The Twelfth Saturday: The Second Glorious Mystery – The Ascension of Jesus to Heaven
Gospel Reading: Luke 24
Other Scripture Reading: Acts 1
MEDITATION
1. Consider, my soul, how the risen Jesus wished to remain on earth for forty days in his glorious state, and show himself visibly to his Disciples, to confirm their faith in his real and true Resurrection. Yet He did not always wish to be manifest, so that without seeing him they would nevertheless believe in him, just as we believe him present everywhere as God, and as God-Man in the Eucharist.
The glorious Lord desired to remain on earth forty days, as though to compensate for the many tears and sighs of the just throughout the forty centuries they had awaited him.
The fixed time came: after giving every power to the Apostles, and commanding them to teach the nations and baptize them, He ordered them to gather together on Mount Olivet.
“And while staying with them he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, ‘you heard from me… before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ So when they had come together, they asked him, ‘Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ He said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth’” (Acts 1:4-8).
My soul, adore your Saviour who is about to ascend to Heaven. Rejoice with him for the glorious triumph and honours which He is going to receive from his heavenly Father and from all the blessed Spirits. From this moment and with ardour ask him for the spirit of faith. With this spirit go to Jerusalem: observe how your Saviour departs from this ungrateful town and sets out for the Mount of Olives, accompanied by his divine Mother, the Apostles, his first Disciples and by many pious Women, more than five hundred in number. The Lord wanted such a multitude of chosen witnesses to strengthen man’s belief in his Ascension to Heaven, where he was to be our Advocate by his Father, and our great Pontiff, taking pity on our miseries as He had done during his earthly life. Join Mary, pray that she grant you a share in her faith and follow her all the way to Mount Olivet.
Here, with profound respect and veneration, listen to Jesus’ final words as he upbraids the Apostles for their lack of faith in his resurrection and in the promise of the Holy Spirit. Turn a tender and respectful gaze upon Jesus who is about to ascend into heaven: his divine eyes which had shed so many tears, and were languid and dying on the cross, are now more blazing than the sun. His venerable head is no longer drenched in blood, nor crowned with thorns, but with immortal glory. All the wounds that formerly disfigured his body now cover him in divine splendour; no longer a motive of shame and infamy, they contribute to his glory and to the splendour of his triumph. With Mary and the Apostles, inflamed with celestial ardour and sustained by quick hope, observe Jesus: having become visible to them all, he raises his hands and blesses them, and then is most gently lifted into the air.
2. “Lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven” (Lk 24:50).
What a spectacle! What a marvel! The disciples had never seen anything so wondrous. They had seen him walking on water before his death. He had come in their midst in the supper-room behind closed doors. But here Jesus is with them: they speak with him, He speaks with them, then is lifted up into the air. They gaze after him but no longer possess him: a white cloud has surrounded him and removed him from their sight. They know where He is going for He had so often told them. He is lifted to heaven, from whence He descended; He returns to his Father who had sent him to earth. He goes where they cannot go for now, but one day shall go. He goes to occupy the place reserved for him, and prepare the places He has merited for them and for all of us. He goes to sit at the right hand of his Father, and rest in his bosom, until He calls us to be with him. Why is my heart not moved by such a spectacle? My cold heart, open yourself to this surest hope; separate yourself forever from the earth to become more firmly established in heaven.
The Angels, the Archangels and all the heavenly Powers come before their King. All the just who have been dead from the beginning of the world, and all those who have risen with Jesus Christ, come together to accompany his glorious triumph. Adam, Eve, Abel, Matusalemme, Job, Tobias, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the holy Prophets with Isaiah and Jeremiah, the holy Kings with David; St. Joseph, St. Anne, St. Joachim, St. John the Baptist, Zechariah and Elizabeth, the holy Wise Men, the old venerable Simeon and Anna, the good Thief. The flesh had been thrown out of the earthly paradise, but in the person of the Word made flesh it is now lifted into Heaven. “Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the King of glory may come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty” (Psalm 24:7-8). He is the Lamb of God who was killed; He is the victorious Lion, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lord of hosts, the King of glory. This is the title with which Jesus Christ goes to sit at the right hand of the Father, and seats all those whom He has delivered. And there He shall await all those who will believe in him and profit from his redemption. How many are those already seated there! And how they observe the earth and all that keeps man occupied!
