By Rev Fr Emmanuel Chukwuedo Ofili,
On Thursday,Catholics and other believers across the world celebrated the Solemnity of the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In his reflections ,Rev Fr Chukwuedo Ofili said the following about the Lord’s Ascension…
“Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Lord’s Ascension to Heaven. It is a celebration that occurs forty days after the celebration of the Lord’s Resurrection.
We called this Ascension unlike the word used for Mary which is Assumption that we celebrate every 15th day of August. Suffice it we note here that Ascension of Jesus into heaven is different from Mary’s Assumption into Heaven.
Jesus took Himself (Connoting the presence of the Father and the Holy Spirit)into Heaven but Mary according to Pope Pius Xii, after her life here on earth was taken up to Heaven body and soul.
Furthermore, some Bible scholars had noted that while Jesus took Himself up to Heaven, He was the personal saviour to His Mother, thus that He Jesus, took His Mother up to Heaven, refusing her body and soul to see corruption or decay. Thus, St John Damacene says that Mary’s tomb was found open after burial, that she was assumed into heaven.
However, the next question that might need an answer is the difference in the manner by which Jesus, Enoch and Elijah, went to Heaven. Jesus is the one according to the Scripture that ascended into Heaven(cf John 3:13-14). Enoch was not said to have died but that he walked with God and was taken(cf Gen 5:21-24), however, according to the letter to the Hebrews, he died and was taken by God (Heb 11:5&13). For Elijah also, he wasn’t said to have died by the scripture, but was taken away by chariots of fire by God (2Kgs 2:3-11). Jesus therefore was the person with human nature that was said to have ascended into Heaven after death and Resurrection.
The Psalmist in a way reporting the event of the Ascension of Christ, declared that God goes up with shouts of joy, the Lord goes up with trumpet blast(Ps 47:6-7).
He went on to encourage us not to be sorrowful or dismayed but to sing praises, crying out with shouts of joy.
We are called to do all that because the Ascension of Jesus Christ is never an abandonment of His people and followers, rather it is for our own good, glory and victory over the world at large.
Hence, At His Ascension our Lord entered Heaven, and He keeps the door open for humanity to enter.
He Ascended to heaven to sit at God’s right hand(Mk 16:19), A place where serious intercession will continue, a place where He will continually remind the Father of the prize He won for the salvation of the world, a place where He will continually plead for mercy on our behalf as our first Advocate {John 1:12. 1John 2:1. cf Job 16:19}.
Again, His physical departure is never a complete one, He is always with us for He’s our Emmanuel. His presence continues to abide with us through the power of the Holy Spirit, whom He promised to send to us. He’s equally with us in the Eucharist, in the proclamation of His Word and in our meeting with each other.
His Ascension therefore remains a good deed to us, for as He Ascends, He gave grace and gifts to us all according to the measure of His gifts, He also led the captives free(Eph 4:7-8).
Jesus Christ Ascended to be above our fears and worries, to be above our anxieties and defeats, He also Ascended to place all things under His footstool(including that sickness, that accusation, backwardness, disappointment, that ugly situation in your life or marriage, that delay in achieving your desires, that delay in giving birth or being married…)
Learn to be at peace with yourself, worrying over nothing since worrying too much about things or life will give no head way but having total trust in Jesus Christ who after His mission on earth Ascended into heaven to descend gifts and more grace upon us.
With His Ascension, our commission as disciples and evangelizers is now made clear as noted in the gospel of Matthew (28:16-20). Christ is always with us, He can never forsake or abandon us, all we need do is to look up to him always like the men gazing at Him at His departure into heaven. Jesus continues to abide in our hearts, homes, communities, in those in need.
Always gaze at Jesus Christ in the needy, suffering, sick, imprisoned…for He is always there.
Dear Lord God, just as Jesus was lifted Up on High, May You lift us high above all our fears and worries and may We reign above them through Christ our Lord. Amen”.
✍????Rev. Fr Emmanuel Chukwuedo Ofili
