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He ascended into heaven, sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty.” — Apostles’ Creed.

The only Son of God was made man, and became like unto us in all things, sin alone excepted. He died on the cross for the salvation of the world. His body was placed in a tomb; His soul descended into Limbo to deliver the holy souls who were waiting there until the blood of our Savior should wash away and blot out the sins of the world; which was necessary before they could enter into glory. The third day after the painful and cruel torments of the cross, Christ came forth gloriously from the grave, as He had foretold. Behold, my Brethren, what I explained to you in my last instruction.

Now, let us turn our attention to the sixth article of our creed, an article which will make the subject of this day’s instruction. Christ rises from the dead, ascends into heaven, and seats himself at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. Listen, my Brethren, , to the account which the Evangelist St. Luke furnishes us, concerning the wonderful Ascension of our Savior, Jesus Christ, into heaven. After His resurrection, our divine Redeemer remained during forty days on earth, showing himself frequently to His Apostles and disciples, instructing them in many very important things; such as the establishment of His Church, the propagation of the Gospel, all that regarded the reign of God in the hearts of men, and every thing calculated to bring souls to the happiness of heaven. At last, when all the Apostles and disciples were assembled at Jerusalem, Jesus appears to them for the last time. He takes a seat at their table, eats and drinks with them. During the repast, He reproaches them, but with great benignity, for their want of faith in His resurrection, of which He had now come to give them still another evident and palpable proof; He imposes upon them the mission of preaching His word to every creature, and commands them to travel the whole world, propagating His religion and spreading His divine doctrine among all nations. To inspire them with courage and penetrate their hearts with a generous confidence, He bestows upon them the divine power of working miracles, thus to give greater force to the truths which they were to announce, and which the world, converted at the sight of these prodigies of the omnipotence of God, might embrace and practice.

Our divine Lord then rises, and, followed by His Apostles and disciples, goes out from the city, and proceeds to the mount of Olives. There His agony had commenced; thence too, will He take His flight into glory. He gives His Apostles and disciples the most consoling assurance that He would never cease to protect them; recommends them to remain at Jerusalem, until they should receive the Holy Ghost, the Comforter whom He had promised to send them; He speaks to them with all the tenderness of a father addressing his children, whom he is about to leave; raises His hand, blesses them, recommends them to the favor and protection of His heavenly Father; and then, full of glory and majesty, elevates himself in the air, and mounts gradually toward heaven. For some time the Apostles gaze on the form of their departing Master; but at length, the clouds of heaven conceal Him from their view. Jesus continues His ascent into heaven, seats himself at the right of hand of the Almighty Father, to whom He is perfectly equal, and is from whom He receives, as man, the first place in heaven, above every creature.

Jesus ascends into heaven; He goes to take possession of the glory which was due to Him. He had come down from the bosom of His Father, to take, on earth, the form of a slave, to live in poverty and disgrace,— to die in torments, to pour out His blood on the cross for the redemption of the human race. All has been consummated, the mission of the Man-God has been accomplished, and behold, “from the height of the cross, He shall draw all unto Him. The Son of man has crushed the serpents head; sin has been blotted out; the empire of the devil annihilated; error cheeked and light diffused; and the God of heaven and earth shall be adored in spirit and in truth. Yes, Jesus hath glorified His Father among men, it was just that He should receive from His Father infinite glory in the eternal mansions. But before quitting the earth, He said to us: “Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many mansions ... I go to prepare a place for you. And if I shall go, and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will take you to myself; that where I am, you also may be.” (St John, xiv : 1, 2, 3.)

Christ ascended into heaven, to prepare a place for us there; He himself has said: “Where I am, you also may be.” A day will come, when it will he permitted us to participate in the glory of our divine Savior. It will be so if we place ourselves among the number of the true servants of Jesus Christ; if we preserve in our hearts and manifest in our conduct, the holy commandments which He has given us; if, in fine, we endeavor to render ourselves like to Jesus Christ, our Savior and our model, “A faithful saying,” says St. Paul to Timothy; “if we be dead with Christ, we shall live also with Him. If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He will also deny us.” (2 Timothy, ii : 1, 2.) Where Christ is, there also must His servants be.

O! divine Jesus, let me dwell with Thee in eternity, in the tabernacles of Thy Father! But, O my Savior, I am so weak, and I fall into so many sins! Must not the splendor of Thy glory over- whelm the unhappy sinner, who would dare aspire to the happiness of heaven? This fear would fill my soul with desolation, did I not know that Thou hast ascended into heaven to be our advocate and mediator with Thy Father. “My little children,” writes St. John to the first Christians; “these things I write to you, that you may not sin. But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Just. And He is the propitiation for our sins.”(Epistle of St. John, ii : 1, 9.) Yes, my Brethren, Jesus Christ is our advocate in heaven; He who destroyed sin, is our Mediator with God; He is there under the eyes of His Father, as a constant victim and perpetual sacrifice for our sins. Should not this saving truth fill our souls with sweet and consoling hope! Jesus intercedes for us! God the Father did not spare His only Son, but delivered Him up for us, and how, after having bestowed upon us this gift, can He refuse us any thing which this divine Savior asks for us? Oh! we have an advocate whose influence over the heart of God is infinite, we can, therefore, reach heaven.

