The Divine Ascension of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ into Heaven Part II)

My beloved spiritual children in Our Risen Lord Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY HE IS RISEN!

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THE DIVINE ASCENSION OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST INTO HEAVEN (Part II)

"As they thus spoke, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of the disciples, and saith unto them: "Peace be unto you." But they were terrified and affrighted and supposed that they had seen a spirit...And He led them out as far as to Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. And it came to pass while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy; and were continually in the Temple, praising and blessing God. Amen." (St. Luke 24:36-53; Acts 1:3-14)

When swallows run short of food and the cold weather is coming, they set off to warm climes, where there is plenty of sun and food. One swallow flies ahead, testing the air showing the way, and the rest of the flock follows after.

When our souls run short of food in the material world, and when the cold of death draws near - oh, is there a swallow like that one, to take us to a warm place, where there is plenty of spiritual warmth and food? Is there such a place? Is there, oh, is there such a swallow?

Outside the Christian Church, there is no-one who could give any sort of reliable answer to this. The Church alone knows, and knows with certainty. It has seen that part of Paradise for which our souls yearn in the frozen twilight of this earthly existence. It has also seen this blessed swallow, the first to fly to that yearned-for place, dispersing the darkness and cutting through the heavy atmosphere between earth and heaven with its powerful wings, opening the way to the flock behind it. Apart from this, the Church on earth can tell you of innumerable flocks of swallows that have followed the first Swallow and flown off with it to the blessed land, the land abounding will all good things - the land of eternal spring.

You will see from this that, by this saving Swallow, I am thinking of the Ascended Lord Jesus Christ. Has He not said of Himself that He is the Way? Did He not Himself say to His Apostles: "I go to prepare a place for you...and will...receive you unto Myself" (St. John 14:2-3)? And did He not say to them before this: "And I, if I be lifted up the earth, will draw all men unto Me" (St. John 12:32)? This that He Himself said began to be fulfilled a few weeks later, and has continued to be fulfilled right down to our own day, and shall be to the end of time. That is: being the beginning of the first creation of the world. He became also the beginning of the second creation or the blessed renewing of the old. Sin clipped Adam's wings and those of all his descendants, and they all fell away from God, went off, and were blinded with the dust from which their bodies were created. Christ, as the New Adam, the First Man, the Firstborn among men, was the first to rise up to heaven on spiritual wings, to the Throne of eternal glory and power, thus cleaving the way to heaven and opening all heaven's gates to His followers with their spiritual wings - as an eagle cleaves the way for its eaglets; as a swallow that goes ahead, showing the flock the way and breaking the air's heavy resistance...

"...The Lord's Ascension from earth to heaven is as unexpected to men as His coming down from heaven to earth and His birth in the flesh was to the Angels. What event in His life does not represent something unique and uniquely unexpected to the world?...each of us must look with wonder at the events of the Savior's life, beginning with the wondrous Annunciation to the Most Holy Ever-Virgin Mary by the Archangel Gabriel in Nazareth, and then through in order to His mighty Ascension on the Mount of Olives. It is all, at first sight unexpected, but, when they are made aware of the plan for the dispensation of our salvation, all rational men must shout for joy and glorify God's power. His Wisdom and his Love for mankind. You can take no single Great Event out of Christ's life and not disfigure the whole, as you cannot cut off a living man's arm or leg and not disfigure him, or remove the moon from the heavenly vault or blot out a part of the starry myriads, and not disfigure the order and beauty of the heavens. So do not think of saying: "It was unnecessary for the Lord to ascend!"

"And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass while He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven." What a magnificent and touching parting from the earth! There on the edge of the Mount of Olives, in sight of the mound beneath which dead Lazarus had been raised again to this transient life, the Risen Lord Ascended to the infinite heights of eternal life. He Ascended up, not to the stars but above them: He Ascended up, not to the Angels, but above them; and not to the heavenly powers, but above them; above all the immortal, heavenly hosts, above all the paradisiacal abodes of the Angels and the righteous; far, far above the Cherubim's eyes, to the very throne of the heavenly father, to the mysterious altar of the Holy and Life-giving Trinity. The measure of these heights does not exist in the created world; perhaps the only thing comparable, to the opposite direction, is the depths to which pride plunged Lucifer (Satan), the apostate from God; the depths into which Lucifer wanted the whole human race to be plunged. The Lord Jesus saved us from this endless ruin and, in place of the depths of the abyss, raised up to the divine heights of heaven. He raised us up, we say, for two reasons: firstly, because He rose as a man in the flesh, as we are; and secondly, because He rose not for His own sake but for ours, to open for us the path to peace with God. Ascending in his Risen Body, that men had killed and buried in the earth. He blessed with hands that bore the scars of the nails. O Most Blessed Lord, how Great is Thy mercy! The history of Thy coming into the world began with blessing, and it ends with blessing. Revealing Thy coming into the world, the Archangel Gabriel greeted the Most Holy Mother of God with the words: "Hail, thou that art highly favored...blessed art thou among women!" (St. Luke 1:28). And now, when Thou biddest farewell to those who received Thee, Thou openest wide Thy hands and pourest blessing on them. O Most Blessed among men! O Gracious Source of blessings! Bless us also, as Thou didst bless Thine Apostles!

We praise and bless the Lord who, by His Ascension, opened our understanding to see the path and goal of our life. We praise and bless the Father, Who responds to our love for the Son with His love, and makes His abode, together with the Son, in all who hold and confess the Lord's commandments. And we keep the Father and the Son constantly in mind, praising and blessing them - like the Holy Apostles in the city of Jerusalem waiting for the power from on high: the Spirit, the Comforter - to come upon us: He who comes upon us all at our baptism, but Who leaves us because of our sins. May the whole primal, heavenly man be renewed in us; may we, like the Apostles, be made worthy to receive the blessing of our glorified and ascended Lord Jesus Christ, to whom, be glory and praise, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit - the Holy Trinity consubstantial and undivided, now and forever, through all time and all eternity. Amen. (Source: Homilies by Saint Nikolai Velimirovic)

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostom

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With sincere agape in our Risen Lord,
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George