“The Ascension of Christ means that he no longer
belongs to the world of corruption and death, which conditions our life. It means that he belongs completely
to God. He, the eternal Son, has taken our human being
to the presence of God; he has taken with him flesh
and blood in a transfigured form.
Man finds a place in God through Christ;
the human being has been taken into the very life of God. And, given that God embraces and sustains the whole cosmos, the Lord’s Ascension means that Christ has not gone far away from us, but that now, thanks to the fact
he is with the Father, he is close to each one of us forever. Each one of us may address him familiarly;
each one may turn to him. The Lord always hears our voice. We may distance ourselves inwardly from him.
We can live with our backs turned to him, but he always awaits us, and is always close to us.”
Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI
“In the Ascension, Jesus withdraws his visible presence, replacing it with a new presence,
invisible, yet more profound.
It is a presence that we find in faith,
in listening to the Word,
in the Breaking of Bread (in the Mass) and in fraternity.”
Pope Francis