My Brethren, heaven is our country, and it is there only we can find happiness. We are only passengers on earth, and we see here only empty baubles, vanities, deceptions and sufferings. Let us not allow our hearts to be foolishly attached to the things of this world; let us remember that we live not for time, but for eternity. Let us seek the things that are in heaven, where Jesus Christ sitteth at the right hand of God; let us taste the things that are of heaven, and not the things of earth. When Jesus Christ shall appear. He who is our life, we too shall appear with Him in glory, if we walk in His footsteps, follow the example He has given us, obey the roles and precepts which He has imposed upon us, and love God and our neighbor as He has commanded. We shall reap in eternity what we have sown in time. Let us, therefore, keep our hearts raised up to heaven; let us have God always before our eyes, let us glorify Him, by advancing in the practice of good works, and then as vigilant and faithful servants, we shall deserve to ascend to the mansions of our divine Master. — Amen.

Source:  One hundred short sermons, The Most Rev. Martin John Spalding Archbishop of Baltimore

On Other Exercises of the Love of God

"Consider first, that divine love is also exercised in the penitential way by souls that, like Magdalene, (of whom our Lord pronounced that many sins were forgiven her because she loved much,) go daily to the feet of Christ, in spirit, to wash them with their tears, flowing from a heart full of a sense of the infinite goodness of God, and of a deep regret for having offended that infinite goodness by their sins. This exercise of penitential love, as we see in the case of Magdalene, is most acceptable to out Lord, and most effectual for obtaining the discharge of all our sins; and, if diligently pursued, is capable of advancing even those that have been the greatest sinners to a high degree of virtue and sanctity. And whosoever has forfeited his baptismal innocence by mortal sin, if he would follow the rules of Christian prudence in choosing the safest way in a case where his all is at stake, should endeavor to pursue this exercise of penitential love, and never end it but with his life. Thus did all those great penitents of old who became afterwards such glorious saints. And this kind of exercise of love will become in a manner natural to all such as have a right sense of what God is and what sin is, and of the dreadful evil they have been guilty of in offending, though it were but once in their life, so great and so good a God.

Consider 2ndly, that there are also other ways of mourning in which we may exercise a love of God, most agreeable to him, and beneficial to ourselves. As when we sit down at the foot of the cross, and there contemplating the extreme anguish and distress, the stripes and wounds, the racking pains and torments of our dear Redeemer, with all that complication of sufferings in all kinds which he endured in his passion for the love of us, we excite in our souls suitable affections of an ardent love in the way of compassion for our crucified Lover, and feed this fire with tears, flowing at the sight of his blood; which, as it shows forth in the most sensible manner his tender affection for us, so it most strongly calls for a return of our love, accompanied with a bitter grief to see our beloved treated with so much cruelty and contempt. Upon the same principle of the concern that every true lover has, to see the outrages offered to his beloved, we may also exercise a love most agreeable to our Lord, in mourning for the innumerable sins that are daily committed against him throughout the whole world; to see his infinite goodness slighted, his sacred laws and ordinances trodden under foot, his mercies continually abused, and his most adorable majesty treated with the utmost contempt, by poor blind mortals, made by him, and for him redeemed by the blood of his Son, and loaded with innumerable favors, to engage them to love him and serve him. Oh! how can any true lover of God endure to see these outrages offered to his infinite majesty without having his heart perfectly broken with grief to see his Love thus abused?

Consider 3rdly, that, besides these exercises of the love of benevolence in the penitential and compassionate way, there is another most perfect exercise of love, and which comes the nearest to the love of the blessed in heaven; and that is, in the way of joy and congratulation - as when we rejoice in God and in his boundless perfections; when we are delighted to think that he is what he is, infinitely good, infinitely holy, infinitely happy, infinitely perfect; that he is the sovereign Lord of all, and that nothing can be added to him, because he is every way infinite. O, what a comfort, what a pleasure, what a joy it is to a true lover of God to think that whatsoever may come to himself, or to any other thing in the world, his Love at least, whom he loves without comparison more than himself and all things else, will always be infinitely glorious, infinitely rich, and infinitely happy! O how like is this love to that of the blessed, even to that love that makes them blessed, which is an eternal joy in God and in all the beauties and perfections they contemplate in him - this is their eternal delight.

Conclude to dedicate thyself for time and eternity to this most perfect love of God. Make it thy employment here, and it will be thy eternal reward hereafter. In the mean time, labor also to promote as much as thou canst, upon every occasion, the praise and glory of thy maker, the interests of his kingdom, the fulfilling of all his wills, as well in thyself as in all others; be concerned at every thing that displeases him, put thy heart continually in his hands, give thyself and all things else to him a hundred times in the day. Such acts as these, frequently repeated in the day, will secure to thee the rich treasure of divine love; by such exercises thou wilt effectually choose the better part, which will never be taken from thee."

Source: Challoner's Meditations