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Written by Toon & Patterson
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Tuesday, 15 May 2012
14:59
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“Let
us exult, Beloved, with joy of soul, and rejoicing with fitting praise in
God's presence, lift up the now free eyes of the soul to that place where
Christ abides. Let not earthly things hold here the souls that are called
above; let not perishable things fill the hearts that are chosen for external
things. Let no false allurements hold back those who walk in the way of
truth.” - St. Leo the Great (d. 461)
The Collect for Ascension Day
Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that like as we do believe thy
only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into the heavens; so
we may also in heart and mind thither ascend, and with him continually dwell,
who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without
end. Amen.
The
Epistle: Acts 1:1-11
The Gospel: St. Luke 24:49-53
An Historical Note.
In
the Sarum Missal, the Petition simply reads: “. . . so we may also in
mind dwell in heavenly places.” Cranmer made 3 important additions (in
1549) and in what follows we will briefly consider the significance of each
of them. First, he added “in heart,” an addition which Goulburn calls a most
“happy” alteration. “The reason why our minds are so little occupied with
Christ, is that our affections are so little set upon Him. One who is the
object of earthly love is much thought of; the mind flies off to him whenever
it is disengaged, simply because the heart is bound up in him.”[1] One is reminded of St. Paul’s instructions: “If ye then be
risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on
the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on
the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When
Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in
glory” (Colossians 3:1-4).
The second Cranmerian change is the
addition of the word “ascend.” Whereas the Sarum only makes reference to
dwelling (mentally) in the heavenly places, Cranmer adds this request for
ascent there, making a connection between the state of our hearts and minds
upon earth and the future state for which we hope (again, see Colossians
3:1-4).[2]
Finally, Cranmer added the phrase
“and with him continually dwell.” This change seems to have been suggested to
Cranmer by an Ascension Collect from the Sacramentary of Gelasius which reads
“according to thy promise, thou mayest ever live with us on earth and we
with thee in heaven.”
A Reflection on
the Significance of Jesus’ Ascension
Forty days ago we celebrated the
resurrection of Jesus from the grave. We do well to recall that this was not
merely a spiritual resurrection, but a truly bodily resurrection. The body of
the resurrected Lord was not simply a reanimated physical body, rather it was
an immortalized, glorified body – a human body wonderfully perfected.
Following his resurrection, on numerous occasions Jesus appeared in this
amazing body to his apostles and disciples, until his final appearance
(recorded in Acts 1) at which time they witnessed him Ascend into Heaven. By
this glorious Event the resurrected Jesus was exalted by the Father to his
right hand on high and crowned as the Lord of lords and King of kings – as
Psalm 24 sings and prophesies.
With the Ascension & Exaltation
of Jesus Christ, the nature of heaven itself was transformed forever. What
caused this transformation? The entrance of God incarnate into
heaven, for when Jesus ascended into heaven he retained his full humanity
(though now in an immortalized and glorified form). Thus into the sphere
where the angels and archangels eternally adore the Holy Trinity, Jesus
brought human nature and a human body; and heaven – which was already perfect
– was given a higher degree of perfection and grace. Because the Incarnate
Son of God is in heaven, those who are united to him (enclosed, as it were
within his glorified human nature by the action of the Holy Ghost) are also
united to the Holy Trinity.
Thus within the Triune Life of the
Holy Trinity there was and there remains glorified human nature! This is an
amazing thought and truth, with most holy and saving consequences for human
beings, not least the possibility of the beatific vision of beholding the
glory of the Father in the face of Jesus Christ.
Previously the angelic hosts and
choirs alone praised and magnified the Holy Trinity with their perpetual cry,
“Holy, Holy, Holy,” but now the human voice of the exalted Jesus – High
Priest, Son of God, Lord and Mediator – is heard as well.
Additionally, from the time of
Jesus’ Ascension and onwards, a constant procession of redeemed and
sanctified human beings (both the saints from the Israel of the Old Covenant
and the martyrs and saints of the Church of the New Covenant) have been
entering Heaven by, through, with and in him. Thus now in heaven, the
heavenly choir is comprised of both angelic and human voices – all of whom
joyfully sing in the Name of Jesus to the glory of God, who is the Blessed,
Holy and Undivided Trinity.
Let us rejoice and be exceedingly
glad that Heaven was eternally changed, being marvelously developed and
expanded, through the Arrival and Coronation of the Lord Jesus. Through
Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life we have the hope of entering into the
holy sphere of Heaven, in which he has promised “are many mansions” for the
heirs of Abraham’s promise.
So on Ascension Day we celebrate
not only the Exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ to the supreme place of
authority alongside the Father but also the raising of our human nature into
the very centre of heaven. Where he has gone those who are united to him by
faith and in love by the Holy Ghost will also go - in heart and mind now and
in full bodily reality at the End time.
As St. Augustine put it long ago -
"All our activity will be Amen and Alleluia." For "There we
shall rest, and we shall see; we shall see and we shall love; we shall love
and we shall praise. Behold what shall be in the end and shall not end."
(The Latin is most evocative - Vacabimus et videbimus, videbimus et
amabimus, amabimus et laudabimus. Ecce quod erit in fine sine fine.)[3]
So we ask: Why, O Why is the
Festival of the Ascension so neglected today? As Prayerbook commentator Evan
Daniel wrote:
The
festival of the Ascension, though in modern times much neglected in
comparison with the other great festivals of the Church, was evidently
intended by the framers of the Prayer Book to be celebrated with special
honour. It has assigned to it Proper Psalms, Proper Lessons, a special
Collect, Epistle, and Gospel and a Proper Preface, and stands, therefore, in
the same rank with Christmas, Easter Day, and Whitsunday (Pentecost). St.
Augustine speaks of it as universally observed in the Church, and argues that
it must have been instituted either by the Apostles themselves, or by Church
Councils. He says: ‘For those things which are received and observed all over
the world, not as written in Scripture, but as handed down to us by
tradition, we conceive to be instituted by the Apostles themselves or some
numerous Council whose authority is of very great use in the Church. Such are
the anniversary solemnities of our Saviour’s passion and resurrection, and
ascension into heaven, and the coming of the Holy Ghost from heaven.[4]
We do well to recall that this is the Festival without
which the other Festivals cannot fulfill their meaning and purpose! For
unless the Lord Jesus is exalted into heaven, his work is incomplete and thus
there is no salvation, redemption, divinization and beatification for the
human sinners whom he came to save.
Jesus is risen from the dead.
Alleluia.
Jesus is exalted to the Father’s
right hand. Alleluia.
Jesus has transformed and remade
heaven. Alleluia.
The Father sends the Holy Spirit,
the Paraclete, in Jesus’ Name. Alleluia.
Jesus will come to judge the living
and the dead at the end of the age. Alleluia.
- Dr. Peter Toon (with J. S.
Patterson)
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Last Updated on
Tuesday, 15 May 2012 15:07
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