The 2nd Glorious Mystery: The Ascension of the Lord

He made sure his disciples saw Him enter His glory in His glorified  human body; the body that still bore the scars of nails and a sword.  He gave them the unshakable certainty of knowing that the Lord they knew and loved and touched truly is alive forever just as He was when He walked among them, but glorified.

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - The 2nd Glorious Mystery:  The Ascension

"When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them.  While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven."  Luke 24:50-51

Let this mystery give us hope.

Big event - one little sentence.  They're all standing there, Jesus is blessing them, and suddenly, there He goes!  Up in the clouds, taken out of their sight.  Gone.  One moment he's there, the next He's gone.

How exactly does that give us hope, I wondered?  If I'd been standing there that day, I probably would have said, "Wait a minute!  You're leaving us?!?  Come back!"

But the more I dwell on this scene, the more I begin to see the hope.  This scene is nothing like the last time they said goodbye to Jesus.  Then, they buried Him; bloody, beaten and lifeless.  It truly seemed hopeless then.  This time He was alive and well as He left.  And one thing that strikes me as hopeful is that He didn't dissolve into a cloud of spirit and then depart for heaven.  He took his flesh and bones, now glorified, with Him. 

He made sure his disciples saw Him enter His glory in His fully glorified human body; the body that still bore the scars of nails and a sword, now glorified.  He gave them the unshakable certainty of knowing that the Lord they knew and loved and touched truly is alive forever just as He was when He walked among them, but now glorified.

If there had been any lingering doubt about who He was after the resurrection, surely it vanished when they saw Him ascend to heaven.  Now they knew for certain they had seen the face of God!  They had seen the eyes and heard the voice and felt the hands of the One who now sits on the throne at the Father's right hand.
 
He is there in a glorified body, heart still beating, blood still coursing through His veins, still wearing the same skin we are.  We know who He is and what He is like.  There is no uncertainty; in the most tangible sense, we know God.  He is not invisible, or a mist of vapor.  He returns our embrace with His own warm, flesh and blood embrace.

We couldn't possibly ask for a more unequivocal declaration of the dignity and sacredness of the human body.

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The ascension also speaks of home.  We really are living in exile here, for despite all the beauty and goodness that still remains, this earth is not our eternal home.  And we know that Jesus has returned home to the Father in order to prepare for our arrival.  I can picture all the citizens of heaven giddy with anticipation, excitedly "getting the house ready" for the family members who are coming home.

Heaven is surely as real as Jesus; we know it is real because we know Him; the disciples touched Him, heard Him laugh, ate with Him, watched Him sweat, bleed and die.  Then they saw Him, ate with Him, felt His human touch and heard Him laugh all over again when He'd risen from the dead. We await a new heaven and a new earth. We also await our own resurrected and glorified bodies, fashioned after His own, in the fullness of our redemption!

And finally, they watched as He returned home in a way that assured them - and us - that the way they knew Him was the way He would always be.  Their hope was secure because they knew heaven was real and alive and waiting.  "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.  It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf."  Hebrews 6:19-20

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Jennifer Hartline is a grateful Catholic, a proud Army wife and mother of four precious children (one in Heaven).  She is a contributing writer for Catholic Online.  She is also a serious chocoholic.  Visit her at My Chocolate Heart.

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