ARTICLE 6 "HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN
AND IS SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND OF
THE FATHER"
659 "So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and
sat down at the right hand of God."[531] Christ's body was glorified at the moment of
his Resurrection, as proved by the new and supernatural properties it subsequently and
permanently enjoys.[532] But during the forty days when he eats and drinks familiarly
with his disciples and teaches them about the kingdom, his glory remains veiled under
the appearance of ordinary humanity.[533] Jesus' final apparition ends with the
irreversible entry of his humanity into divine glory, symbolized by the cloud and by
heaven, where he is seated from that time forward at God's right hand.[534] Only in a
wholly exceptional and unique way would Jesus show himself to Paul "as to one
untimely born", in a last apparition that established him as an apostle.[535]
660 The veiled character of the glory of the Risen One during this time is intimated in
his mysterious words to Mary Magdalene: "I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go
to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my
God and your God."[536] This indicates a difference in manifestation between the glory
of the risen Christ and that of the Christ exalted to the Father's right hand, a transition
marked by the historical and transcendent event of the Ascension.
661 This final stage stays closely linked to the first, that is, to his descent from heaven in
the Incarnation. Only the one who "came from the Father" can return to the Father:
Christ Jesus.[537] "No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from
heaven, the Son of man."[538] Left to its own natural powers humanity does not have
access to the "Father's house", to God's life and happiness.[539] Only Christ can open
to man such access that we, his members, might have confidence that we too shall go
where he, our Head and our Source, has preceded us.[540]
662 "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself."[541] The
lifting up of Jesus on the cross signifies and announces his lifting up by his Ascension
into heaven, and indeed begins it. Jesus Christ, the one priest of the new and eternal
Covenant, "entered, not into a sanctuary made by human hands. . . but into heaven itself,
now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf."[542] There Christ permanently
exercises his priesthood, for he "always lives to make intercession" for "those who draw
near to God through him".[543] As "high priest of the good things to come" he is the
centre and the principal actor of the liturgy that honours the Father in heaven.[544]
663 Henceforth Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father: "By 'the Father's right
hand' we understand the glory and honour of divinity, where he who exists as Son of
God before all ages, indeed as God, of one being with the Father, is seated bodily after
he became incarnate and his flesh was glorified."[545]
664 Being seated at the Father's right hand signifies the inauguration of the Messiah's
kingdom, the fulfilment of the prophet Daniel's vision concerning the Son of man: "To
him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed."[546] After this event the apostles
became witnesses of the "kingdom [that] will have no end".[547]
IN BRIEF
665 Christ's Ascension marks the definitive entrance of Jesus' humanity into God's
heavenly domain, whence he will come again (cf. Acts 1:11); this humanity in the
meantime hides him from the eyes of men (cf. Col 3:3).
666 Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, precedes us into the Father's glorious kingdom
so that we, the members of his Body, may live in the hope of one day being with him for
ever.
667 Jesus Christ, having entered the sanctuary of heaven once and for all, intercedes
constantly for us as the mediator who assures us of the permanent outpouring of the
Holy Spirit.
ARTICLE 7 - "FROM THENCE HE WILL COME
AGAlN TO JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE
DEAD"
I. HE WILL COME AGAIN IN GLORY
Christ already reigns through the Church. . .
