website!)
