Ascension And Salvation

Quomodo vel qualiter praesentis solemnitatis gaudia, ascendente Domino, angelica declaravit sublimitas, non potest ore dicere, non corde concipere humana fragilitas. Sed tamen illud unum, ut Lucas narrat, testimonium admirable atque jucundum, officis ecclesiasticis adeo festive recitandum, huic declamatiunculae dignum duximus inserendum. Cumque intuerentur apostoli Dominum euntem in caelum, ecce duo viri astiterunt juxta illos in vestibus albis, qui et dixerunt, Viri Galilaei, quid statis aspicientes in caelum? Hic Jesus qui assumptus est a vobis in caelum, sic veniet quemadmodum vidistis eum euntem in caelum. Ascendente Domino angeli apparuisse leguntur in vestibus albis, qui humanum genus, quod fuerat obtectum tenebris mortiferae caecitatis, per gratiam Christi meruit percipere indumentum aeternae jucunditatis, et consortium angelicae dignitatis. Instrumenti Veteris auctoritatem, ut proposuimus, multo ante multipliciter praenuntiasse manifestum est, illis videlicet qui Scriptuam sanctam et studiose legunt et fideliter intelligunt. Quid per Enoch Scriptura divina clamat transaltum, quid per Eliam igneo curro transvectum nisi Dominum Christum hodierna festivitate in dextera paternae majestis elevatum? Sicut ipse per Prophetam in psalmo dicit ad Patrem: Tenuisti manum dexteram meam, et in voluntate tua deduxisti me, et cum gloria assumpsisti me. Ecce illud Domini Salvatoris iter astriferum, sanctus in psalmo vocari voluit cursum. Quod David cursum vocat Salomon in Canticis saltus appellat. Ecce iste venit saliens in montibus, transiliens colles. Et ille: A summo caelo egressio ejus, et occursus ejus usque ad summum ejus. Hunc enim quem David currentem praecinuit, Salomon salientem praevidit. O prudentissimi vates, o tantae prolis felicissimi parentes, cujus meruistis prophetica denuntiatine fieri parentes et testes! De vestra namque radice Isaias propheta virgam cum flore processuram praedixit. De quo ipse alias dicit: Erit in novissimis diebus praeparatus mons domus Domini in verticem montium, et elevabitur super colles. Et in alio loco: Erit germen domus Domini in magnificentia, et fructus terrae sublimis. Quem, fratres, intelligere debemus per montem super verticem montium praeparatum, nisi mediatorem Dei et hominum, hominem Jesum Christum omnium hominum naturam superantum et meritum? Quem per germen Domini magnificum et gloriosum, et fructum terrae sublimem, nisi eumdem Dei hominis filium, hodierna die super caelos coelorum et dignitatem omnium angelorum in dextera Dei Patris assumptum? Ergo, dilectissimi fratres, omnium vitiorum phantasmata fugientes, cunctarum virtutum charismata diligentes, ipsum, de quo loquimur, toto cordis affectu quaeramus, toto mentis ardore diligamus, passibus dilectionis et fidei sequamur, ut per ipsum cum ipso ad eum possimus pervenire, qui per ipsum corruptam generis humani naturam voluit reparare, et reparatam in ipso, hodierna festivitate ad se dignatus est revocare. Qui eum eo vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus sancti Deus per omnia saecula saeculorum. Amen. Odilo Cluniacensis Abbas, Sermo VIII, De Ascensione Domini Salvatoris Source: Migne PL 142.1013c-1014c

How or in what way the joy of the present solemnity, the Ascension of the Lord, the angelic sublimity declared, neither the mouth of our human fragility is able to tell, nor the heart to conceive. Yet one joyful and admirable testimony, as Luke narrates, is recited during the ecclesiastical offices, which small portion we have thought it worthy to insert here: 'And when the Apostles watched the Lord ascending into heaven, behold two men stood beside them in white vestments, and they said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing into the sky? Jesus who ascended from you is in heaven, and so He shall come as you saw Him going into heaven.' 1 With the Ascension of the Lord the angels appear clothed in white vestments, for the human race, which was wrapped in the darkness of death bringing blindness, through the grace of Christ, has merited to take possession of the raiment of eternal joy and the dignity to be associates of angels. By the use of the authority of the Old Testament, as we have said, many things in many ways have openly foretold this: quite obviously to those who have studiously read and understood the Holy Scriptures. What does Divine Scripture cry out by the translation of Enoch? 2 What by Elijah's riding off in the fiery chariot? 3 Is it not today's feast of our Lord Christ elevated to the right hand of the Father's majesty? So through the Prophet in the Psalm He says to the Father: 'You held my right hand, and in your will you led me, and you took me up in glory.' 4 Behold the astral way of the Lord our Saviour, which holy way he wished to speak of in the Psalm. And that way David spoke of, Solomon in the Song of Songs names a leap. 'Behold he comes leaping on the mountains, springing over the hills.' 5 And David again says, 'From heaven's height his going out, and his setting even at its height.' 6 Thus the one whom David foretells as running, Solomon sees as leaping. O most wise prophets, O such parents of happy children, you who with prophetic proclamation merited to be parents and witnesses. For concerning your root the prophet Isaiah foretells the coming of a shoot with a flower. Concerning which he says elsewhere: 'In the last days shall be prepared the mount of the house of the Lord on the peak of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up over all the hills.' 7 And in another place: 'He shall be a seed of the house of the Lord in magnificence and the finest fruit of the earth.' 8 Whom, brothers, shall we understand by the mountain over the peak of the mountain prepared, unless the mediator of God and men, the man Jesus Christ, over all men superior in nature and merit? Whom by the seed of the Lord, magnificent and glorious and the finest fruit of the earth, unless the same son of God and man, who this day is taken up above the heaven of heavens and the dignity of all angels to the right hand of God the Father? Therefore, dear brothers, fleeing the apparitions of every vice, loving the anointings of every virtue, let us seek Him of whom we speak with all the desire of our heart, let us love with all the longing of of our mind, let us follow with the steps of love and faith, that through Him, with Him, to Him, we are able to come. Saint Odo of Cluny, from Sermon 8, On The Ascension of the Lord 1 Acts 1.11-12 2 Gen 5.24 3 4 Kings 4.11 4 Ps 62.24 5 Song 2.8 6 Ps 18.7 7 Isaiah 2.2 8 Isaiah 4.2