His Holiness Pope Shenouda III speaks about the Feast of the Ascension, explaining that after His Resurrection, the Lord Jesus spent forty days with His apostles speaking of the Kingdom, and then ascended into heaven.
Yet His Ascension was not a separation or abandonment, for He said: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

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🕊️ The Everlasting Presence of Christ

Though Christ ascended bodily into heaven, His Divinity remains present everywhere, especially in the Eucharist, where He is truly on the altar at every Liturgy.
The Ascension thus moved the apostles from physical sight to spiritual faith, from sense to belief — “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believed.”

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🌿 From the Material to the Spiritual

The Lord lifted His disciples from earthly, sensory thinking to a higher spiritual awareness, to see by faith rather than sight — as we believe in God’s love and angels without seeing them.
He wanted to form them into people who live by faith and not by sight.

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🕊️ The Ascension as Spiritual Maturity

The Pope compares the Ascension to a spiritual weaning of the apostles.
Previously they watched Christ act and speak; now He sent them to work and preach themselves.
Like an eagle teaching its young to fly, Christ allowed them to grow in responsibility and faith.

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✝️ The Ascension of the Body, Not the Divinity

The Divinity neither ascends nor descends, for God fills heaven and earth.
Christ ascended with His glorified human body, which became spiritual and free from physical laws.
The miracle is not the ascent itself, but the transformation of the material body into a spiritual one, as ours will be in the resurrection.

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☁️ The Cloud as a Symbol of Divine Presence

The cloud that received Christ symbolizes the divine presence, as in the Old Testament tabernacle or on Mount Tabor at the Transfiguration.
Thus, Christ ascended in glory on the cloud and will return likewise in His second coming.

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🌤️ The Ascension and Our Heavenly Hope

The Ascension gave the Church renewed hope, removing the stumbling of the Cross by the glory of Resurrection and Ascension.
It teaches believers to set their hearts and minds above, for “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

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👑 Glory After Humility

The Ascension marked the end of the self-emptying (kenosis) — Christ, who once took the form of a servant, now sits in divine majesty at the right hand of the Father.
His second coming will be in the glory of His Father, surrounded by angels and saints.

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🙏 Spiritual Lessons

From the Ascension we learn to:

• Lift our thoughts and desires to heaven, where Christ is seated.

• Stand in reverence before God’s greatness in prayer and worship.

• Live with hope for the eternal life Christ has prepared for us.

As His Holiness concludes:

“Christ ascended to draw us upward — that our thoughts, hearts, and lives may rise with Him to heavenly glory.”

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