Questions About the Ascension101. When did Christ ascend into heaven? |
Christ ascended, body and soul, into heaven on Ascension Day, forty days after His Resurrection.
102. Why did Christ remain on earth forty days after His Resurrection?
Christ remained on earth forty days after His Resurrection to prove that He had truly risen from the dead and to complete the instruction of the apostles.
(a) Saint Paul tells us that Christ, after His Resurrection, appeared frequently to the apostles and to many others.
(b) Christ ascended into heaven from Mount Olivet, a hill outside Jerusalem.
103. What do we mean when we say that Christ sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty?
When we say that Christ sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty, we mean that Our Lord as God is equal to the Father, and that as man He shares above all the saints in the glory of His Father and exercises for all eternity the supreme authority of a king over all creatures.
(a) Even as man, Christ of Himself has dominion over all creation. His Kingship rests on the fact that His human nature is immediately united to the divine Person of the Son of God, and on the fact that He redeemed all men with His precious blood.
(b) On earth Christ exercises His kingly authority in spiritual matters through His Church. His Kingship extends also over temporal and civil matters.
The Baltimore Catechism, no. 3, Lesson 8.
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