Ascension – a monastic slant
Posted by Sr Eleanor on May 2, 2008
Whether you have already celebrated Ascension on Thursday or have yet to celebrate it on Sunday, there is a monastic slant to this aspect of the Paschal Mystery which is worth pondering.
Dom Jean Leclercq OSB puts it much better than I can:
“The Jerusalem above is the end the monk strives for. He will rise towards it through everything which calls to mind – and gives reality to – an ascension, and this introduces a whole series of themes. First, that of the Ascension par excellence – of Christ our Lord: This is one of the Mysteries of Christ on which St. Bernard left the greatest number of sermons, more even than on the Passion. The monk leaves the world. Like every Christian, he detaches himself from it. But even more, because of special vocation, he separates himself from it. He goes away into solitude, often onto a mountain, the better to fulfill the precept that the Church, on the feast of the Ascension, gives to all the faithful: “To live in the celestial regions” (in caelestibus habitemus). When the Lord had disappeared in the cloud of His glory, the Apostles kept their eyes raised to Heaven. Two angels came to tell them that they would not see Him again until such time as He would return. Soon would come the time for them to spread out over the whole world, to sow the seeds of the Gospel, to plant the Church. Monks, however, have the privilege of continuing the watch. They know that they will not see the Lord; they live by faith. Nevertheless, there they will remain. Their cross will be to love without seeing, and yet to watch constantly, to keep their eyes on nothing but God, invisible yet present. Their testimony before the world will be to show, by their existence alone, the direction in which one must look. It will be to hasten, by prayer and desires, the fulfillment of the kingdom of God.”
Jean Leclercq OSB, “The Love of Learning and the Desire for God: a Study of Monastic Culture”,
chapter 4, Devotion to Heaven
