The Ascension of Jesus and the Last Hour

The Ascension of Jesus is the transitional point between Jesus' earthly ministry and the Age of the Church. Luke both ends his gospel and begins Acts of the Apostles with this event.

The Ascension is also the culmination of the Resurrection. Jesus did not defeat death for its own sake, nor did He defeat death so we could merely live forever on earth. He defeated death so we could go to Heaven and live forever in communion with the Blessed Trinity. Just as Jesus is the first man to rise from the dead, He is the first man to enter Heaven. With His Ascension He opens the gates of Heaven, for all the holy men and women who died before His First Coming, and also for all of His disciples who died and will die in the Age of the Church.

The final, brief conversation between Jesus and the apostles before His Ascension is packed with meaning:

When they had gathered together they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:6-8)

The apostles were surely asking Jesus if He is about to make Israel an independent political power again. They were still thinking in earthly terms. Yet we might also view their question to Jesus as concerning the ultimate kingdom of God. As Christians, we believe that Jesus is king and that God the Father has given all power and authority on Heaven and Earth to His Beloved Son. But we also know that Jesus did not reveal Himself raised to everyone, but only a few. His triumph over the powers of sin and death through His Passion and Resurrection were decisive, yet not final. We still encounter sin and death in our world. So why this age? Why the Age of the Church?

Jesus told the apostles (and through the inspired work of Saint Luke, He tells us) that it is not for us to know the times or seasons established by the Father. Everything will happen at the proper time. The mission of the apostles, and all followers of Jesus through every age, is to be His witnesses in the time and place He has put us. We can witness to Him in our deeds, our words, and our prayers. The power of the Holy Spirit is essential to this work. We cannot witness to Jesus apart from the Holy Spirit, and Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit upon anyone who asks for it.

The apostles had work to do. The work of salvation was (and is) ongoing. The population of the Roman Empire at the time of Jesus was between 40 to 60 million souls. The number of disciples at the time of the Ascension was in the hundreds. It was God's will that the Good News of our salvation through Jesus Christ be proclaimed to all of these peoples, so that they might believe in the Son of God and be saved.

What's more, while the Creation is the beginning of salvation history, and the Age of the Church is the final stage, the truth is that the Creation is not merely a single point in time but an ongoing event. The Blessed Trinity continues the work of Creation a million times over every day, in the birth of every star, the budding of every flower, and the conception of every child. God has created billions of souls since the Ascension of Jesus, souls that are infinitely precious in His sight and that He desires to abide with Him forever in Heaven. In the fullness of time, the disciples of Jesus would preach the gospel to every nation on earth, so that all might be saved. Our task is to continue their divinely-given, and divinely-led, mission.

"Since the Ascension God's plan has entered into its fulfilment. We are already at 'the last hour.' 'Already the final age of the world is with us, and the renewal of the world is irrevocably under way; it is even now anticipated in a certain real way, for the Church on earth is endowed already with a sanctity that is real but imperfect.' Christ's kingdom already manifests its presence through the miraculous signs that attend its proclamation by the Church" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 670). The remainder of Acts will tell of the mainfestation of Christ's kingdom through the miraculous signs that accompanied the apostles in the beginning of the final age. 

Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet every day for the salvation of souls.