1 Peter 3: 22

He ‘who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.'

Meditation

The letter to the Hebrews, interpreting psalm 8, talks of the fulfilment of the Son of Man ‘made lower than the angels' and crowned with glory and honour. Following his example, ‘those who humble themselves will be exalted.' (Luke 14 :11) 

At odds with that of this world, the logic of God draws on the ‘things that are not' on the ‘nothing' (1 Corinthians 1:28), so that we might live freely, no longer prisoners to our earthly existence. (1 Corinthians 7 :29)

Moreover, does not wisdom tell us that God creates out of nothing? And is it not the very emptiness of the tomb which sent the message of good news flying out to the four corners of the earth? But still we are afraid of the emptiness, afraid of any lack, the idea of ‘nothing' frightens us… Yet we are told at the moment of the ascension that the secret of the mystical life lies in accepting to neither see nor grasp anything, to persevere ‘as though [we have seen] him who is invisible.' (Hebrews 11:27)

It is because he resembled man in every way, because he was one of them that they thought he had come solely for them and that they could keep him for themselves. Like Mary Magdalen on Easter morning to whom Jesus had to say, ‘do not hold on to me'!!!  They had wanted him to build a perfect society… but he knew that in order to be present always and everywhere, he first had to remove himself from their view. Only thus, living in his memory, were they able to find him elsewhere and in other ways, concealed beneath the features of a neighbour.

Luke 24:51: ‘While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.' We ask you Lord to bless every person on the earth. May your Holy Spirit strengthen their faith in you, may their faces be lit up by the joy of heaven, may each one of them come to understand the logic of heaven: that in order to be raised up after you, we must know how to humble ourselves. Watch over us at this crucial moment, help us stay on track, turned towards heaven and at the service of our fellow man…

Cardinal Godfried Daneels' Prayer on the morning of the Ascension 

Lord Jesus, when you ascended into heaven, the angels said to the eleven: “Do not stay there looking at the heavens!” 

But forty days earlier, by the tomb, did not the same angels say to the women: “Do not look downwards! He is not here. He is risen.”?

Would it not have been fickle of the angels to change their minds so quickly? 

What are we to do Lord Jesus: look downwards towards the earth or upwards towards the heavens?

Toward both, You tell us: “I am in heaven, so look upwards to me and pray. But I am also on earth in the poor, the weak, the ill and sinners. You still have so much to do down there, for them and for me, at least for the time being.

Lord Jesus, make us look to the heavens, without forgetting the earth, and vice versa. For every time that we do something on earth to serve one of our brothers whom you created, it is indeed You whom we are serving.