Towards heaven, then, O my soul! Keep your heart and mind forever directed towards heaven, as the end of your mortal journey, the place of your repose.
Faith teaches you: “Here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city which is to come” (Heb 13:14). Therefore be lifted up through faith, keeping in mind that earth is not your home; a citizen of heaven, here you are only journeying as a pilgrim, always in expectation of your return up above. Accordingly, busy yourself today, strengthen your faith in the Christian virtues, which are opposed to false earthly possessions and vain illusions which corrupt the heart.
Faith is the eye and reason of the Christian, it is the foundation of the entire edifice of our eternal salvation: “the assurance of things hoped for” (Heb 11:1). The reward of faith is paradise. He that believeth shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be condemned. Through faith Jesus dwells in us, and we in him. Through faith Jesus works in us, and through faith his Mysteries and his Life are communicated to us.
3. My soul, if you look toward the promised reward, you will consider every burden light and will succeed in bearing poverty and the privation of life’s comforts. Peacefully you will accept insults and injury, and close your eyes to the false splendour of the world, that it may not dazzle you, remembering always that all worldly pomp and glory is doomed to end as dust in the grave. The soul separated from the body will carry with itself nothing but its works: unto its glory, if good; unto its confusion, if bad. So as to lose not the thought of eternity, Macarius, Anthony and the Stylite abandoned the towns to go live in the desert. Benedict, Bernard, Dominic and Francis withdrew to cloisters and, by sanctifying themselves, sanctified their neighbour!…
Now consider, my soul, what the affection of a soul touched by the desire of eternal life must be, which directs its every thought and action to Jesus Christ, as the Apostles did.
“And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven’” (Acts 1:10-11).
The Apostles, therefore, stood very still in that moment, unaware of everything happening about them, incapable of the least distraction, inflamed by heavenly ardour and sustained by joyous hope. Though they no longer saw Jesus, they could not quit gazing into heaven.
“And they worshipped him, and then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away” (Lk 24:52 and Acts 1:12).
Spiritual joy is therefore the fruit of obedience, which causes prayer to follow action, and action to follow prayer. The Apostles obeyed the command of the Angel… Just as you must obey your superiors who stand in the place of the Angel. Be obedient to your duties which are God’s will over you. Do not fear leaving the Holy Mount, that is, contemplation, to return to the Town, that is to say, the ordinary occupations God demands of you.
Remember that your Jesus entered into heaven from the top of Mount Olivet, at the foot of which he had begun his Passion. At the foot of this divine mount the Master was seen prostrate, in agony, then seized, tied and led forth like a criminal… From humiliation and suffering, therefore, which humble you in the sight of man, you will ascend to the mount of glory which is in heaven.
O my Jesus, full of love and gratitude I rejoice with you over your glory and triumph. But remember, O my divine Saviour: to redeem me you spilt all of your precious blood, and have ascended into heaven to prepare a place for me, as You yourself said. Make me worthy of occupying this place one day. Sustain me by your grace, that I may come to this heavenly and long-desired kingdom. Supply me with your strength, that I may overcome all my enemies wishing to be an obstacle along the way.
Mary, Mother of this beautiful hope, with your love and your grace pave the way which lead me to heaven. Amen.
VIRTUE – The desire of heaven.
REFLECTION – Following the example of the first Christians, show in all your actions the faith which animates you. “The just person lives by faith”: therefore do not attach your heart to vain speech and appearances. Spurn the distractions of the world in the hope of everlasting joy and the company of the Apostles.
In every disagreeable event say: “All must pass away; we do not have a permanent dwelling here, but aspire to one that is to come.” During the day repeat three times: “When, O Lord, shall I see your beautiful countenance?”.
EJACULATION – O Mary, the stairway of heaven, draw me with you to things of everlasting beauty.
