With the feast of the Ascension the Church marks the final appearance of the risen Lord to his disciples. From now on his presence would be of an entirely different order. The work of the apostles and disciples was now beginning, a work that would need the power and inspiration of the Holy Spirit to give it impetus and sustain it in the course of history. When we try to picture the Ascension our powers of imagination fail us. Even the New Testament writers, such as Luke, were consciously aware that the Ascension, together with the Resurrection, belongs to that category which is ultimately indescribable. What they did proclaim, however, was the solidtruth that Christ had now taken his place in heaven with his Father, that he commissioned his apostles to be bearers of his gospel, and that he would one day return again in glory to judge the living and the dead.
Through his resurrection and Ascension Christ is Lord of the whole universe, and his full identity as Son of God has become manifest. He has left us in his body so as to be with each believer in any part of the world. No longer is Christ confined to Palestine and Galilee, but is present to his Church in every part of the world. The redemption which he has gained for us is ours through our faith in him as the crucified and risen One. It is the task of the Church to mediate that salvation to each generation. When we encounter that salvation through the sacraments and other means, we are encountering Christ himself. He has passed beyond our sight, but remains very much with us!
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