Selected quotes of Pope Benedict XVI offered daily for prayer and reflection….

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Feast, Ascension
 


In the Ascension, Jesus did not go somewhere far away from us. His tent, he himself in his Body, remains among us and is one of us. We can call him by name and speak at ease with him. He listens to us and, if we are attentive, we can also hear him speaking back.

 
Homily at Vespers
Cathedral of Munich
10 September 2006

 
 
 
Feast, Ascension
 


In the farewell discourses of St. John's Gospel Jesus says to his disciples: 'I go away and I will come to you.' Jesus' words sum up beautifully what is so special about Jesus' 'going away', which is also his 'coming', and at the same time, they explain the mystery of the cross, the resurrection, and the ascension. His going away is in this sense, a coming, a new form of closeness.

 
from 'Jesus of Nazareth'

 
 
 
Feast, Ascension
 


The Evangelist Luke says that after the Ascension the disciples returned to Jerusalem "with great joy" (24: 52). Their joy stems from the fact that what had happened was not really a separation, the Lord's permanent absence: on the contrary, they were then certain that the Crucified-Risen One was alive and that in him God's gates, the gates of eternal life, had been opened to humanity for ever.

 
Homily
Monte Casino, Italy
24 May 2009

 
 
 
Feast, Ascension
 


It is the Ascension. The meaning of this final gesture of Jesus is twofold. In the first place, ascending on high, he clearly reveals his divinity: he returns to where he came from, that is, to God, after having fulfilled his mission on earth. Moreover, Christ ascends into heaven with the humanity he has assumed and which he has resurrected from the dead: that humanity is ours, transfigured, divinized, made eternal.

 
Regina Caeli
St Peter's Square
21 May 2006

 
 
 
Feast, Ascension
 


The departing Jesus does not make his way to some distant star. He enters into communion of power and life with the living God, into God's dominion over space. Hence he has not 'gone away' but now and forever, by God's own power he is present with us and for us.

 
from 'Jesus of Nazareth'

 
 
 
Feast, Ascension
 


The New Testament describes the place to which the cloud took Jesus...God is God...his presence is not spatial but divine. 'Sitting at God's right hand' means participating in this divine dominion over space.

 
from 'Jesus of Nazareth'

 
 
 
Feast, Ascension
 


The Ascension reveals the "most high calling" (Gaudium et Spes, n. 22) of every human person, called to eternal life in the Kingdom of God, kingdom of love, light and peace.

 
Regina Caeli
St Peter's Square
21 May 2006

 
 
 
Feast, Ascension
 


The Ascension tells us that in Christ our humanity is brought to the heights of God; thus, every time we pray, earth is united to Heaven. And like incense, burning, its scent is carried on high, hence, when we raise our prayer to the Lord with confidence in Christ, it travels across Heaven and reaches God himself and is heard and answered by Him.

 
Regina Caeli
20 May 2012

 

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