13 May 2021
Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord
“God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpet for the Lord.”
Today is the Solemnity of the Ascension, one of the holiest days in our Church calendar. It commemorates the enthronement of Christ in heaven, to reign in glory now and forevermore. St. Paul, in the reading from Ephesians today, makes a curious comment regarding this feast:
what does ‘he ascended’ mean except that he descended into the lower regions of the earth? The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above the heavens, that he might fill all things.
For Paul, the Ascension points, on the one hand, to the fulfillment of the incarnation and reveals Christ’s divinity, and on the other hand, it is act of Christ which has as its goal the pouring out of spiritual gifts to “fill all things.” The ascension, in the eyes of the Apostle, ought to cause us to mediate on being filled up by Christ.
St. Therese of Lisieux – a doctor of the Church – give us a beautiful reflection on the human soul and being filled by God. She wrote that God desires to fill us up with as much of his love as we can handle. Humans, for Therese, are like different sizes glasses, which the Lord fills up with his love and grace until we overflow. Growth in the spiritual life consists of a deeper emptying/purifying of our hearts so as to be able to receive more of God which overflows and turns us outward toward others. This is a beautiful image for the spiritual life, our souls like various sized vessels being filled with God’s grace. Let us pray today for the grace to be emptied of anything that keeps us from receiving more of God’s love and grace in our hearts, and also for the grace to receive the blessings the Lord wants to pour out upon us.