Wonder and Awe: The Ascension of the Lord

The sermons of St. Augustine and St. John Henry Newman on the Ascension

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Happy Friday.

Depending on your location, you either just celebrated the Solemnity of the Ascension or you will celebrate it this Sunday.

This is the first major Solemnity at the close of the Easter Season, the next being Pentecost (which concludes the Easter Season), and then Trinity Sunday. So, as you can expect, we will be discussing the theology of the Holy Spirit—the outpouring of the Spirit on the Apostles—and the theology of the Holy Trinity.

First, Our Lord, as He Himself states, must leave so that the Spirit can be sent upon the Apostles.

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name
to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.
And behold I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city
until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Then he led them out as far as Bethany, raised his hands, and blessed them.
As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven.
They did him homage and then returned to Jerusalem with great joy,
and they were continually in the temple praising God.

This Gospel, which we have from Luke, is Luke’s account of the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven. It says very simply, “As he blessed them he parted from them and was taken up to heaven.” This short sentence is all we hear about the Ascension event in Luke’s Gospel.

What then are we to make of this event? How does the Ascension play into the mission of the Son? Is it necessary?

Below, we will look at sermons composed by two very different, and yet very important saints of the Church: St. Augustine of Hippo and St. John Henry Newman. By examining their preaching, we can come to a deeper understanding of the significance of the Ascension of the Lord.

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• In this essay, you will read about St. Augustine’s famous sermon, Sermo de Ascensione Domini, and his commentary on the Ascension. You will also read about St. John Henry Newman’s sermon 18, Mysteries of Religion, where he discusses the hidden mystery of the solemnity.

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Sunday Gospel Theology Companion

St. Augustine

St. Augustine of Hippo wrote a famous sermon on the Ascension of the Lord called Sermo de Ascensione Domini. In this sermon, St. Augustine focuses his theme on unity. Specifically, the Christian’s unity with Christ the head even while He is in Heaven.

To begin, St. Augustine is clear that even when Christ ascends into Heaven, He does not abandon us. Rather, “he remained with us even after his ascension” and therefore, in a deep mystery, “we too are already in heaven with him, even though what is promised us has not yet been fulfilled in our bodies.”¹ In other words, even as Christ is now in heaven, He has not abandoned His people, and, more profoundly, we are with Him already in Heaven—albeit not in bodily form. How can we be with Christ in Heaven now?