Rosary: The Ascension
The Second Glorious Mystery of the Rosary
The Second Glorious Mystery of the Rosary: The Ascension of Our Lord
Feast Day: Forty Days After Easter (Ascension Thursday)
Luke 24:44 Then He said to them, “These are My words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about Me in the Law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in His Name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And see, I am sending upon you what My Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”
50 Then He led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up His hands, He blessed them. 51 While He was blessing them, He withdrew from them and was carried up into Heaven. 52 And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; 53 and they were continually in the Temple blessing God.
This second Glorious Mystery of the Rosary highlights the Ascension of Our Lord into Heaven on Ascension Thursday, which is 40 days after Easter Sunday. Once again, Our Lord displays the power of His Divinity by ascending to the Father. He is also fulfilling His own prophecy from the Gospel of Luke, when He is conversing with Nicodemus.
John 3:13 No one has ascended into Heaven except the One who descended from Heaven, the Son of Man
Unlike the Assumption of Our Lady, Our Lord here ascends to Heaven. The main difference in these two words is Our Lord rose to Heaven through His own power, while Our Lady was lifted up by God’s power and not her own. This will be true of all those who will be saved. Our bodies will be lifted up by Christ to bring us to Heaven with Him. He instead rises through His own authority and might. His is the King of all Kings and is sovereign over all creation. He is the one who does these things because He is God.
Mark 16:14 Later He appeared to the Eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table; and He upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because they had not believed those who saw Him after He had risen. 15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. 16 The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using My Name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
19 So then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into Heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.
Our Lord ascends into Heaven and is greeted by all the choirs of angels singing His praise and glory. He is crowned by the Father with glory and is seated at the right hand of the Father. This phrase is no mere cultural symbol. It has a wide range of meaning including a direct claim and proof of Divinity. Our Lord is God, as only God may sit at the right hand of the Father. It shows that the Son has all authority given to Him by the Father. Jesus Christ hereby claims His rightful throne where all of the universe will acclaim His might and glory.
Acts 1:1 In the first book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning 2 until the day when He was taken up to Heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the Apostles whom He had chosen. 3 After His suffering He presented Himself alive to them by many convincing proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the Kingdom of God. 4 While staying with them, He ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” He said, “is what you have heard from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
6 So when they had come together, they asked Him, “Lord, is this the time when You will restore the Kingdom to Israel?” 7 He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by His own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” 9 When He had said this, as they were watching, He was lifted up, and a cloud took Him out of their sight. 10 While He was going and they were gazing up toward Heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. 11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward Heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into Heaven, will come in the same way as you saw Him go into Heaven.”
Now some might be confused about the phrasing used here where it sounds like Our Lord is being assumed into Heaven rather than ascending into Heaven. Never forget that we worship the Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. They all act in union together. So the Father raising up the Son also means the Son ascends to the Father. Many can become confused about this by thinking these statements contradict, when they are both true at the same time. This is how Scripture can say that Our Lord resurrects under His own power (John 2:19 & 10:18), is resurrected by the Father (Acts 2:24) and also resurrected by the Holy Ghost (Romans 8:11). The Trinity is beyond our comprehension, and Our Lord ascended to the Father. He was not assumed.
Hebrews 9:24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but He entered into Heaven itself, now to appear in the Presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer Himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own; 26 for then He would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But as it is, He has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.
10:19 Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the Sanctuary by the Blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain (that is, through His Flesh), 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who has promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
As noted above, God can be many things at the same time, since He is not limited by our universe or reality. This is how Our Lord can ascend into Heaven into the Presence of the Father, yet also be here with us in the Eucharist every single day. He is truly here, Body, Blood, Soul & Divinity in every Catholic tabernacle around the world. Yet He is also in Heaven with the Father and will come again in glory at His Second Coming. These are all true at the same time because we worship the one true God who is above and beyond all things.
This should fill us with great awe and keep us in stunned silence every time we ponder over the fact that God Almighty lowered Himself to become man. He came down from Heaven to be with us, so that we might unite ourselves with Him in the Eucharist. He then shows us His glory and might once again by going up to Heaven to wait for the end of salvation history.
Ephesians 1:17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know Him, 18 so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which He has called you, what are the riches of His glorious inheritance among the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of His power for us who believe, according to the working of His great power. 20 God put this power to work in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the Heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. 22 And He has put all things under His feet and has made Him the Head over all things for the Church, 23 which is His Body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.
Our Lord is far above all the angels in Heaven. There are nine levels of angels and Jesus Christ is infinitely greater than all of them combined. He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. He is the Head of His Body, the Catholic Church. This mystery of the Rosary truly should emphasize to us the infinite power and glory of Our Lord.
Links to the other Mysteries of the Rosary
JOYFUL MYSTERIES
Fifth Joyful Mystery - The Finding of Jesus in the Temple (coming soon)
SORROWFUL MYSTERIES
GLORIOUS MYSTERIES
Second Glorious Mystery - The Ascension of Christ
Third Glorious Mystery - The Descent of the Holy Ghost (coming soon)
LUMINOUS MYSTERIES
Second Luminous Mystery - The Wedding at Cana (coming soon)
Third Luminous Mystery - The Proclamation of the Kingdom of God (coming soon)
Fourth Luminous Mystery - The Transfiguration (coming soon)