Simple Thoughts on the Rosary: Glorious Mysteries: The Ascension
I.—Sing ye to God, sing a psalm to His name: make a way for Him who ascendeth upon the west: the Lord is His name.—Ps. lxvii.
At length He appeared to the Eleven as they were at table: and He upbraided them with their incredulity and hardness of heart, because they did not believe them who had seen Him after He was risen again.
And He led them out as far as Bethania. And lifting up His hands He blessed them. And it came to pass whilst He blessed them He departed from them; and while they looked on He was raised up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight; and He was carried up to heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God.
And while they were beholding Him going up to heaven, behold two men stood by them in white garments, who also said: Ye men of Galilee, why stand you looking up to heaven? This Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven shall so come as you have seen Him going into heaven.
And they, adoring, went back into Jerusalem with great joy, from the mount which is called Olivet. (Luke 24; Mark 16; Acts 1.)
See the disciples standing round our Lord on Olivet. With them His Mother and the faithful women. How absorbed are all in their contemplation of Him! How utterly forgotten is the earth and all it contains! Feel the freshness of the breeze up on this height.
Taste the peace and happiness of the little group. The joy of belonging to our Lord; of being among His friends; of having made sacrifices for Him.
Admire the unselfish love that makes their faces so bright, their hearts so happy as they come down the Mount—alone.
II.—Be Thou exalted, O God, above the heavens, and Thy glory above all the earth.—Ps. lvi.
The forty days are over. What days they have been for the disciples! Any time they might expect a visit from their Master. In His absence they longed for Him. When He came, they feasted their eyes upon His glorious beauty, and hung upon His lips, and poured out their souls at His feet! Before His Passion He had said to them: “I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” During the forty days He has said these many things. He has been speaking to them of the Kingdom of God, that spiritual Kingdom of which they are to be under Him the founders, and which by their labours they are to extend to the ends of the earth. Now that the Resurrection has set the seal of the Divinity on His mission and His words, and solidly established their faith and trust in Him, they can bear to hear of the great things they are to suffer for His Name’s sake. How sweet has been the intercourse between the Master and the disciples during these blessed days.
And now the last of them, Thursday, has come. The Eleven are at table when He appears to them. There is something very homely and tender in His choosing this time for coming into their midst. As if He would make up to them for the sadness of that Last Supper when He had to break to them that He was going away. To what lengths His condescension goes on this last morning on earth of His glorious and immortal life. We are expressly told that He ate with them. It is perhaps conceivable that He should thus humble Himself at His first appearance on Easter Day, when “they being troubled and affrighted supposed that they saw a spirit.” But, after forty days, when “by many proofs” they have been convinced that He who came in and went out amongst them was in very deed their Lord and Master—what need of such loving familiarity now!
“And He upbraided them with their incredulity and hardness of heart because they did not believe them who had seen Him after He was risen again.” How His Sacred Heart resented the want of faith! And they knew it. When, in that early morning, He provided their breakfast on the seashore, and “cometh and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish in like manner, none of them who were at meat durst ask Him: “Who art Thou?” knowing that it was the Lord” (John 21).
“Durst”—for the only fault He could bring Himself to rebuke in those glad days was doubt, fear, slowness of heart to recognise Him as the same He had ever been to them. Was there not everything to reassure them? The well-known voice and salutation, the dear familiar words in which He was wont to calm their fears, the same Divine courtesy, the same gracious condescension, so natural, so sweet, that the condescension scarcely appeared, the human affectionateness and sympathy with their joys and pains that had marked all His dealings with them during the three years of intimate companionship—all this they found again, heightened by an indescribable charm after the Resurrection. It was the recognition of the old ways, and tones, and actions, as He chid, and taught, and comforted, and walked, and ate with them, that brought home at last to their slow hearts that it was in very truth Jesus Christ, yesterday, and to-day, and the same for ever.
Thus He showed Himself to them in the last visit. And eating with them He commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but should wait for the promise of the Father, “which you have heard,” saith He, “by My mouth.”
“And He led them out as far as Bethania,” the part of Olivet that went by this name.
See them leaving the Supper Room together.
When last they had gone thence with Him, it was to witness the beginning of His Passion under the olive trees. Now, along the same road, they go to be spectators of His triumph. Through the crowded streets they follow their Master, visible to themselves alone. Across Kedron, and past the Garden of Gethsemane. See Him, as He begins to ascend Olivet, looking down into the Garden where He lay in agony, sorrowful even unto death. He slackens His pace as the summit of the Mount is reached, as if lothe to leave the earth and the little flock to whom He is all in all. See Him speaking tenderly, now to one now to another—a last word to Magdalen, to John, to Peter, to His Mother. How they all press round Him, as if they feel they are about to lose Him. Look reverently on Him as He stands now on the mountain brow. The fresh breeze stirs His raiment and His hair. He is gazing into the distance. His thoughts seem far away. Beneath Him lie the scenes of His life on earth. To the north is Nazareth, where, when all things were in quiet silence, and night was in the midst of her course, He came to Mary. There are tears of human feeling in His eyes as He thinks of His home, and of the little shop up the village street where He worked those many years by Joseph’s side. To the south is Bethlehem where He came unto His own and His own received Him not. South-west Egypt, recalling memories of His infancy and boyhood. How long He stands there, still and silent, looking round. The hillsides, the corn fields, the desert places, the crowded streets, the quiet lanes, where He went about doing good, teaching, healing, comforting—His Heart yearns over them all.
At His feet is the Garden where He prayed that His chalice might pass from Him; where He accepted the Father’s Will. Yonder are the pillar and the guard room where in His innocent flesh He satisfied for the sins of men. Trending westward, the road to Calvary, where He became the pattern of the suffering and the heavy laden, to the end of time. And there, outside the walls rose the hard deathbed where He taught us how to die.
Our Lord looks over the scenes of His life on earth and sees that everywhere He has perfectly fulfilled the Father’s Will. “I have glorified Thee on the earth. I have finished the work Thou gavest Me to do. And now glorify Thou Me, O Father, with the glory which I had, before the world was, with Thee” (John 17).
His eyes turn again to His disciples. Lifting up His hands He blesses them, and rises into the air. He rises slowly. Up into the blue heavens He mounts, till a cloud receives Him out of their sight.
See them gazing after Him. Long, long after the cloud has sailed away, and all trace of Him has gone, they stand there motionless. “He was carried up to heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God.” And He has carried thither with Him all their interests, and affections, their very life. How can they bring down their gaze to earth again? Suddenly two men stand by them in white garments, who say: “Ye men of Galilee, why stand you looking up to heaven? This Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come as you have seen Him going into Heaven.”