The Ascension. Benjamin West. 1801. Denver Art Museum, Colorado, United States.

The Ascension. Benjamin West. 1801. Denver Art Museum, Colorado, United States.

The Ascension. Benjamin West. 1801. Denver Art Museum, Colorado, United States.

From a sermon by Saint Augustine, bishop
(Sermo de Ascensione Domini, Mai 98, 1-2: PLS 2, 494-495)

“No one has ever ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven”

Today our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven; let our hearts ascend with him. […] For just as he remained with us even after his ascension, so we too are already in heaven with him, even though what is promised us has not yet been fulfilled in our bodies. […]

While in heaven he is also with us; and we while on earth are with him. He is here with us by his divinity, his power and his love. We cannot be in heaven, as he is on earth, by divinity, but in him, we can be there by love.

He did not leave heaven when he came down to us; nor did he withdraw from us when he went up again into heaven. The fact that he was in heaven even while he was on earth is borne out by his own statement: No one has ever ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven. […]

These words are explained by our oneness with Christ, for he is our head and we are his body. No one ascended into heaven except Christ because we also are Christ: he is the Son of Man by his union with us, and we by our union with him are the sons of God. So the Apostle says: Just as the human body, which has many members, is a unity, because all the different members make one body, so is it also with Christ. He too has many members, but one body.

The Ascension. Benjamin West. 1801. Denver Art Museum, Colorado, United States.