Woman of Faith: The Ascension
Fr. J. Patrick Gaffney, SMM
Having manifested Himself in his glorious, triumphant, risen Body to chosen witnesses over a period of time, the Ascension marks the final Easter appearance of Jesus.
Woman of Faith: The Ascension
The second glorious mystery, the Ascension, is a contemplation of the summit of our redemption; having completed His work of salvation, the Redeemer returns triumphant into the glory of the Father.
In order to grasp the full meaning of this decade of the Rosary, there is a fundamental question we have to answer. Who is the Beloved of God?
Since God is Love itself, there must be a Beloved, otherwise how could we declare that God IS dynamic love? (cf 1 Jn 4:8, 16). Lover always presupposes a Beloved. Who is the Beloved of God?
Who is the Beloved of God?
No, don’t rush to say; we are! Stop for a moment. Whoever this Beloved is, the person exists from all eternity, since from the beginning God is Love. Moreover, this Beloved is intrinsic to the very being of God. There cannot be a Lover without a Beloved. Therefore neither creation as a whole, not human beings can be THE Beloved. We are not fr0m all eternity; we are in no way intrinsic to the very being of God. Rather, we are God’s free gift, not at all necessary to God. What then can be God’s Beloved?
The Beloved can only be found within God Himself! Since it cannot be creation, or anything outside of God – all exists as pure gift – the Beloved is within the very being of God. God is Loves who pours Himself out within the Divine Life and in so doing, is the source of the Beloved. Saint Louis de Montfort speaks of the Beloved as the Eternal Wisdom of the Father.
The Son, The Eternal Word is, says Montfort, the very goodness of the Father, the infinite eternal brightness of God; Wisdom “is a breath of the power of God, a pure emanation of the glow of the Almighty . . . a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror or the working of God, and an image of his goodness. (Wisdom, 7:25, ff. cf. Love of the Eternal Wisdom 16-18).
Madonna and Child: painter Elisabetta Sirani: 1663
Elisabetta took over the studio of her father Giovanni Sirani in 1654-1655. This painting resides in the National Museum of Woman Arts in Washington, DC.
Since God is Love itself, there must be a Beloved, otherwise how could we declare that God IS dynamic love? Lover always presupposes a Beloved. Who is the Beloved of God?
The Son, The Eternal Word is the Very Goodness of the Father
It is the will of the Father from all eternity to express His Infinite Beloved outside of the Divine Life. Therefore God wills a creation, a world, human beings whose very reason for being is to hear this one Word of the Father’s vocabulary, to be penetrated with the life of the Beloved and to become beloved in the Beloved. Even when humankind rebels – from the first moment of its existence – God still wills to exteriorize His Beloved. The Beloved, Wisdom Incarnate, is, therefore, born into this sinful, rebellious world through the faith of Mary. The Beloved of the Father 1s conceived in her womb, borne by her for nine months and from her He comes forth on Christmas night. He, the Infinite Beloved, is always and forever, the Son of Mary. For us He lives, for Us He dies.
The mystery of the Ascension is the celebration or the victorious exaltation of the Incarnate Beloved, the “return” of the Enfleshed Beloved to the Lover. As Beloved, He has never left the Lover; but as Enfleshed Beloved He has “emptied Himself, taking on the form of a slave. (Phil 2:6). Manifested Himself personally in and through our limitation, our finite rebellious humanity. Now victorious through the Cross and resurrection, He is exalted – in this humanity – and in this transformed humanity enters the realm of the Lover, the Father.
Victorious through . . .
As the Incarnation is the entry of the Beloved into our human family, the Ascension is the return of the Incarnate Beloved – now forever a member of the human family – into the Lover. The Ascension then completes the victory and earthly career of Jesus, the Enfleshed Beloved, and marks the climax of the process of salvation.
Having manifested Himself in his glorious, triumphant, risen Body to chosen witnesses over a period of time, the Ascension marks the final Easter appearance of Jesus.
. . . the Cross and Resurrection
“As they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said; ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven’ ”. (AA 1:9-11).
The next time we shall see the Risen Lord – the Incarnate, Victorious Beloved – is the Parousia, the second coming.
The Ascension is then the celebration of the Victorious Incarnation, Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus. It 1s a compendium of the victorious Incarnate Beloved who now is the triumphant Lord of the Universe. The Ascension is also the mandate to each one of us to implement this victory of the Beloved; “Go, therefore and make disciples of all nations . . . “. (Mt 28:19).
But the Incarnate Beloved is not risen on high to go away from us . . by no means! Rather, He ascended into the realm of the Father, the Lover, in order to be more intensely present with us of every generation, of every place, through the sending of the Holy Spirit . . . the third glorious mystery of the Rosary which we will study in the next article.
May the grace of the mystery of the Ascension come down into our souls.
(To Be Continued)
Vol. #xxx Month 2022
