Jesus Goes Up to Heaven

For forty days after he rose from the dead, Jesus appeared to his apostles and taught them about God's Kingdom. Then he brought them out to the Mount of Olives, near Jerusalem.

The apostles asked him whether now was the time he would make Israel a great kingdom again. Jesus told them that only the Father knows the times. But they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them. Then they would be his witnesses, telling people about him in Jerusalem, in the lands nearby, and all the way to the ends of the earth.

As they watched, Jesus was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

They kept staring up at the sky. Suddenly two men in white clothes stood beside them. They asked why the apostles were standing there looking up. Jesus, they said, would come back in the same way they had seen him go.

St. Luke also tells us, in his Gospel, that Jesus raised his hands and blessed them as he left. And the apostles were not sad. They worshiped him and went back to Jerusalem with great joy, and they spent their days in the Temple praising God.

Heaven is not a place far up past the clouds. Heaven is being with God. Jesus went to be with his Father in glory, and the Church calls this the Ascension. He is not far away from us. He prays for us, he sends us the Holy Spirit, and he is with us in the Church and especially in the Eucharist.

One day, Jesus will come again.