CatholicTheology.info

Choose a topic from Part 3a:

• The Incarnation
• Our Blessed Lady
• Our Lord Jesus Christ
  • 31. Our Lord's Body
  • 32. The Conception of Christ
  • 33. The Mode of Our Lord's Conception
  • 34. The Perfection of Our Lord Before His Birth
  • 35. The Nativity of Christ
  • 36. The Manifestation of the New-Born Christ
  • 37. Legal Observances Regarding the Christ Child
  • 38. The Baptism of St. John the Baptist
  • 39. The Baptizing of Christ by St. John the Baptist
  • 40. Our Lord's Life
  • 41. The Temptation in the Desert
  • 42. The Preaching of Christ
  • 43. The Miracles of Christ: In General
  • 44. Miracles of Christ: In Particular
  • 45. The Transfiguration
  • 46. The Passion of Christ
  • 47. The Effecting Cause of the Passion
  • 48. The Efficacy of the Passion of Christ
  • 49. Actual Effects of the Passion of Christ
  • 50. The Death of Our Lord
  • 51. The Burial of Our Lord
  • 52. The Descent Into Hell
  • 53. The Resurrection
  • 54. The Risen Christ
  • 55. The Manifestation of the Risen Christ
  • 56. Causal Power of the Resurrection
  • 57. The Ascension
  • 58. Our Lord at the Father's Right Hand
  • 59. Our Lord's Power as Judge
• The Sacraments in General
• Baptism
• Confirmation
• The Holy Eucharist
• Penance

57. The Ascension

1. Our Lord as man arose from the dead to an everlastinglife. As soon thereafter as his divine wisdom chose, he ascendedfrom the perishable earth to the deathless glory of heaven.

2. Christ as man ascended, by the divine power, intoheaven. As God, he is everywhere, and there is no place to which hecan or need ascend. Hence, Christ as man ascended into heaven, andnot as God, even though Christ is God.

3. Our Lord ascended into heaven, primarily by the divinepower, which is his own as God; secondarily, by the power of theglorified soul which moves the glorified body at will.

4. "He ascended above all the heavens" (Eph.4:10). The glorifiedbody of our Risen Lord shines withgreater glory than any other body. In place of dignity, it rankshighest.

5. Our Lord as man ascended into heaven to take his place,not only above all bodies, but above all spiritual creatures aswell. "God set him above all Principality, and Power, andVirtue, and Dominion, and every name that is named, not only inthis world but also in that which is to come" (Eph. 1:21).

6. Our Lord prepared the way for us to ascend to heaven.And his Ascension awakens in us faith, hope, charity, andreverence. Hence we can say that his Ascension is a cause of oursalvation.

"The supreme perfection of man in this life is to be so united to God that all his soul with all its faculties and powers are so gathered into the Lord God that he becomes one spirit with him, and remembers nothing except God, is aware of and recognises nothing but God, but with all his desires unified by the joy of love, he rests contentedly in the enjoyment of his Maker alone."
St Albert the Great

* * *

"We must not be behind time in doing good; for death will not be behind his time. "
St Phillip Neri

* * *

"Obedience is a short cut to perfection."
St Philip Neri

* * *

Copyright