Your life is hidden now with Christ in God.Father, all those you gave me I would have in my company where I am, to see this glory of mine. (Jn 17:24) Happy are they who now have as their advocate before God their judge in person; happy are they who have interceding for them the one whom we must adore equally with the Father, to whom he himself addresses this prayer. The Father cannot refuse to grant this desire which his lips expressed (Ps 21:3), for he is united with him in his will, in his power, since he is one and the same God. All those you gave me I would have in my company where I am. What assurance for those who have faith, what confidence for the believers! ... The saints, whose youth is renewed like the eagles (Ps 103:5) soar as with eagles wings. (Isa 40:31)
… On that day, Christ was lifted up before the eyes of the disciples in a cloud which took him from their sight. (Acts 1:9) He strove to draw their hearts to follow him by making himself loved by them, and he promised them through the example of his body that their body could be lifted up in the same way Today, Christ in truth mounted a cherub and flew, borne on the wings of the wind, (Ps 18:11) which is to say, he goes beyond the power of the angels. And yet, in his condescendence before your weakness, as an eagle hovering over its brood, he wants to receive you and to bear you up on his pinions. (Deut 32:11) Some people fly with Christ by means of contemplation; for you, let it at least be through love.
Brother, since Christ your treasure was lifted up to heaven today, may your heart also be there (Mt 6:21). Your origin is from there, and that is where you will find your inheritance (Ps 16:6); from there you are awaiting the Savior (Phil 3:20).
-Blessed Guerric of Igny (around 1080 1157), Cistercian abbot Sermon for the Ascension.
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