Apologetics 101: Three Real-Life Effects of the Ascension

The Ascension of Our Lord isn’t something confined to the past – it makes a real difference in our lives today. Here is what Jesus going back to His Father means for us:

Faith: Jesus leaves the Disciples but only temporarily. Being without His actual human presence forces them to act in faith as they learn to put into practice everything He taught them.

• We have to do the same thing. Faith is acting without proof. The Ascension causes us to exercise our faith – the one essential thing we need to withstand any suffering and find happiness in this life.

Hope: Jesus left us to go to Heaven. He points to where we are going. Our final destination is not this earth, this life, these temporal concerns.

• Hope is the longing to be with Jesus in Heaven. The Ascension awakens the virtue of hope within us as we start to yearn for what lies beyond this short life. This hope then spills over into all the other areas of our life.

Love: True love is self-gift made in freedom. The Ascension gives us the freedom to love God authentically because if Jesus were actually here, if we actually saw His Divinity, we would be so overwhelmed by joy that we would not be as free to choose Him.