Our Lord’s Ascension and our human perfection
By Fr. Roy Cimagala Chaplain
Center for Industrial Technology and Enterprise (CITE)
Talamban, Cebu City
Email: roycimagala@gmail.com
WHAT implications can we gather from the consideration of Our Lord’s Ascension into heaven? Quite a number actually. One is that Christ, who is the pattern of our humanity, finally shows us that where he came from and where he is going now are also where our origin and final destination are.
Yes, we came from heaven, since all of us came from God and not just from our parents. And we are supposed to return there where our final home is. As the Letter to the Hebrews would put it: “We don’t have a permanent city here on earth, but we are looking for the city that we will have in the future.” (13,14)
Thus, Christ himself said, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may also be.” (Jn 14,3)
Our life here on earth is some kind of a pilgrimage toward our final destination. It can also be regarded as some kind of test God is giving us, to see if what he wants us to be—that is, to be his image and likeness, sharers of his life and nature—is also what we ourselves would want to be.
And the way to pass that test is precisely to follow Christ who clearly said: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (Jn 14,6-7)
Our Lord’s Ascension should actually inspire us to think about our human perfection when we finally would be fully identified with God. That is why it is good that from time to time we meditate on this ultimate goal that we are supposed to pursue in this life and train ourselves how we can relate everything in our life, with its ups and downs, to this goal.
For this, it would be good that we realize that the ideal condition of our life is when we will always have God in our mind and heart. We should convince ourselves that we are meant to be with him always, because without him we simply would open ourselves to our own weaknesses and woundedness, not to the mention, the many temptations around.
We truly need to live in God’s presence since in the first place our life is supposed to be a life with God. We are meant for it. We are actually equipped and enabled for it also. And obviously there is an objective basis for this.
God is everywhere. He is omnipresent. This is how one of the psalms describes this reality: “Whither shall I go from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.” (139,7-10)
Christian theology explains this truth by teaching us that God is present everywhere, that is, in all things and in all persons, by the mere fact of their existence, since God is the giver and maintainer of the existence of everything and of everyone.
More than that, God’s presence is not merely passive but active. He is always intervening in the existence of all the creatures, ever applying his wisdom through the ceaseless providence that he exercises over all his creation whose nature he always respects, upholds and defends.
This is how we would be approaching our human perfection in heaven.