Transforming Our Understanding of Fulfillment

By Julián Carrón — How Christ's Ascension Transforms Our Understanding of Fulfillment and Presence in Our Lives Today

St. Luke summarizes the content of the Gospel at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles: "In the first account, [that is, the first book that Luke wrote: his Gospel] I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught from the beginnings until the day when he was taken up into heaven [...]. He showed himself to them alive, after his passion, with many trials, during forty days, appearing to them and speaking to them of the things concerning the kingdom of God."

So the disciples lived with Jesus, seeing Him live, act and react in His earthly life. They had a long experience with Him. How did this living together mark them?

We see it from their question: "Those who were with him asked him, 'Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom for Israel?' But he answered, 'It is not for you to know the times and the moments that the Father has reserved for his power, but you will receive the power from the Holy Spirit who will come upon you, and of me, you will be witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'"

It's striking that after three years of living with Jesus, their only concern is to know when He will take possession of His kingdom. Their living together with Him had failed to change their idea that He would restore the old Davidic monarchy and establish a kingdom according to human thinking.in their eyes, what is ’t a visible dominion does ’t amount to anything. Jesus "displaces" the disciples until the last moment before He leaves.

The story that began with Him will continue, but in a form unforeseeable to them: "You will receive power from the Holy Spirit who will come upon you, and you will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth. 'While they were looking at Him, He was lifted up into heaven, and a cloud removed Him from their eyes.' “Being lifted up into heaven" has the meaning that Jesus had already announced "I am ascending to my Father and your Father, my God and your God" (Jn. 20:17).

Jesus, thus entering the kingdom of God again, is elevated and enters the divine world beyond the cloud. He whom they had seen crucified, laid in the tomb and then resurrected, is elevated and enters the divine world with all His humanity. And with Him, all of humans are elevated and enter into the definitive world, as we said exultantly at the beginning of Mass with the Collect prayer: "Let your Church, Lord, exult with holy joy at the mystery it celebrates in this liturgy of praise, for in Christ ascended into heaven our humanity, [yours, mine] is lifted beside you."

Thus, God's plan is revealed to our eyes.

Why did God create man, each one of us? Precisely for what we celebrate today: to share with us — with each of us — his glory, his fullness. Christ today takes our humanity into heaven. We aren't destined for the grave. We aren't destined to disappear into nothingness. Therefore, St. Paul insists, "God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, from the dead that we were through our sins, has made us alive again with Christ: for by pure grace we've been saved. He also raised us with him and made us sit in heaven, in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:4-6). Life is living already now, invested with the newness that Christ introduces to us.

This explains why "The disciples returned to Jerusalem' full of joy'" (Lk24:52). This fullness of joy testifies that those who live with the awareness of what we celebrate today don't live determined by Jesus' absence but by his presence, which invests all of their humanity.

He showed, at last, all His power by penetrating the humanity of His friends, and therefore, now potentially ours as well, if we welcome Him as they did. By making us experience Him who truly makes us ourselves, what St. Paul says is definitively fulfilled: "All things were created through Him and for Him," i.e., waiting for the fullness that is revealed before our eyes today. Thus, all created things were destined to reach their fullness in Christ. So much for Ascension as an absence! It's the opposite: a presence that is even more deeply rooted within us, in an absolutely permanent way, so much so that he tells the disciples, "I will be with you all days until the end of the world."

This was the reason for their joy, as it is the reason for ours: that Christ is forever with us, making us partakers of his new, risen life. Entering into the depths of reality, Christ penetrates us to the gut, filling all life with new life.

To what new consciousness of ourselves does the feast of Ascension introduce us, then! One who lives with this consciousness is never again alone. Loneliness is conquered forever. We aren't at the mercy of our clumsy attempts at fulfillment, at happiness.

He is our fullness, our happiness.

Those who love and experience that the loved one “makes me be me more than myself” understand this. Jesus has gone away to enter more deeply into the depths of ourselves. In the second reading, we just heard this: "He who descended is the same one who also ascended above all the heavens, to be the fullness of all things." One can easily understand that the disciples, aware of this, were overflowing with joy.

Only in this way can we, like the disciples, fulfill our mission:  "Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to every creature." Wherever they go, they will carry Him with them in the radiance of their eyes. "I will make my presence evident through the gladness of your faces"—that is the joy of those first ones!

This is the shape of how his kingdom happens now, as we walk through history, waiting for his return.
Unrevised notes and translation by the author. Milan, 05.12.2024