Tuesday Within the Octave of the Ascension

The Lord of glory has ascended into heaven and, as the Apostle says, he has gone thither as our forerunner; but how are we to follow him to this abode of holiness, we whose path is beset with sin—we who are ever needing pardon, rather than meriting anything like glory? This brings us to another consequence of the exhaustless mystery of the Ascension; let us give it our closest attention. Jesus has gone to heaven, not only that he may reign as King, but also that he may intercede for us as our High Priest and, in this quality, obtain for us both the pardon of our sins and the graces we need for following him to glory. He offered himself, on the Cross, as a victim of propitiation for our sins; his precious Blood was shed as our superabundant ransom: but the gates of heaven remained shut against us, until he threw it open by his own entrance into that Sanctuary, where he was to exercise his eternal office of Priest according to the order of Melchisedech. By his Ascension into heaven, his priesthood of Calvary was transformed into a priesthood of glory. He entered with the veil of his once passible and mortal Flesh, within the veil of his Father’s presence, and there is he our Priest forever.

How truly is he called Christ, that is, “the Anointed!” for, no sooner was his Divine Person united to the Human Nature than he received a twofold anointing: he was made both King and High Priest. We have already meditated upon his Kingship; let us now contemplate his Priesthood. He gave proofs of both during his life among us on earth; but it was only by his Ascension that their unclouded splendor was to be declared. Let us, then, follow our Emmanuel, and see him as our High Priest.

The Apostle thus describes the office of a High Priest. He is taken from among men, and is ordained for men in the things that appertain to God that he may offer up gifts and sacrifices for our sins: he is appointed their ambassador and mediator with God. Jesus received this office and ministry, and he is fulfilling it in heaven. But, that we may the better appreciate the grand mystery, let us study the figures given of it in the Holy Scriptures, and developed by St. Paul in his sublime Epistle; they will give us a precise idea of the grandeur of our Jesus’ Pontifical character.

Let us go, in thought, to the Temple of Jerusalem. First of all, is the spacious uncovered court, with its porticos; in the center, there stands the Altar, whereon are slain the victims of the various sacrifices, and from the Altar there radiate a number of conduits, through which flows the blood. We next come to a more sacred portion of the edifice; it is beyond the Altar of holocausts, is covered in, and is resplendent with all the riches of the East. Let us respectfully enter, for the place is Holy, and it was God himself who gave to Moses the plan of the various fittings which adorn it with their mysterious and rich beauty:—the Altar of Incense, with its morning and evening cloud of fragrance; the seven-branched Candlestick, with its superb lilies and pomegranates; the Table of the Loaves of Proposition, representing the offering made by man to him who feeds him with the harvests of the earth. And yet, it is not here, though the walls are wainscoted with the bright gold of Ophir, that is centered the great majesty of Jehovah. At the extreme end of the Temple there is a Veil of precious texture, richly embroidered with figures of the Cherubim, and reaching to the ground: it is there, beyond this Veil, that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has fixed the abode of his presence; it is there, also, that rests the Ark of the Covenant, over which two golden Cherubim spread their wings. It is called the “Holy of Holies,” and no one, under pain of death, may draw aside the Veil, or look or enter within the hallowed precinct, where the God of Hosts deigns to dwell.

So then, man is banished from the place wherein God dwells: he is unworthy to enter into so holy a presence. He was created that he might see God and be eternally happy with that vision; but because of sin, he is never to enjoy the sight of God. There is a Veil between himself and Him who is his Last End; neither can he ever remove that Veil. Such is the severe lesson given to us by the symbolism of the ancient Temple.

But there is a merciful promise, and it gives a gleam of hope. This Veil shall, one day, be raised up and man shall enter within: on one condition, however. Let us return to the figurative Temple, and we shall learn what this condition is. As we have already noticed, none were allowed to enter the Holy of Holies; there was but one exception, and that was in favor of the High Priest, who might, once a year, penetrate beyond the Veil. Yet even he had certain conditions to observe. If he entered without holding in his hands a vessel containing the blood of two victims, previously immolated by him for his own and the people’s sins, he was to be put to death; if, on the contrary, he faithfully complied with the divine ordinances, he would be protected by the blood he carried in his hands, and might make intercession for himself and all Israel.

How beautiful and impressive are these figures of the first Covenant! but how much more so their fulfillment in our Jesus’ Ascension! Even during the period of his voluntary humiliations, he made his power be felt in this sacred Dwelling of God’s Majesty. His last breath on the Cross rent the Veil of the Holy of Holies, hereby signifying to us that man was soon to recover the right he had lost by sin, the right of admission into God’s presence. We say soon; for Jesus had still to gain the victory over Death by his Resurrection; he had to spend forty days on earth, during which he, our High Priest, would organize the true Priesthood that was to be exercised in his Church to the end of time, in union with the Priesthood he himself was to fulfill in heaven.


St. John, who was granted a sight of the interior of heaven, gives us a sublime description of this twofold character of our Divine Head—Victim and yet King, Sacrificed and yet Immortal. He shows us the Throne of Jehovah, round which are seated the Four-and-Twenty Ancients, the four symbolical living creatures, and then the seven Spirits burning like lamps before it. But the Prophet does not finish his description here. He bids us look at the right hand of Him who sits on the Throne. There we perceive a Lamb standing and as it were slain,—slain and and yet standing, for he is radiant with glory and power. We should be at a loss to understand the vision, had we not our grand mystery of the Ascension to explain it; but now, all is clear. We recognize in the Lamb, portrayed by the Apostle, our Jesus, the Word Eternal, who, being consubstantial to the Father, is seated on the same Throne with him. Yet is he also the Lamb; for he has assumed to himself our flesh, in order that he might be sacrificed for us as a victim; and this character of Victim is to be forever upon him. Oh! see him there, in all his majesty as Son of God, standing in the attitude of infinite power, yet withal, he will not part with his resemblance of the Immolated. The sword of Sacrifice has left Five Wounds upon him, and he would keep them for eternity. Yes, it is identically the same meek Lamb of Calvary, and he is to be forever consummating in glory the immolation he perfected on the Cross.


Christus hunc diem jucundum
Cunctis concedat esse christianis,
Mediator nostræ naturæ
Æthera novus homo
Stipant, ad Patrem
Cum lactanti adhuc
Stella tibi serviret
Rem novam et dulcem
Dedisti, Domine,
Levando super sidereas metas,
Tuos replent Apostolos,
Quîs dedisti cernere
In cœlis tibi occurrunt
Diu dispersum a lupis,
Bone Pastor,
Tu dignare custodire,