Ascendit Deus in Jubilo!
In the Mass, we are brought into intimate union with the entire life of Christ from His Incarnation to the Ascension, that last moment of His earthly sojourn when He triumphantly returned to His Father. The final Dominus Vobiscum mystically represents the glorious Ascension, when Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, conqueror over the powers of Hell and death, entered into His glory!
Msgr. Gentilucci: “Saint Luke writes that our merciful Redeemer ate with His apostles, and we are disposed to believe with Natalis Alexander [French Dominican historian and theologian, 17th century] and Silveira [?] that our Divine Lord [before His Ascension] again gave the holy Eucharist to the Apostles, to fortify them with this Bread of the strong during his long absence, and to inflame them with love and hope of heavenly things.”
So, too, is it with those who have partaken of Holy Communion. This heavenly Bread provides all the supernatural assistance to fight the good fight, keep the faith, pray unceasingly, to suffer with Christ, and in Him to live a devout life filled with good works. Our Lord’s work of Redemption has been fully accomplished, but it remains for it to be subjectively completed in each individual soul who would attain salvation. Through the priest, Holy Mother Church extends one last time to the faithful, that desire She has that Christ remain closely united to them – from one Holy Communion to the next – until they attain their heavenly end of eternal happiness with God!
Prayer:“Lord Jesus Christ, who, after forty days, didst ascend glorious into heaven in the sight of Thy disciples, grant that my heart may, for Thy love, despise all earthly goods which keep me bound to perishable things, and to attend only unto the eternal, and to hunger and thirst after Thee, my God and my All!” Amen.
