Meditations on the Ascension
Meditations on the Ascension
In recent days, we were celebrating the glorious Divine Feast of the Ascension, and today we want to take an idea about this subject and the spiritual meditations from which we benefit.
The matter of the Divine Ascension is a matter that shows us the glory with which the Lord Christ was united at the end of the period of His Incarnation on earth.
The Lord Christ—on the theological level—fills heaven and earth… but He ascended to heaven in the body.
Who would have thought—during the sufferings of the Crucifixion—that the glories of the Ascension would occur…?
Which of the disciples—during the scourging and crucifixion of Christ—knew that this Crucified One, mocked at, would rise to heaven in great glory?
This matter makes us look at tribulations in another way… and makes us not be crushed in tribulations nor imagine that there is no salvation… For however severe the pains of the Cross may be, and however strong the mockeries of the scoffers, times must come in which the “Crucified One” enjoys the glories of the Ascension.
This reality on earth—beneath the Cross—will come a time when it rises to heaven on the clouds… It only requires “trust,” “faith,” and “patience.”
The same happened with the martyrs… Who would have thought that “St. George”—for example—would appear with great glories, working signs and miracles, and churches would be built in his name?
In Christianity there is a virtue called “hope”… and hope means not despairing, and the constant feeling that something new will happen… So let tribulation not crush you; rather… there is always hope that the “coldness of death” will vanish… and afterwards the joys of the “Resurrection” and the glories of the “Ascension”!
Thus was “Isaac” the sacrificial victim on the way to death… indeed he was placed upon the altar… and there was the wood, the knife, and the fire… and it appeared there was no hope… but Isaac… rose alive… and was not sacrificed!!
It is not right that “tribulation” crushes a person, for there is hope…!
There are people—when tribulation comes to them—their souls enter within the tribulation and remain imprisoned, so despair creeps in, and they say: There is no salvation!
Those… during the weight of the Cross, do not think of the joy of the Resurrection, nor of the glories of the Ascension…!
If the story of Christ had ended with His Crucifixion, we would be the most miserable of all people… But we rejoice that the story of the Cross was followed by two beautiful stories: the story of the Resurrection and the story of the Ascension…
And the Resurrection means the destruction of death… but Christ was on earth… whereas by the Ascension… Christ left the earth to heaven!
If you want to ascend to heaven, and a white cloud takes you and lifts you up, then bear first the pains of the Cross… Bear them with trust, hope, patience, and joy, feeling that the Cross is the way to heaven… to ascension… to glory…!
The Ascension of Christ was a proof of His divinity because He defied all the laws of gravity and ascended upward… No fiery chariot came to take Him—as with “Elijah”—but He ascended by Himself… for He is the One who said: “From the Father I came forth, and I have come into the world; again, I leave the world and go to the Father”!
– I want each one of you—in the time of his tribulation, fatigue, cross, and pains—to remember the Ascension, and the glory and heaven…
– I want each one of you—while in Gethsemane, striving and his sweat falling like drops of blood—to remember the white cloud that lifts him to heaven…!
– Do not let “tribulation” stop you at the limit of “pain,” but take steps into the “glories of sufferings”… and the glories that follow sufferings…
The story of the Ascension is that there is joy and glory and hope after every distress, and life after every death… and that the doors are open in heaven if they are closed on earth… If people close the doors in your faces on earth… know that there are open doors in heaven…!
And when the Lord Christ ascended to heaven, He gave us the idea that we too will ascend there… And He will come on the clouds on the last day and snatch the Church with Him… and we shall be with Him in heaven forever…
The Ascension of Christ to heaven is the “happy ending” that we will reach… or it is the “happy beginning” of the eternity in which we will live…!
Scripture says: “A cloud took Him out of their sight, and He ascended to heaven… and while they were gazing intently into heaven…”
The eyes of the apostles were attached to the heaven to which the Lord ascended… and here we recall the saying of Scripture: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”… and Christ is the treasure of the disciples, so their hearts became attached to heaven… where Christ is!
All their life on earth became related to heaven, and all their hopes and desires and goals were no longer attached to earth but to heaven… where Christ is… They had no stable place nor homeland on earth, and therefore Paul says: If the earthly tent of our dwelling is destroyed, we have in heaven… a house not made by hands.
And we also want to speak about this… how we may always gaze upward to heaven! And how our desires and hopes may be attached to heaven!… how—while on earth—we may live in heaven!
Our great problem is that we continually look to the earth, so we grow weary… for on earth there is toil and tribulation and injustice and problems… But if our thoughts were attached to heaven, we would not grow weary… For on earth—as Solomon says—“I looked and saw that in the place of justice, there was wickedness”!
