Christ in the Heavenly Sanctuary and Our Sharing in That Reality Through the Visible Sacrament – Ascension of the Lord Feast Day – Sermon by Father Levine

Fr. Joseph Levine; Holy Family Catholic Church and Missions, Burns, Oregon; June 1, 2025

Together with Moses, the prophet Elijah appeared on the mount of Transfiguration, giving glory to Jesus Christ. In a dramatic moment in the Old Testament, in a contest with the prophets of Baal, the prophet Elijah called down fire from heaven, which consumed the sacrifice, showing that he was a prophet of the true God. Elijah had first constructed an altar with twelve stones for the twelve tribes of Israel, dug a trench around it, set the wood in order on the altar, slew the bull, cut it in pieces and set it on the altar. He commanded the people to pour four jars of water over the offering and the wood three times. (1 Kgs 18:30-35) Finally, he called out to God, Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that thou, O Lord, art God, and that thou hast turned their hearts back. (1 Kgs 18:37) Then the fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice.

So, Jesus Christ, foreshadowed by the prophet, prepared his Church. He gathered disciples to himself from among the people of Israel, chose twelve among them to be his Apostles, the foundation stones of the new Israel (cf. Rev 21:14), baptized them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, offered himself as the true sacrifice upon the wood of the Cross, rose again from the dead, spent forty days instructing them about the Kingdom of God, before ascending into heaven. Then, on the day of Pentecost, the fire of the Holy Spirit came down from heaven.

Today’s feast, the Ascension, shows us that Jesus has completed his work; the Church is ready and waiting for the transformative moment in which the Holy Spirit brings her to life.

Today’s 1^st reading tells us that during the forty days between his resurrection and ascension into heaven, Jesus spoke to the Apostles about the Kingdom of God. This is a rather curious statement since one might think that he had already done this, before his crucifixion, during his three years of public ministry. Was he simply reiterating his prior teaching, or was there something new that he taught them during these forty days?

Was he, besides teaching the meaning of the Scriptures, (cf. Lk 24:27,44-46) giving them instructions regarding the basic order of the Church? These would not be details found in the New Testament, but which appeared already in the earliest days of the Church, details about the order of bishop, priest, and deacon, details about the celebration of the sacraments, details about the structure of the Christian community. A sign of this is that the most ancient documents dealing with the order of the Church, her life and worship, all claim to have their origin in the Apostles. (e.g. Didache, Traditio Apostolica, Didascalia Apostolorum) Even though much of the content of these works may have been elaborated after the apostolic age, their claim to apostolic origin bears witness to the belief that they were developed in continuity with the order originally established by the Apostles themselves. Even more to the point, it is the very existence of the Church, with its order of life and worship, that bears witness to the Apostolic origin, which in turn was received from Christ.

So when Jesus ascended into heaven, his work was complete and he left the Apostles with all the “materials”, so to speak, that they needed proclaim the Kingdom of God. They had the materials, but they still needed the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit.

The mystery of the Ascension and the mystery of Pentecost together define the state of the Church, the state of reality, until the Lord comes in glory.

Today’s 2^nd reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, reveals to us the heart of the life of the Church; Christ the High Priest in heaven, made present and visible through the sacrament on earth.

He ascended into heaven to appear before God on our behalf, to appear before God in the heavenly sanctuary, to appear before God as our High Priest and Mediator, to appear before God, presenting to him the sacrifice of his Body and Blood that takes away sins and wins for us the life of grace in the Holy Spirit. Since the time of his ascension, he is there at the right hand of the Father, in his glorified humanity, bearing the marks of his Cross, always living to make intercession for us. (He 7:25) That is where he is now that the cloud has taken him from our sight.

Yet, having ascended into heaven, he has not left us behind. At the Last Supper he said to his Apostles, I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me; because I live, and will be in you. (Jn 14:18) And Pope St. Leo the Great said, “What was visible in our Savior has passed over into his mysteries [that is the sacraments].” (Sermon 74,2; cited CCC 1115)

So it is that because they had the sacramental reality present to them in the Church, those who first heard the Letter to the Hebrews, would have readily understood the meaning. Since through the blood of Jesus [offered in the chalice at Mass] we have confidence of entrance into the sanctuary [communion with the reality of Jesus Christ, seated in the heavenly sanctuary, at the right hand of the Father] by the new and living way he opened for us through the veil, that is his flesh [this is the Body of Christ, received in holy communion beneath the veil of the appearance of bread], and since we have ‘a great high priest over the house of God’ [a reality that like the Body and Blood of Christ, is made visible to us, in this case through the sacrament of holy orders, through the living man, serving as the minister and representative of Christ the High Priest], let us approach with a sincere heart and in absolute trust [each time we draw near to receive communion] with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience [confessing our sins if needed] and our bodies washed in pure water [that is baptism, which has given us access to this great mystery]. Let us hold unwaveringly to our confession that gives us hope, for he who made the promise is trustworthy.

The ’confession of faith’ is not a mere matter of believing in our heart or merely reciting the creed with our lips, the ‘confession of faith’, together as the mystical Body of Christ, which is the Church, is enacted in the whole rite of the Mass.

So it is that the Letter to the Hebrews continues: Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting the assembly [an early exhortation to Mass attendance], as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another [there is a silent mutual encouragement that takes place simply when we see each other devoutly participating in the Mass], and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Heb 10:25)

In his Letter to the Ephesians, St. Paul wrote that God, who is rich in mercy … has made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Eph 2:4,6) This is the very reality described in today’s 2^nd reading: Christ in the heavenly sanctuary and our sharing in that reality through the visible sacrament, celebrated in the Mass. This is the core reality of the Church, “the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time … the font from which all her power flows”. (Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium 10)

All this was prepared when Christ ascended into heaven, but it still needed him to send down from his Father, the fire of the Holy Spirit to make the sacraments the channels of his life-giving grace. So also, for us to enter into and live from the mystery, we must live in the Holy Spirit.

Jesus instructed the Apostles and disciples to wait for, to desire, to long for the coming of the Holy Spirit. The nine days between the Ascension and Pentecost were necessary that the hearts of the Apostles and disciples, deprived of the visible presence of Jesus, might be prepared for the arrival of the sweet guest of the soul, through longing and ardent prayer. To the Apostles who were saddened at the prospect of his departure, he said, It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. (Jn 16:7)

This coming of the Holy Spirit into our lives, this coming of the Holy Spirit that gives us the ability to pass through the veil of the sacrament and take part in the invisible reality, is not a once-and-for-all event. We must continually return in spirit to the upper room, to the time between Ascension and Pentecost, to be renewed in longing and prayer. When we fail to do so, the visible ritual becomes for us a lifeless, mechanical routine.

Yet, the Holy Spirit does not only kindle the interior life of the Church and the faithful; the Holy Spirit does not only give life to the sacraments. Jesus said, 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.

The gift of divine life and divine love, the gift we enjoy in prayer and in the sacraments, is not a gift to be hoarded, but a gift to be shared, a gift boldly to be proclaimed by word and deed.