The Feast of the Ascension shows us the work of God in its completion. Hence it is that the Church in her daily offering of the holy Sacrifice thus addresses the Eternal Father: the words occur immediately after the Consecration, and contain the motives of her confidence in the divine mercy: “Wherefore, Lord, we your servants, as also your holy people, calling to mind the blessed Passion of Christ your Son our Lord, His Resurrection from the dead, and His admirable Ascension into Heaven, offer to your most excellent Majesty a pure, holy, and unspotted Host.” It is not enough for man to hope in the merits of His Redeemer’s Passion which cleansed him from his sins. It is not enough for him to add to the commemoration of the Passion that of the Resurrection by which our Redeemer conquered death: man is not saved, he is not reinstated, except by uniting these two mysteries with a third, the Ascension of that Jesus who was crucified and rose again. During the forty days of His glorified life on Earth, Jesus was still an exile and, like Him, we also are exiles until such time as the gate of Heaven... will be thrown open, both for Him and for us.
God in His infinite goodness made man for a nobler end than that of being mere lord of creation. He gave him a higher destiny than that of knowing such truths as his natural powers could grasp, and of practising virtues that were in reach of his moral capabilities, and of paying to His Creator an imperfect worship. In His omnipotence and love, He gave to this frail creature an end far above his nature. Though inferior to the Angel, and uniting in himself the two natures of matter and spirit, yet was Man created to the same end as the Angel. Both were to dwell for eternity in Heaven. Both were to be eternally happy in the face-to-face vision of God, that is, in the closest union with the sovereign good. Grace — that wondrous and divine power — was to fit them for the supernatural end prepared for them by the gratuitous goodness of their Creator. This was the design which God had decreed from all eternity: to raise up to Himself these creatures that He had drawn out of nothingness, and to enrich them, agreeably to their sublime destiny, with the treasures of His love and His light.
We know the history of the fallen Angels. They revolted against the commandment given them by God as a test of their fidelity, and as a condition of their being admitted into eternal happiness. Rebels were found in each of the Choirs. They fell, but the fall and its punishment were personal, and injured none but the actual transgressors. The Angels who remained faithful were at once rewarded with the beatific vision and possession of the Sovereign Good. Thus did God vouchsafe to make created beings partake of His own infinite happiness: the first elect were the good Angels of the nine Choirs.
Man was created after the Angels. He too fell, and his sin severed the link which united him with God. The human race was, at that time, represented by one man and woman. When they fell, all fell. The gate of Heaven was then shut against mankind, for the fall of Adam and Eve implicated us their children. Neither could they transmit to us an inheritance which they themselves had lost. Instead of a quick and happy passage through this world, and then a glorious ascension into heaven, we were to have a life — short indeed, but full of misery — a grave, and corruption. As to our soul, even had she aspired to the supernatural happiness for which she was created, she could never have attained to it. Man had preferred Earth for his portion, and the Earth was given to him: but this only for a few short years, after which others would take his place, disappear in their turn, and so on to the end, as long as it should please God to perpetuate this fallen portion of his creation. Yes, it was thus we deserved to be treated, but our merciful Creator had compassion on us. He hated sin, but He had created us that He might make us partakers of His own glory, and He would not have His design frustrated. No, the Earth was not to be an abode for man to be merely born, live a few days, and then die. When the fullness of time should come, there was to appear in the world a Man, not indeed the first of a new creation, but one like ourselves and of our own race, or, as the Apostle expresses it, “made of a woman” (Galatians iv. 4) This Man, who was to be heavenly and yet of earth, would share our misfortunes with us. He would die like us, He would be buried like us. But on the third day He would rise again, and men would see Him resplendent with glory and immortality. What a joy for us who have within us the answer of death to see such a victory gained by One who is one of ourselves,— “flesh of our flesh!”
Thus were the divine intentions to be realised in our regard. This Earth of ours presents to her Creator a New Adam. He cannot stay here, for He has conquered Death. He must ascend to Heaven, and if her gates be closed, she must open them and receive Him. “Lift up your gates, O you Princes, and be you lifted up, O eternal gates! And the King of glory will enter in!” (Psalms xxiii. 7) O that He would take us there with Him, for He is our brother, and assures us that His “delight is to be with the children of men” (Proverbs viii. 31) But what a joy it is for us to see our Jesus ascend to Heaven! He is the holiest, the purest, the loveliest, of our race. He is the Son of a spotless Mother: let Him go and represent us in that kingdom of our inheritance. It is our own Earth that sends Him. She is no longer a desert now that she has produced such a flower and such a fruit for Heaven. A flood of light poured into this lowly vale of tears when the gates of Heaven were raised up to receive Him. “Be you exalted, Lord, in your own strength! And we,” who are still on the Earth, “we will sing and praise your power!” (Psalms xx. 14) Receive, Eternal Father, the brother whom we send to you. Sinners as we are, this brother of ours is infinitely holy and perfect. Where is the curse that once fastened on our earth? “The Earth has given her fruit” (Psalm lxvi, 7) And if we may presume so far as to see in Him the first-fruits of a future harvest to be gathered into your House, may we not rejoice in the thought that the Ascension of our Jesus was the day on which your primal work was restored to you?
