Works › Sermons for the Seasons of the Year
Volume 13 · pp. 194–195
Sermon XLVIII. Again on the Ascension of the Lord
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SERMO XLVIII. ITEM DE ASCENSIONE DOMINI.
Hic Jesus, qui assumptus est a vobis in cœlum, sic veniet quemadmodum vidistis eum euntem in cœlum. Act. i, 11.
Nota, quod Dominus ascendit, 1. In tubæ concrepatione. 2. Cum nubis susceptione. 3. Cum Discipulorum exsultatione. 4. Cum dulci benedictione. 5. Cum manuum elevatione. 6. Cum cicatricum retentione.
De primo dicitur in Psal. xlvi, 6: Ascendit Deus in jubilo; et Dominus in voce tubæ.
De secundo dicitur Act. i, 9: Videntibus illis elevatus est: et nubes suscepit eum ab oculis eorum.
De tertio dicitur Luc. xxiv, 52: Ipsi adorantes regressi sunt Jerusalem cum gaudio magno.
De quarto et quinto dicit Luc. xxiv, 50 et 51: Elevatis manibus suis benedixit eis. Et factum est, dum benediceret illis, recessit ab eis.
De sexto dicit Glossa super Luc. xxiv, 40, quod «cicatrices suas propter hoc cœlo intulit, ut perpetuum victoriæ suæ circumferat triumphum.»
Sic itaque secundum testimonium Angelorum reversurus est ad judicium. 1. Tunc enim cum tubis Angeli mortuos suscitabunt. 2. Tunc electorum animæ de resumptione corporum suorum exsultabunt. 3. Tunc nubes, id est, angelicæ virtutes Deum ad judicium deportabunt. 4. Tunc Filius Dei statutos ad dexteram dulciter benedicet. 5. Tunc elevatis manibus ad sinistram positos et feriet et maledicet. 6. Tunc universæ carni vulnerum suorum cicatrices ostendet.
1. De primo, videlicet quod Angeli cum tubis mortuos suscitabunt, dicit Paulus I ad Corinth. xv, 51 et 52: Omnes quidem resurgemus, sed non omnes immutabimur. In momento, in ictu oculi, in novissima tuba: canet enim tuba. Item I ad Thess. iv, 16: Ipse Dominus in jussu, et in voce Archangeli, et in tuba Dei descendet de cœlo: et mortui, qui in Christo, sunt resurgent primi.
2. De secundo, videlicet quod electorum animæ de resumptione suorum corporum exsultabunt, dicitur in Psal. cxlix, 3: Exsultabunt sancti in gloria: lætabuntur in cubilibus suis. Hanc auctoritatem sic intellige, quod electorum animæ modo exsultant existentes cum Domino in gloria: tunc autem etiam lætabuntur in cubilibus suis, id est, propter receptionem cubilium, hoc est, corporum suorum. Corpus enim quasi cubile est animæ, in cujus receptione nimirum tunc felix anima lætabitur: quia corpus, quod modo seminatur in ignobilitate, tunc surget in gloria, sicut dicit Apost. I ad Cor. xv, 43.
3. De tertio, videlicet quod nubes, id est, Angeli ad judicium Deum deportabunt, dicit ipse Dominus, Matth. xxiv, 30: Videbunt Filium hominis venientem in nubibus cæli cum virtute multa, et majestate. Item, de hoc dicitur in Apoc. i, 7: Ecce venit cum nubibus, et videbit eum omnis oculus, et qui eum pupugerunt. Et tunc plangent se super eum omnes tribus terræ. Etiam: Amen.
SERMON XLVIII. AGAIN ON THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD.
This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come thus, in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven. Acts 1:11.
Note that the Lord ascended: 1. With the sounding of the trumpet. 2. With the reception by the cloud. 3. With the exultation of the Disciples. 4. With sweet blessing. 5. With the raising of the hands. 6. With retention of the scars.
Concerning the first it is said in Psalm 46:6: God ascended in jubilation, and the Lord with the voice of the trumpet.
Concerning the second it is said in Acts 1:9: While they were looking, he was lifted up, and a cloud received him from their eyes.
Concerning the third it is said in Luke 24:52: They, adoring, returned to Jerusalem with great joy.
Concerning the fourth and fifth Luke 24:50 and 51 says: With his hands raised, he blessed them. And it happened, while he blessed them, that he withdrew from them.
Concerning the sixth the Gloss says on Luke 24:40 that he brought his scars into heaven for this reason, that he might carry about the perpetual triumph of his victory.
Thus, therefore, according to the testimony of the Angels he is going to return to judgment. 1. For then the Angels with trumpets will raise the dead. 2. Then the souls of the elect will exult concerning the taking up again of their bodies. 3. Then the clouds, that is, the angelic powers, will carry God to judgment. 4. Then the Son of God will sweetly bless those appointed at the right hand. 5. Then, with hands raised, he will both strike and curse those placed at the left. 6. Then he will show to all flesh the scars of his wounds.
