Why He Ascended into Heaven In raising Christ Jesus, God has raised us with him and made us to sit in heavenly places with him and crowned us as coheirs. Heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, says Saint Paul. That is our status. The abyss of death has been bridged, so that when we refer to the doctrine of the communion of saints, we are not reaching for a vaporous metaphor by which to bolster our melancholy spirits on this long and arduous pilgrimage here on earth. We really do believe that the abyss of death has been bridged and that we, the Church in pilgrimage, are truly one with those who have gone ahead of us, starting with our Lord himself, Saint Stephen the protomartyr, and our Lady. We are one, undivided, living, interceding fellowship who share in the priesthood of Jesus before the throne of God. The Church encourages us to pray for those who have gone ahead of us—who knows what schooling they must complete before they are able to bear up under the titanic glory of the Beatific Vision—and the Church assures us that they are praying for us. This is what we invoke in the great litany at the Easter Vigil—and, it is to be hoped, in our own prayers during the rest of the year. The Ascension of Jesus Christ has made this an actuality, not a fugitive dream or forlorn hope. And the Ascension quickens our flagging spirits as we tread along during this earthly life. I go to prepare a place for you, he said, that where I am, there you may be also. Better than the Emerald City of Oz, better than Narnia or Rivendell or Lothlorien, better than the Gardens of the Hesperides: eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him. No wonder the Scripture and the liturgy are full of injunctions to us to lift up our hearts. Sursum corda. We lift them up to the Lord. He is there, awaiting us, and by his Holy Spirit, he is here accompanying us. Let us hasten, then, to Mount Zion with singing. Thomas Howard