The Catechism of the Council of Trent/Part 1: Article 6
ARTICLE VI.
"HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN, SITTETH AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY."
"HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN"] Filled with the Spirit of God, and contemplating the blessed and glorious ascension of our Lord into heaven, the prophet David exhorts all to celebrate that splendid triumph, with the greatest joy and gladness: "Clap your hands," said he, " all ye nations, shout unto God with the voice of joy. God is ascended with jubilee, and the Lord with the sound of trumpet." [1] The pastor will hence learn the obligation imposed on him, of explaining this mystery with unremitting assiduity, and of taking especial care that the faithful not only see it with the light of faith, and of the understanding; but still more, that, as far as it is in his power to accomplish, they make it their study, with the divine assistance, to reflect its image in their lives and actions.
With regard, then, to the exposition of this sixth Article, which has reference, principally, to the divine mystery of the ascension; we shall begin with its first part, and point out its force and meaning. That Jesus Christ, having fully accomplished the work of redemption, ascended, as man, body and soul, into heaven, the faithful are unhesitatingly to believe; for as God, he never forsook heaven, filling as he does all places with his divinity.
The pastor is, also, to teach that he ascended by his own power, not by the power of another as did Elias, who was taken up into heaven in a fiery chariot; [2] or, as the prophet Habacuc; [3] or Philip, the deacon, who were borne through the air by the divine power, and traversed the distant regions of the earth. [4] Neither did he ascend into heaven, solely by the exercise of his supreme power as God, but also, by virtue of the power which he possessed as man; although human power alone was insufficient to raise him from the dead, yet the virtue, with which the blessed soul of Christ was endowed, was capable of moving the body as it pleased, and his body, now glorified, readily obeyed its impulsive dominion. Hence, we believe that Christ ascended into heaven as God and man, by his own power. We now come to the second part of the Article.
"SITTETH AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD THE FATHER ALMIGHTY"] In these words we observe a trope, that is, the changing of a word from its literal, to a figurative meaning, a thing not infrequent in Scripture, [5] when, accommodating its language to human ideas, it attributes human affections and human members to God, who, spirit as he is, admits of nothing corporeal. But, as amongst men, he who sits at the right hand is considered to occupy the most honourable place, so, transferring the idea to celestial things, to express the glory which Christ, as man, enjoys above all others, we confess that he sits at the right hand of his Eternal Father. This, however, does not imply position and figure of body: but declares the fixed and permanent possession of royal and supreme power and glory, . which he received from the Father; as the Apostle says: " raising him up from the dead, and setting him on his right hand in the heavenly places, above all principality, and power, and virtue, and domination, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and he hath subjected all things under his feet." [6] These words manifestly imply that this glory belongs to our Lord, in so special a manner, that it cannot consist with the nature of any other created being; and hence, in another place, the Apostle asks: " To which of the angels said he at any time, sit on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?" [7]
But the pastor will explain the sense of the Article, more at large by detailing the history of the ascension, of which the evangelist St. Luke has left us an admirable description, in the Acts of the Apostles. [8] In his exposition, he will observe, in the first place, that all other mysteries refer to the ascension, as to their end and completion; as all the mysteries of religion commence with the Incarnation of our Lord, so his sojourn on earth terminates with his ascension into heaven. Moreover, the other Articles of the Creed, which regard Christ the Lord, show his great humility and lowliness: nothing can be conceived more humble, nothing more lowly, than that the Son of God assumed the frailty of our flesh, suffered and died for us; but nothing more magnificently, nothing more admirably proclaims his sovereign glory and divine majesty, than what is contained in the present and preceding articles, in which we declare, that he rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, and now sits at the right hand of his Eternal Father.
When the pastor has accurately explained these truths, he will next inform the faithful, why our Lord ascended into heaven. He ascended because the glorious kingdom of the highest heavens, not the obscure abode of this earth, presented a suitable dwelling-place to him whose glorified body, rising from the tomb, was clothed with immortality. He ascended, not only to possess the throne of glory, and the kingdom which he purchased at the price of his blood, but also to attend to whatever regards the salvation of his people. He ascended, to prove thereby that " his kingdom is not of this world," [9] for the kingdoms of this world are terrene and transient, and are based upon wealth and the power of the flesh; but the kingdom of Christ is not as the Jews expected, an earthly, but a spiritual and eternal kingdom. Its riches, too, are spiritual, as he shows by placing his throne in the heavens, where they, who seek most earnestly the things that are of God, abound most in riches and in abundance of all good things, 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?" [10]
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 us, though dwelling on earth, to raise ourselves in thought and desire to heaven, " con fessing that we are pilgrims and strangers on the earth, [11] seeking a country;" " fellow-citizens with the saints, and the domestics of God;" [12] " for," says the same Apostle, " our conversation is in heaven." [13]
The extent and unspeakable greatness of the blessings, which V the bounty of God has bestowed on us with a lavish hand, were, long before, as the Apostle interprets him, sung by David in these words: " He ascended on high, led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men." [14] On the tenth day after his ascension, he sent down the Holy Ghost, with whose power and plenitude he VI filled the multitude of the faithful, then present, and fulfilled his splendid promise: " It is expedient for you that I go; for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you; but, if I go, I will send him to you." [15] He also ascended into heaven, according to the Apostle, " that he may appear in the presence of God for us," [16] and discharge for us the office of advocate with the Father: My, little children," says St. John, " these things I write to you, that you may not sin, but if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the just, and he is the propitiation for our sins." [17] There is nothing from which the faithful should derive greater joy than from the reflection that Jesus Christ is constituted our advocate and intercessor with the Father, with whom his influence and authority are supreme.
