Image via WikipediaA modified Collect for Ascension Day
Grant we pray, Almighty God that as we believe Jesus Christ the Messiah, to have ascended into heaven, so may we also in heart and mind there ascend, and with him continually dwell, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen
In John 17:20-26, Jesus prayed that those who believe would be one with him in faith and the perfect knowledge of the infinite love of God, through the living Christ. He prayed they would be guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit, as the body of Christ, to also live the Paschal Mystery as true witnesses of the incarnation of the living Christ. As the Son of Man, Jesus knew the experience of ascending and dwelling in heavenly places while in his physical body [Luke 17:20-21].
He knew union with God’s presence [Spirit] through the living Christ [Son of God] and the Holy Spirit in his spiritual body [John 17:1-3]. The prayer for Ascension is that all who believe can also experience, proclaim and manifest the same spiritual truth Jesus knew and dwell in same heavenly places, through God’s grace, truth and love of the living Christ, within their spiritual bodies [John 1:14-18, 14:20, 1 Peter 2:5].
Jesus declared that by prayer, seeking and serving the living Christ in all people, those who believe could ascend into heavenly places in heart and mind by denying self, taking up their cross and follow him are as the body of Christ in the world. By living the Paschal Mystery as Sons of Men, those who believe can ascend in personal spiritual unity with God, Jesus and all believers, through the living Christ.
Like Jesus those who believe can regain their fundamental spiritual identity and inheritance as Sons of Men and Sons of God, by imitating Jesus Christ. This unity through the living Christ is mankind’s lost, divine, spiritual heritage. It can now be realized and manifested through ascending in the Christ-consciousness, which Jesus knew and modeled.
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