Today we come to celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord.
The Ascension of the Lord is the climax of the Pascal mystery. The sacrifice begins in the Upper Room and doesn’t end with His Passion upon the cross as some may believe, but instead it reaches its climax through His Ascension. As is stated to us in the Roman Canon: “Therefore, O Lord, as we celebrate the memorial of the blessed Passion, the Resurrection from the dead, and the glorious Ascension into heaven of Christ, your Son, our Lord.” I point this out because the Ascension continues to reflect the reality of the Lord’s sacrifice and every opportunity that we have to assist at the Holy Mass is to be present for this sacrifice. Very often we allow ourself to forget that the Mass is sacrifice. In doing so we lesson the importance of what is taking place around us.
It was on the Day of Atonement that the high priest would enter into the holy of holies and it was there that he would offer sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people of Israel. This is something that he would have to do year after year. Through our Lord’s Ascension the Day of Atonement is being fulfilled. As is stated in Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews: “For Christ has entered, not into a sanctuary made with hands, a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.” This verse is reflective of the Day of Atonement and the fact that through the Ascension of the Lord this offering comes to be made.
Through His Ascension into Heaven He returns to His Heavenly Father, He comes to be seated at the right hand of the Father on His Heavenly throne, but He also goes to offer the sacrifice of Himself to the Father for all eternity once and for all time. We must realize that through His Resurrection He rises again from the grave both body and soul. We must also realize that through His Ascension He is taken into Heaven body and soul. It is through the Ascension that He enters into eternity itself where He no longer comes to be bound by space and time.
All of this comes to be beautifully summed up for us in the Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 662: “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” The lifting up of Jesus on the cross signifies and announces his lifting up by his Ascension into heaven, and indeed begins it. Jesus Christ, the one priest of the new and eternal Covenant, “entered, not into a sanctuary made by human hands...but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.” There Christ permanently exercises his priesthood, for he “always lives to make intercession” for “those who draw near to God through him.” As “high priest of the good things to come” he is the center and the principal actor of the liturgy that honors the Father in heaven.”
Through all of this we can see that Christ is the Eternal High Priest. When we attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass we participate in this reality. Here we come to united with this reality and join with all the Masses that have been said, are being said, and will said for the rest of eternity. Through the Mass with join with the priest who comes to offer sacrifice on our behalf by joining into this eternal sacrifice being offered by the Eternal High Priest, Christ our Lord. May we come to appreciate this sacrifice, pray for and appreciate our priests, and come here to the Mass to abandon our needs before Christ the Eternal High Priest who offers the sacrifice of Himself to the Father for all eternity once and for all time.