Finally, by his ascension, he has prepared for us a place, as VIII he had promised, and has entered, as our head, in the name of us all, into the possession of the glory of heaven. [18] Ascending into heaven, he threw open its gates, which had been closed by the sin of Adam; and, as he foretold his disciples, at his last supper, secured to us a way by which we may arrive at eternal happiness. In order to demonstrate this by the event, he introduced, with himself into the mansions of eternal bliss, the souls of the just whom he had liberated from prison.
A series of important advantages followed in the train of this admirable profusion of celestial gifts: in the first place the merit of our faith was considerably augmented; because faith has for its object those things which fall not under the senses, and are far raised above the reach of human reason and intelligence. If therefore, the Lord had not departed from us, the merit of our faith should not be the same, for Jesus Christ has ."aid: " Blessed are they who have not seen and have believed " [19] In the next place, it contributes much to confirm our hope: believing that Christ, as man, ascended into heaven, and placed our nature at the right hand of God the Father, we are animated with a strong hope that we, as members, shall also ascend thither, to be there united to our head, according to these words of our Lord him self: "Father, I will, that where I am, they, also, whom thou hast given me, may be with me." [20]
Another most important advantage, flowing; from the ascension, is, that it elevates our affections to heaven, and inflames them with the Spirit of God; for, most truly has it been said, that, " where our treasure is, there, also, is our heart." [21] And, in deed, were Christ the Lord dwelling on earth, the contemplation of his person, and the enjoyment of his presence, must absorb all our thoughts, and we should view the author of such blessings only as man, and cherish towards him H sort of earthly affection: but, by his ascension into heaven, he has spiritualized our affection for him, and has made us venerate and love as God. him who, now absent, is the object of our thoughts, not of our senses. This we learn, in part, from the example of the Apostles, who, whilst our Lord was personally present with them, seemed to judge of him, in some measure, humanly; and, in part, from these words of our Lord himself: " It is expedient for you that I go." [22] The affection, with which they loved him when present, was to be perfected by divine love, and that, by the coming of the Holy Ghost; and, therefore, he immediately sub joins: " If I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you."
Besides, he thus enlarged his dwellingplace on earth, that is, his Church, which was to be governed by the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit; and left Peter the prince of the Apostles, as chief pastor, and supreme head upon earth, of the universal Church. " Some, also, he gave Apostles, some Prophets, and other some Evangelists, and other some Pastors and Doc tors," [23] and, thus, seated at the right hand of the Father, he continually bestows different gifts on different men; according to the words of St. Paul: " To every one of us is given grace, according to the measure of the giving of Christ." [24] Finally, what was already said of his death and resurrection the faithful will deem not less true of his ascension; for, although we owe our redemption and salvation to the passion of Christ, whose merits opened heaven to the just, yet his ascension is not only proposed to us as a model, which teaches us to look on high, and ascend in spirit into heaven: but also imparts to us a divine virtue which enables us to accomplish what it teaches.
- ↑ Ps. xlvi. 1. 6.
- ↑ 4 Kings ii. 11.
- ↑ Dan. xiv. 35
- ↑ Acts viii. 39.
- ↑ Dionys. Areop. Epist ix. Basil, lib., de Spir. Sanct c. vi.
- ↑ Eph. i. 20 22, Athan. Serm. 1 contra Arian.
- ↑ Heb. i. 13.
- ↑ Acts i.
- ↑ John xviii. 36.
- ↑ James ii. 5.
- ↑ Heb. xi. 13, 14.
- ↑ Eph. ii. 19.
- ↑ Philip, iii. 20.
- ↑ Ps . lxvii. 19. Eph. iv.
- ↑ John xvi. 7, 8. Acts i. 4, 5.
- ↑ Heb. ix. 24.
- ↑ 1 John ii. 1,2.
- ↑ John xiv.2.
- ↑ John xx. 29.
- ↑ John xvii. 24.
- ↑ Matt. vi. 21.
- ↑ John xvi. 7.
- ↑ Eph. iv 11.
- ↑ Eph. iv. 7.