The Catechism of the Council of Trent explains why Christ ascended into Heaven:
First of all, He ascended because the glorious kingdom of the highest heavens, not the obscure abode of this earth, presented a suitable dwelling place for Him whose body, rising from the tomb, was clothed with the glory of immortality.
He ascended, however, not only to possess the throne of glory and the kingdom which He had merited by His blood, but also to attend to whatever regards our salvation.
Again, He ascended to prove thereby that His kingdom is not of this world. For the kingdoms of this world are earthly and transient, and are based upon wealth and the power of the flesh; but the kingdom of Christ is not, as the Jews expected, earthly, but spiritual and eternal. Its resources and riches, too, are spiritual, as He showed by placing His throne in the heavens, where they are counted richer and wealthier who seek most earnestly the things that are of God, according to these words of St. James: Hath not God chosen the poor in this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which God hath promised to them that love him?
He also ascended into heaven in order to teach us to follow Him thither in mind and heart. For as by His death and Resurrection He bequeathed to us an example of dying and rising again in spirit, so by His Ascension He teaches and instructs us that though dwelling on earth, we should raise ourselves in desire to heaven, confessing that we are pilgrims and strangers on the earth, seeking a country and that we are fellow-citizens with the saints, and the domestics of God, for, says the same Apostle, our conversation is in heaven.
After the Ascension the Holy Spirit replaced Christ to help us become more like Him.
Ascension into Heaven presupposes that Heaven is a place and that its location is ‘up’. To accept this imagery means we have to ignore the fact that the earth is not the center of the universe and does not revolve around the sun. It also means accepting the earth is flat so that whatever is ‘up’ stays in its relative position.
We need to find another image to explain the Christ experience and get rid of references constrained by the limits of first century knowledge.
The Apostles saw Christ ascend into the sky. Depictions merely repeat what eye witnesses saw until Christ disappeared from sight. As to the location of Heaven, it could be contained in a grain of sand if God so wished.
If the universe is infinite in expanse, why wouldn’t we be at the center? (Just like every other point) Even if we’re not at the center of what we’re able to observe.
This statement given above is important:
For as by His death and Resurrection He bequeathed to us an example of dying and rising again in spirit, so by His Ascension He teaches and instructs us that though dwelling on earth, we should raise ourselves in desire to heaven, confessing that we are pilgrims and strangers on the earth……
Earth is NOT our mother, and this planet is NOT our home. 2nd Peter 3 says that God will destroy this present world, and the elements themselves will melt and dissolve. Revelation 21 talks about a new Heaven and a new Earth. Therefore, Laudato Si and the embrace of pagan environmentalism by the Institutional Church is heterodoxy at best and completely wrong.
Now should we be good stewards of the environment? Yes. That means doing things like replacing polluting fossil fuel with safe clean nuclear, cleaning up the plastic pollution in the oceans, recycling and reprocessing the waste that we generate, preserving animal species instead of killing them into extinction, etc. Don’t wreck your own back yard, and don’t dump your trash in someone else’s back yard! That’s common sense.
But Genesis chapter 1 says that God gave man dominion to fill the earth and subdue it, and to rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground. That means that the environment is subject to man, NOT the other way around.
I despise environmentalism and the Institutional Church’s embrace of such paganism, and I will NEVER support anything contrary to what 2nd Peter 3, Revelation 21, and Genesis 1 state.
All men are created by “their Creator” and belong to “their Creator”. All mankind, every single individual sovereign person for whom Jesus Christ died and rose again, is in the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ.
After transubstantiation every individual sovereign person, from Adam to the end of time, (for these souls are present to almighty God before all ages) is in the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ on the altar.
Why does the celebrant leave Jesus and us to shake the hand of the self-same person on the altar?
Does anyone know why?
Richard you could apply your reasoning to just about anything in our Faith. Why do we depict God the Father as an old wise man – God could be a woman…why is the Holy Spirit depicted as a dove- He could be a rooster?
God reveals Himself to us through our human understanding. But if Jesus Ascended into Heaven Body and Soul through the witness of His followers- then we ought to take it at face value. The word “ascension” means to move in an UPWARDS direction. And by our understanding of the laws of gravity, that is up to the sky. 🤷🏻♀️ I’m fine with that. In fact it’s awesome.
Ezabelle:
Jesus Christ is the Revelation of God. Jesus Christ is true God and true man. Jesus calls God in heaven His Father. God is not “she”. Often said because Wisdom is referred to as “she” in Holy Scripture. Wisdom is not a sovereign person. Wisdom is a gift from God; a virtue.
Blessed Mary is the Seat of Wisdom, meaning Blessed Mary has perfect Wisdom. All good.
Jesus Christ is the Revelation of God. Jesus Christ grew in Wisdom and Grace. This in no way means that the Divinity in Christ was ignorant or immature. This means that Christ wanted to experience all that man has to experience in His human nature. And Jesus Christ did perfectly do the will of His Father in heaven, as did the Blessed Mary.
Mary : I don’t think God the Father is a woman or the Holy Spirit is a rooster. I was merely pointing out that we could come to ridiculous assumptions if we applied a reasoning beyond human understanding. If our Church teaches and prays and worships that Jesus Christ ascended into Heaven, in the literal sense, then Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven in the literal sense. Christ defied human reasoning every step of the way because He was showing us He was God.
Ezabelle:
All well and good.
Jesus said “Heaven is at hand.”