668 "Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the
living."[548] Christ's Ascension into heaven signifies his participation, in his humanity, in
God's power and authority. Jesus Christ is Lord: he possesses all power in heaven and
on earth. He is "far above all rule and authority and power and dominion", for the
Father "has put all things under his feet."[549] Christ is Lord of the cosmos and of
history. In him human history and indeed all creation are "set forth" and transcendently
fulfilled.[550]
669 As Lord, Christ is also head of the Church, which is his Body.[551] Taken up to
heaven and glorified after he had thus fully accomplished his mission, Christ dwells on
earth in his Church. The redemption is the source of the authority that Christ, by virtue
of the Holy Spirit, exercises over the Church. "The kingdom of Christ [is] already
present in mystery", "on earth, the seed and the beginning of the kingdom".[552]
670 Since the Ascension God's plan has entered into its fulfilment. We are already at
"the last hour".[553] "Already the final age of the world is with us, and the renewal of
the world is irrevocably under way; it is even now anticipated in a certain real way, for
the Church on earth is endowed already with a sanctity that is real but imperfect."[554]
Christ's kingdom already manifests its presence through the miraculous signs that attend
its proclamation by the Church.[555]
. . . until all things are subjected to him
671 Though already present in his Church, Christ's reign is nevertheless yet to be
fulfilled "with power and great glory" by the King's return to earth.[556] This reign is
still under attack by the evil powers, even though they have been defeated definitively by
Christ's Passover.[557] Until everything is subject to him, "until there be realized new
heavens and a new earth in which justice dwells, the pilgrim Church, in her sacraments
and institutions, which belong to this present age, carries the mark of this world which
will pass, and she herself takes her place among the creatures which groan and travail yet
and await the revelation of the sons of God."[558] That is why Christians pray, above all
in the Eucharist, to hasten Christ's return by saying to him:[559] Maranatha! "Our Lord,
come!"[560]
672 Before his Ascension Christ affirmed that the hour had not yet come for the
glorious establishment of the messianic kingdom awaited by Israel[561] which, according
to the prophets, was to bring all men the definitive order of justice, love and peace.[562]
According to the Lord, the present time is the time of the Spirit and of witness, but also
a time still marked by "distress" and the trial of evil which does not spare the
Church[563] and ushers in the struggles of the last days. It is a time of waiting and
watching.[564]
The glorious advent of Christ, the hope of Israel
673 Since the Ascension Christ's coming in glory has been imminent,[565] even though
"it is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own
authority."[566]. This eschatological coming could be accomplished at any moment,
even if both it and the final trial that will precede it are "delayed".[567]
674 The glorious Messiah's coming is suspended at every moment of history until his
recognition by "all Israel", for "a hardening has come upon part of Israel" in their
"unbelief" toward Jesus.[568] St. Peter says to the Jews of Jerusalem after Pentecost:
"Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of
refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ
appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for establishing all
that God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old."[569] St. Paul echoes
him: "For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their
acceptance mean but life from the dead?"[570] The "full inclusion" of the Jews in the
Messiah's salvation, in the wake of "the full number of the Gentiles",[571] will enable the
People of God to achieve "the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ", in which
"God may be all in all".[572]
The Church's ultimate trial
675 Before Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will
shake the faith of many believers.[573] The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage
on earth[574] will unveil the "mystery of iniquity" in the form of a religious deception
offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the
truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by
which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.[575]
676 The Antichrist's deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the
claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized
beyond history through the eschatological judgement. The Church has rejected even
modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of
millenarianism,[576] especially the "intrinsically perverse" political form of a secular
messianism.[577]
677 The Church will enter the glory of the kingdom only through this final Passover,
when she will follow her Lord in his death and Resurrection.[578] The kingdom will be
fulfilled, then, not by a historic triumph of the Church through a progressive
ascendancy, but only by God's victory over the final unleashing of evil, which will cause
his Bride to come down from heaven.[579] God's triumph over the revolt of evil will
take the form of the Last Judgement after the final cosmic upheaval of this passing
world.[580]
II. TO JUDGE THE LIVING AND THE DEAD
678 Following in the steps of the prophets and John the Baptist, Jesus announced the
judgement of the Last Day in his preaching.[581] Then will the conduct of each one and
the secrets of hearts be brought to light.[582] Then will the culpable unbelief that
counted the offer of God's grace as nothing be condemned.[583] Our attitude to our
neighbour will disclose acceptance or refusal of grace and divine love.[584] On the Last
Day Jesus will say: "Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my
brethren, you did it to me."[585]
679 Christ is Lord of eternal life. Full right to pass definitive judgement on the works
and hearts of men belongs to him as redeemer of the world. He "acquired" this right by
his cross. The Father has given "all judgement to the Son".[586] Yet the Son did not
come to judge, but to save and to give the life he has in himself.[587] By rejecting grace
in this life, one already judges oneself, receives according to one's works, and can even
condemn oneself for all eternity by rejecting the Spirit of love.[588]
IN BRIEF
680 Christ the Lord already reigns through the Church, but all the things of this world
are not yet subjected to him. The triumph of Christ's kingdom will not come about
without one last assault by the powers of evil.
681 On Judgement Day at the end of the world, Christ will come in glory to achieve the
definitive triumph of good over evil which, like the wheat and the tares, have grown up
together in the course of history.
682 When he comes at the end of time to judge the living and the dead, the glorious
Christ will reveal the secret disposition of hearts and will render to each man according
to his works, and according to his acceptance or refusal of grace.
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