A person finds rest when he looks toward heaven… And our holy fathers—when they went out into the deserts—their thoughts were attached to heaven, and therefore they were at rest…
And Paul says: “As having nothing, yet possessing all things. As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing”…
For on earth we have nothing… but in heaven we have everything… On earth there are sorrows but in heaven joys…
When Christ ascended to heaven, He lifted our thoughts and desires with Him to heaven. So by His Ascension we became “heavenly humans”… having of the nature of heaven, and no longer living according to the flesh in its desires and lusts…
Let this phrase be before you: “Gazing toward heaven”… Make this your motto, so you may rest and remember the state that remains for you, and rise above the earthly level…
During Moses’ and the people’s crossing of the Red Sea… those who looked to the earth were afraid and said: Are there no graves in Egypt for us… whereas Moses felt that God was able to split a way in the sea…
And if we look to heaven, we will feel that God can bring water out of the rock and carve a way in the sea, and we will find rest…
Had Christ looked at the five loaves and two fish the way the disciples looked… the problem of feeding the multitudes would have remained unsolved…
But He looked upward and found that the five loaves could suffice five thousand, and even leave twelve baskets over…!!
Thus, the one who looks to heaven sees exaltation, blessing, and help, and finds rest… So be gazing toward heaven—like the disciples—and do not look to the earth, for it is empty, wearisome, vain, and not our permanent dwelling…!
Look to heaven… and you will remember that Christ will come again on the clouds, with angels and many thousands, and take us with Him!
This is the beauty of the Ascension… not only that Christ ascended to heaven, but also that we will ascend with Him to heaven… one day…
Therefore… in all your works… look to the works that remain and will follow you upward, and store up the things that remain in heaven… and be gazing toward heaven.
And you will remember that heaven is the throne of God and remember its breadth and height, and that it is the place of the angels, and the heavenly hosts and powers… and the cherubim and seraphim and dominions and authorities and thrones and powers.
And you will also remember the pure ones who have ascended above… and remember your friends and loved ones and the bosom of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and the twenty-four presbyters seated on their thrones with twenty-four golden crowns on their heads… and remember the four incorporeal living creatures… and the heavenly Jerusalem, and the heavenly joys…
Then… when you look toward heaven and remember all this… the earth will appear in our eyes trivial and insignificant and small!
This is what is required in the Ascension: that our thoughts rise upward, and that our spiritual and heart level ascends… and that our goals ascend, and we no longer cling to earth, nor to dust… nor to matter nor to the flesh!
Scripture says that the disciples were gazing toward heaven, and two men in white garments appeared to them.
And here we notice that divine visions come to a person when he is in a certain spiritual state; for when the disciples were gazing toward heaven, they were worthy to see the angels and receive from them blessing and hope and a promise regarding the future.
Many desire to see angels… and we ask them: Are you gazing toward heaven so that you may see these visions?
John the Evangelist—when he saw the vision—said: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day”… and therefore he was able to see!
And Paul the Apostle—when he saw the heavenly vision and ascended to Paradise—says: “Whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know”… for he was in a spiritual state in which he did not feel the body at all, and thus he was able to see!
If we want to enjoy heavenly things, we must prepare our hearts for them and be occupied with divine matters and “gazing upward”!
Paul was able to see Christ and hear His voice… but those who were with him did not see nor hear, because they were not worthy of that; they were not gazing toward heaven…
Those who gaze toward heaven are worthy to see the angels… or at least to feel the spiritual atmosphere… and without this feeling, our fathers in the desert would not have been able to endure that time. May we also be gazing toward heaven, for the days of our sojourn on earth are few and passing!
We—brethren—are not of the earth that we should be occupied with it… We are of a heavenly Father who is God, born of water and the Spirit, having taken the seal of heaven and the mark of the Holy Spirit, and we have become a possession of heaven, the household and family of God… as Paul the Apostle said!
He who—while on earth—dwells in heaven, is able to dwell in it forever… so we must live in it from now and take what is called the “taste of the Kingdom” while on earth, so that we may be able to reach it…
The matter of the Kingdom is not an abrupt transfer, but we must live in heaven while on earth… So have you lived in heaven? … Or have you not lived yet? … This is the question.
And do you think much about heaven? … Or does its thought weary you?
And do you—truly—love heaven? … Or do you love earth more?
The world today is not gazing toward heaven, but its attachment to earth makes it fear heaven and going to it… And for this reason—in many times—God allows tribulations and hardships on earth, so that we may become weary of it and dislike it, and be distressed by it…
And think of heaven… and our hearts turn to the love of heaven and the people of heaven!
Many saints love the people of heaven and live with them more… They think of them, read their words, live their life, and long to live with them!
The two angels said to the apostles: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This same Jesus who was taken up shall come in the same way as you saw Him…”
The one who rejoices at the coming of Christ is the one prepared for His coming, but the unprepared fears… And therefore of the unprepared it is said: “Every eye shall see Him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail over Him, those who pierced Him.”
Thus… some rejoice at the coming of Christ and ascend with Him… and others mourn and say to the mountains, Fall on us, and to the hills, Cover us…
That day—the day of the Second Coming of Christ—is dreadful… So do you rejoice at the coming of Christ? … Or do you grieve?
And will you ascend with Him? … Or will you lament as all the tribes of the earth lament?
Those who gaze toward heaven rejoice at the coming of Christ and say… Yes, come, O Lord Jesus!… So who among you says this?
He will come… so be awake for His coming, prepared for His meeting… lest He come suddenly and find you asleep!
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An article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III published in Watani newspaper on 21-5-1972.
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