Rising Up

Videntibus illis elevatus est, nubes suscepit eum ab oculis eorum Hodie factum est germen Domini in magnificentia et gloria, et fructus terrae sublimis, fructus terrae fructus est uteri virginalis. Hodie impletum est verbum illud praedixerat Dominus per Prophetam: Nunc exsurgam, et nunc sublimabor. Exsurgam a mortuis, sublimabor in coelum. Hodie consummatur et perfecte clauditur tua inconsultilis tunica, Christe Jesu, id est integritas fidei Christianae, quia post praedicationem, post tentationes, post miracula, post laborem, post mortem et ignominiam crucis, post gloriam resurrectionis, postquam operatus fuisti salutem in medio terrae, tandem ostendisti te Deum et Dominum coeli, ponens nubem ascensum tuum, et ambulans super pennas ventorum. Caro itura ad Patrem, quae non erat ad Patrem, quae non erat a Patre prius, per gloriam resurrectionis omnem infirmitatem exuit. Accinxit se potentia amicta lumine sicut vestimento. Decebat enim ut Filius hominis, impleta obedientia propter quam venit, se in ornatu plenioris gloriae paternis aspectibus praesentaret. Hoc Daniel quandoque praesenterat dicens, Aspiciebam in visionis noctis, et ecce Filius hominis veniebat in nubibus colei: usque ad Antiquum dierum pervenit, qui dedit ei potestatem et honorem et regnum ejus quod non corrumpetur. Caro Christi prius mole nostrae mortalitatis aggravata, postquam gloria et honore coronata est, postquam decorem et fortitudinem induit, coelos potenter ascendit. Descendit in carnem, ut carnales in carne doceret, ut eos de carne transferret ad spiritum. Unde et Apostolus dicit, innuens glorificanionem carnis: Et si cognovimus Christum secundum carnem; sed jam non novimus. Quod aeris et coeli Dominus per aerem libere et potestative ascendit, qui de aere ejecerat principem hujus mundi, et aerias potestates suae cruci affixerat. Nemo ascendit in coelum, nisi qui de coelo descendit. Ideo descendit ut ascenderet, et ut secum ascendendo nos traheret. Cum exaltatus, inquit, fuero a terra, omnia traham ad meipsum. Deus immensus erat, neque crescere, neque ascendere poterat. Ut ergo cresceret, minoratus est paulo minus ab angelis. Ideo autem ascendit, ut in sua ascensione angelicam transcenderet dignitatem. Apparuit quidem humanitas et benignitas Christi in nativitate ipsius, apparuit potentia et gloria ipsius in resurrectione ejusdem. Sed in ejus ascensione praecipue nobis gaudendum est: in qui nobis aperta est via vitae, roborata est fides, firmata est fiducia nostra, ut illuc eamus quo transiit caput nostrum, sine membris suis caput esse non potest. Volo, inquit Pater ut ubi ego sum, illic sit et minister meus. Ob reverentiam suam exauditus est filius, et voluntate labiorum suorum non fraudavit eum Pater. Ubique nobis ministrat, ubique salutis nostrae negotium benigne procurat. Vado, inquit, parare vobis locum; et si abiero, iterum veniam ad vos, et assumam vos ad me ipsum. Verbum Christi est: Nemo venit ad me, nisi Pater meus traxerit eum: sed et nemo venit ad Patrem, nisi traxerit eum Filius. Petrus Blenensis, Sermo XXIII In Ascensione Domini Source: Migne PL 207.627b-628c

They saw Him lifted up, and a cloud took him away from their sight. 1 Today the bud of the Lord is magnificent and glorious, and the fruit of the earth is high, 2 and the fruit of the earth is the fruit of the virginial womb. Today is fulfilled the word which the Lord spoke through the prophet: 'Now I shall rise up, now I shall be exalted.' 3 I shall rise up from the dead, I shall be exalted in heaven. Today it is consummated, and perfect is the finishing of your garment for the untutored, O Christ Jesus, that is, the integrity of the faith of the Christian, because after preaching, after trials, after miracles, after toil, after death and the disgrace of the cross, after the glory of the resurrection, after you worked salvation in the midst of the world, at last you show yourself God and Lord of heaven, 'who place the cloud for your ascension, and walk on the wings of the wind.' 4 The flesh, which was not with the Father, is going to the Father, that which was not with the Father before, has sloughed off every weakness through the glory of the resurrection. He has bound himself with power, 'clothed with light as a garment.' 5 For it is fitting that the Son of Man, fulfilling the obedience for which He came, shall present himself in the adornment of full glory for the paternal gaze. That which Daniel once foresaw, saying, 'I had a vision in the night, and, behold, the Son of Man was coming on the clouds of heaven, and even to the ancient of days he came, who gave to him power and honour and his kingdom which shall not pass away.' 6 Before the flesh of Christ was weighted down with the mass of our mortality, after it was crowned with glory and honour, after it was endowed with beauty and strength, and in power it rose up to heaven. He descended in the flesh, that He might teach those in the flesh, so that they might pass over to the spirit. Whence the Apostle says, referring to the glorfication of the flesh, 'And if we knew Christ according to the flesh, yet we no longer know Him so.' 7 Because the Lord of the air and of heaven is able to ascend in power and freedom through the air, He who cast the prince of the world out of the air, and He nailed his powers of the air to the cross. 'No one ascends to heaven, unless the one who has come down from heaven.' 8 Therefore He descended so that He might ascend, and that He might draw us into ascending with Him. He who said: 'When I am lifted up from the earth I shall draw all things to me.' 9 God was great, He did not grow, nor was He able to ascend. That thus He might grow He was reduced 'to a little less than the angels' 10 Therefore He ascends, so that by His ascension He might transcend the dignity of angels. The humanity and kindness of Christ appeared in His nativity, His power and glory in His resurrection. But in His ascension is what is especially joyful for us, for in it the way of life is opened for us, faith is strengthed and our confidence is made firm, that we shall go from here where our head has gone, for the head cannot be without its members. 11 He has said that where He is there is His servant. 12 Because of His piety the Son is heard, and the Father does not disappoint the wish of His lips. 13 Everywhere He serves us, everywhere He kindly attends to the business of our salvation. 'I go,' He says, 'to prepare a place for you, and if I shall go, I shall come to you again and I shall take you up to myself' 14 The word of Christ is: 'No one comes to me unless my Father brings him,' 15 but also no one comes to the Father unless the Son brings him. Peter of Blois, from Sermon 33, On the Ascension of the Lord 1 Acts 1.9 2 Isaiah 4.2 3 Isaiah 32.10 4 Ps 103.3 5 Ps 103.2 6 Dan 7.13 7 2 Cor 5.16 8 Jn 3.13 9 Jn 12.32 10 Ps 8.6 11 Ephes 1.22-23 12 cf Jn 12.26, Jn 17.24 13 Ps 20.3 14 Jn 14.2 15 Jn 14.6