Day 94: Christ's Ascension into Heaven

After forty days during which Jesus showed himself to the apostles with ordinary human features which veiled his glory as the Risen One, Christ ascended into heaven and was seated at the right hand of the Father. He is the Lord who now in his humanity reigns in the everlasting glory of the Son of God and constantly intercedes for us before the Father. He sends us his Spirit and he gives us the hope of one day reaching the place he has prepared for us. (Catechism Compendium #132)

The Catechism discusses Christ's ascension into heaven in today's reading. Given the very deep material covered, I used the summary from the Catechism Compendium to quote above. Today's reading is one reason I'm glad I decided to re-read the Catechism and use the Ascension Press program. I had forgotten some things, or at least the importance of some, as I learned today. For example, the Catechism Companion, Vol I speaks of what this means for us:

In his ascension, Jesus unites humanity to divinity. The ascension completes his saving work. Humanity on its own cannot enter heaven. It is Jesus who unlocks the gates of heaven. He brought our humanity to heaven, so we can now come to the Father. (p. 192)

That part I had remembered the gist of, but not all the details (there's more in the Catechism itself).  Jesus is the high priest, offering Himself to the Father on our behalf, which I remembered from reading St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, and even that the priest at Mass was acting in persona Christi with all this tied together with Ascension and more. As the Catechism Companion puts it: 

With the ascension, there is a new reality introduced into the life of the Trinity where the Son of God, who has always been offering himself to the Father in love, is also offering humanity to the Father through his one eternal sacrifice on the cross... When we participate in the Mass, we are tapping into that once-for-all sacrifice - not only what happened at Calvary and at the Last Supper, but what is constantly, permanently happening in heaven. (p. 192)

Ascension of Christ, Rabbula Gospels, 6th century