1. On the first, namely that the Angels will raise the dead with trumpets, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:51 and 52: Indeed we shall all rise again, but we shall not all be changed. In a moment, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound. Likewise 1 Thessalonians 4:16 says: The Lord himself, with command and with the voice of the Archangel and with the trumpet of God, will descend from heaven, and the dead who are in Christ will rise first.
2. On the second, namely that the souls of the elect will exult concerning the taking up again of their bodies, it is said in Psalm 149:3: The saints will exult in glory; they will rejoice in their beds. Understand this authority thus: the souls of the elect now exult while existing with the Lord in glory, but then they will also rejoice in their beds, that is, because of the reception of the beds, that is, of their bodies. For the body is as it were the bed of the soul, and in its reception that blessed soul will then surely rejoice, because the body that is now sown in ignobility will then rise in glory, as the Apostle says in 1 Corinthians 15:43.
3. On the third, namely that the clouds, that is, the Angels, will carry God to judgment, the Lord himself says in Matthew 24:30: They will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and majesty. Likewise, concerning this it is said in Apocalypse 1:7: Behold, he comes with clouds, and every eye will see him, and those who pierced him. And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Even so: Amen.
4. De quarto videlicet quod ad dexteram constitutos dulciter benedicet. Dicit etiam ipse Dominus, Matth. xxv, 31 et seq.: Cum venerit Filius hominis in majestate sua, et omnes Angeli cum eo, tunc sedebit super sedem majestatis suæ: et congregabuntur ante eum omnes gentes, et separabit eos ab invicem, sicut pastor segregat oves ab hædis: et statuet oves quidem a dextris, hædos autem a sinistris. Tunc dicet Rex his, qui a dextris ejus erunt: Venite benedicti Patris mei, possidete paratum vobis regnum a constitutione mundi. Esurivi enim, et dedistis mihi manducare: sitivi, et dedistis mihi bibere: hospes eram, et collegistis me: nudus, et cooperuistis me: infirmus, et visitastis me: in carcere eram, et venistis ad me. Ecce gratias aget Dominus fidelibus suis de omnibus beneficiis eorum, quæ membris suis, hoc est, pauperibus suis impenderunt.
5. De quinto, videlicet quod manibus elevatis ad sinistram positos feriet et maledicet. Dicit etiam ipse Dominus, Matth. xxv, 41 et seq.: Tunc dicet et Rex his, qui a sinistris ejus erunt: Discedite a me maledicti in ignem æternum, qui paratus est diabolo, et Angelis ejus: Esurivi enim, et non dedistis mihi manducare: sitivi, et non dedistis mihi potum: hospes eram, et non collegistis me: nudus, et non cooperuistis me: infirmus, et in carcere, et non visitastis me. Super locum istum dicit Glossa: «Quid moretur qui aliena rapit, si æternaliter damnatur qui de suo non dedit?»
6. De sexto, videlicet quod cicatrices suas in judicio cunctis ostendet. Dicit Glossa super Luc. xxiv, 40: «Dominus cicatrices suas in judicio servaturus est, ut sua morte redemptis, quod misericorditer sint adjuti, præpositis ejusdem mortis intimæ indiciis, et ut in judicio quam juste damnentur impii, denuntiet.» Justi igitur tunc cicatrices Domini respicient cum exsultatione; mali vero eas inspicient cum gemitibus et tremore.
Rogate ergo Dominum, ut modo ei tam fideliter serviamus, ut eum in districto judicio cum gaudio videamus. Amen.
4. On the fourth, namely that he will sweetly bless those established at the right hand. The Lord himself also says in Matthew 25:31 and following: When the Son of Man comes in his majesty, and all the Angels with him, then he will sit upon the seat of his majesty; and all nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them from one another, as a shepherd separates sheep from goats; and he will set the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at his left. Then the King will say to those who will be at his right hand: Come, blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I thirsted, and you gave me to drink; I was a guest, and you gathered me in; naked, and you covered me; sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me. Behold, the Lord will give thanks to his faithful ones for all their benefits that they bestowed upon his members, that is, upon his poor.
5. On the fifth, namely that with hands raised he will strike and curse those placed at the left. The Lord himself also says in Matthew 25:41 and following: Then the King will say also to those who will be at his left: Depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his Angels. For I was hungry, and you did not give me to eat; I thirsted, and you did not give me drink; I was a guest, and you did not gather me in; naked, and you did not cover me; sick and in prison, and you did not visit me. On this place the Gloss says: What delay awaits the one who seizes the property of another, if the one who did not give from his own is damned eternally?
6. On the sixth, namely that he will show his scars to all in judgment. The Gloss says on Luke 24:40: The Lord is going to preserve his scars in judgment so that, for those redeemed by his death, he may show by the intimate signs of that same death placed before them that they were mercifully helped, and so that he may declare in judgment how justly the impious are damned. Therefore the just will then look upon the scars of the Lord with exultation; but the evil will inspect them with groanings and trembling.
Therefore pray to the Lord that now we may serve him so faithfully that in the strict judgment we may see him with joy. Amen.
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