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Did Jesus really Ascend into Heaven???

The Sixth Article of the Apostle’s Creed
Posted on October 28, 2014 Leave a Comment

” He ascended into Heaven, and sits at the right of God, the Father Almighty “

I apologize for not posting on Catechesis as much lately. The mission of this site has not changed,if anything, it has been strengthened and galvanized. Now, more than ever, it has become so glaringly obvious, that Catechesis in its most basic form, is so desperately needed. Not only is Catechesis needed for the lay faithful, or the potential convert or revert, but also for many, and I say many Catholic priests and their superiors. I will do my best to provide sound Catechesis on a regular basis. Please, print, copy, email, send whatever information from this site that you find useful for yourself, students, children, parents, priests, Bishops…… Use whatever you like from this site to help evangelize and catechize the population. Just give Canadian Catechist a little plug, that’s all I ask :-). And yes, I do use emoticons lol!!!
Once again, sorry for the delay in posting on Catechesis. I have had a couple of minor health issues that I have been dealing with lately. Nothing serious, but definitely enough to slow me down a bit. This month, I am also preparing for the thirty-day Ignatian retreat of the Spiritual Exercises. So please keep me in your prayers, I am going to need them. The Spiritual Exercises start on November first for myself and some of the other members of the Marian Catechist Apostolate who are working towards becoming Consecrated Marian Catechists. I hope others who read this site consider becoming Marian Catechists.
He ascended into Heaven
Let us begin with the first part of the article, “He ascended into Heaven“. Because of the fact that Jesus now has a glorified body ( which in itself, has many amazing characteristics ), he was able to ascend into Heaven by use of His human power, as well as His Divine power. Jesus ascended by His own power. He was not taken up into Heaven like Elias from the Old Testament here in 2 Kings 2:[11]And as they went on, walking and talking together, behold a fiery chariot, and fiery horses parted them both asunder: and Elias went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” So, we believe as it says in the Catechism of the Council of Trent that “ we believe that Christ ascended into Heaven as God and man by His own power.” You see, because Jesus now has a glorified body, he could travel at the behest of His soul. He could literally go wherever His Soul wished. We call this particular characteristic of a glorified body, “ Agility “. The agility that Jesus’ glorified body now has, gives him the ability to move at the speed of light at the command of the will. Their are some other really awesome characteristics that a glorified body has that I’m itching to tell you about, but they will have to wait until I post on the ” the eleventh article of the Apostle’s Creed “, which is coming soon!
Some may be wondering, or ask the question, ” why did Jesus go to Heaven” ? Why didn’t Jesus stay here? He could have stayed if He chose to as the God and man, right? To answer the last question first, Jesus is here as God and man, hidden under the species of bread and wine in every Catholic Church in the Holy Eucharist. To answer the question of why did Jesus go to Heaven. He told us exactly why He went in John 17:[7]But I tell you the truth: it is expedient to you that I go: for if I go not, the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. ” So, when He goes to Heaven, Jesus will send the Holy Ghost to help to strengthen and confirm the Apostle’s in their Faith. That is not all, their is another very important reason that Jesus went to Heaven. Also from the Gospel of John Chapter 14: [2]” In my Father’ s house there are many mansions. If not, I would have told you: because I go to prepare a place for you. [3] And if I shall go, and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will take you to myself; that where I am, you also may be.” Jesus is going to prepare a place for His followers.
So far, just from this little bit of text from the sixth article of the Apostle’s Creed we have a lot of catechetical teaching. Their is more. Jesus didn’t go to Heaven alone, oh no, He brought others with Him! Who did He bring? He brought the souls of the just whom He had delivered from the limbo of the Fathers. Those whom He preached to when He “ descended into hell “. All the Old Testament Saints including Adam and Eve, St John the Baptist, St Samuel, St David…..went with the Most Glorious King of Heaven and Earth into Heaven that very day, exactly 40 days after His Resurrection.
We will cover more on this article of the Creed shortly…
May Almighty God Bless us all, and protect us from the World, the devil, and ourselves
In JM+JT,
Lee more at www.canadiancatechist.com

Posted in: Apostles Creed, Sixth Article of Apostle's Creed | Tagged: Adam and Eve, agility, ascension, ascension into heaven, glorified body, Jesus, Jesus Christ, sixth article of the Apostle's Creed, The Apostles Creed