The Solemnity of the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven has always been a bit of a mystery to me. It still is. In fact, it’s a great mystery: it’s something so full of meaning that it’s inexhaustible. Yet, I always wondered, why? Why did Jesus have to leave? Why couldn’t He have set up His millennial kingdom and reigned for a thousand years on earth? Why does the sending of the Holy Spirit happen after Jesus ascends to the Father? 

Simply put, I don’t know. But perhaps we can delve into the depth of this mystery a little. 

Preparing a Place
Firstly, we know that Jesus ascends for us: “if I do not go away, the Counselor,” the Holy Spirit, “will not come to you” (Jn. 16:7)—“that we might live no longer for ourselves, but for him, he sent the Holy Spirit from you, Father, as his first gift to those who believe, to complete his work on earth and bring us the fullness of grace” (4^th Eucharistic Prayer). He goes to prepare a place for us (cf. Jn. 14:2-3) in order to give us “access to the ‘Father’s house’, to God’s life and happiness…[so that we] might have confidence that we too shall go where he…has preceded us” (CCC 661). 

Coronation of the King
Secondly, we know that Jesus Ascension is his glorification, His union total union with His Father where He is crowned with the glory that He had with the Father from the beginning. We glimpse this glory at the Transfiguration, but it remains veiled even in His resurrected body (cf. CCC 660). This glory is also for us. Jesus’ seat at the Father’s right hand “signifies the inauguration of the Messiah’s kingdom” (CCC 664) where He establishes His reign in and through the Holy Spirit. 

Eternal High Priest
Lastly, the Ascension of Jesus into glory brings to its completion His high priesthood that He continues to exercise for us: “we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the sanctuary and the true tent which is set up not by man but by the Lord. For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; hence it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer” (Heb. 8:1-3). So it is that in the Holy Mass we celebrate each Sunday (and even daily), Jesus is the “centre and the principal actor of the liturgy that honors the Father in heaven” (CCC 662).