Last week we spoke on the fifth article of the Apostle’s Creed, “He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead.”  This article describes what Christ did in death and His victory over death.  The sixth article of the Creed, “Then (He) ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,” describes what Christ did after His resurrection.  This is our topic today.

Now no one saw the resurrection of Christ but only the evidence i.e., the empty tomb, the folded linens; but many saw the risen Christ. At sunrise, so concur the four gospels, the holy women arrive at the tomb to finish anointing the body of Christ.  The body is gone but an angel directs them to notify Peter and the disciples that Christ is risen.  Afterwards, the risen Christ appears to Mary Magdalen who mistakes Him for the gardener; and numerous appearances follow: to Peter; to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus; twice to the apostles in the Cenacle, the first time when Thomas is absent; to Peter and some companions who had gone a-fish’n on the sea of Galilee; and St. Paul tells us He appeared to 500 brethren at once (1 Cor 15:6), by James, and finally by himself; St. Paul writes,  “He was seen also by me, as one born out of time.”

At His first appearance to the apostles gathered in the Cenacle, the risen Christ commissions them, saying, “As the Father has sent Me, so I send you,” and breathing on them, He continued, “Receive the Holy Ghost: whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them; whose sins you shall retain they are retained.” (Jn 20:22).  At the Sea of Galilee, the risen Christ confirms the primacy of Peter, saying, “Feed My lambs,... feed My lambs... feed My sheep.”  Also in Galilee, atop a mountain, the risen Christ commissions the apostle’s, saying, “All power is given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Going, therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commended you.  And, behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.” (Mt 28:18-20)   

And so, forty days after rising from the dead, and having prepared His apostle’s to carry-out His work, the risen Christ bids farewell to His disciples in Jerusalem, “These are the words I spoke to you, while I was yet with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled, which are written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning Me.  Thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead the third day.  And that penance and remission of sins should be preached in His name, unto all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.  And you are witnesses to all these things.  And I send the promise of My Father upon you: but stay in the city till you be endued with power from on high.” (Lk 24:44-49) He then travels with them as far as Bethania where He lifts up His hands, blesses them, then is carried up to heaven.

When we say, “Then He ascended into heaven”...
We believe that 40 days after Christ rose again from the death, He ascended into heaven in the same created body and created soul He first received in the womb of the virgin Mary.  In 1215, the Fourth Lateran Council affirmed that Christ descended in soul (in anima) and rose in the flesh (in carne) and ascended equally in both... “ascendit pariter in utroque” (in anima et in carne).

We believe that Christ ascended by His own divine power into heaven.  Often, the scripture records that Christ was ‘taken up’ into heaven; properly understood, this refers only to His human nature which is ‘taken up’ into heaven in virtue of Christ’s divine nature... which needs no help to ascend into heaven.
 We believe that “heaven” here does not mean the sun, moon, and stars, but that state and place of eternal blessedness where God is seen as He is, in all His majesty and beauty, a place where “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them that love Him.” (1 Cor. 2:9) 

When we say, “sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,” ...
We believe that the risen Christ has received from God the Father all authority on earth and in heaven to do justice and judgment among mankind.  The seat of Christ is a seat of authority as manifested by the phrase “at the right hand.”  Christ is the sovereign king of mankind who must be served above all monarchs.

We believe that the risen Christ both now sits at the right hand of God the Father but also dwells among us in the in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the altar.  The risen Christ - body, blood, soul, and divinity - is in heaven glorified.  This identical risen Christ is truly present - body, blood, soul, divinity - in every tabernacle, truly offered in every sacrifice of the Mass under the appearance of bread and wine, until the end of time.  We believe that Christ is in heaven and on earth equally as scripture records, “Behold the tabernacle of God with men, and He will dwell with them.” (Rv 21:3); “Behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.” (Mt 28:20)   Because this is true, all manner of love and adoration which now we may only hope to give the risen Christ in heaven for all eternity, we may actually give Him in His Presence at every holy Mass, in every holy Communion we receive.

We believe that Christ ascended into heaven to prepare a place for His own (Jn 14:2); to intercede for them (Hb 7:25); and to send them His grace, especially in the Holy Ghost (Jn 14:16; 16:7).

These are a few doctrines related to the sixth article of the Apostle’s Creed.

A last comment: the risen Christ is the reason of our faith; the ascended Christ our hope.

Our divine Savior is in heaven body and soul where we hope to be with Him one day for all eternity, in our own bodies and souls.   Indeed, this reward has already been given to one other person, the Blessed Virgin Mary.  And in our Lady’s assumption into heaven we see more clearly our own.  Pope Paul VI wrote in his letter,  ‘The Credo of the People of God’ dated June, 30, 1968 (which reaffirms and elaborates upon the  Nicene Creed), “We believe that the Blessed Mother of God, the New Eve, Mother of the Church, continues in heaven her maternal role with regard to Christ’s members, cooperating with the birth and growth of divine life in the souls of the redeemed.”

Now in heaven, in their unique glorified flesh, is a merciful God, like us in all things except sin, together with His merciful Mother who continually labors with her divine Son to bring us, her adopted children, to heaven.  Frequent converse with these first fruits of Christ’s redemption will nurture our hope that we shall join them one day forever in our own body and soul glorified.