De la Ascensio
The Mystery of the Ascension
The author explains the theological necessity of Christ's ascension, noting that his glorified body cannot remain in a world of corruption.
Understand these words I'm telling you, dear son, and have faith in them. Know that after1 forty2 days from when our Lord Jesus Christ was raised, he ascended into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father.3 So then, since this world is a place of corruption and decay, and because the holy, glorious body of the Son of God is glorified, for that reason, son, it would not have been fitting that a body so glorious as his should remain down here in this world among us who have mortal and corruptible bodies.
Ascension and the Final Judgment
Christ's ascension serves as a promise of resurrection for the faithful and a warning of eternal separation for the sinful.
In the Ascension of the Son of God is signified the taking up—the rising—that your body will make, son, on the day of judgment, into heaven, if in this world you are a servant and lover and praiser of the Son of God; for just as the Son of God came into this world to take our nature and rose up to heaven with it, so he will raise into the heavens all the bodies of those men and those women who in this world will have been his servants and who will believe in his incarnation and who will weep to honor his honors.45 But if, by chance, you are a sinful man and are displeasing to our Lord God, and you do not believe in the articles of the holy Catholic faith, know for certain that on the day of judgment your body will go down into hell, and there you will stay with the demons in everlasting fire.6
Contemplating Glory and Torment
The reader is invited to contrast the joy of the saints in heaven with the horror of the demons in hell to inspire spiritual discernment.
Look, son, at the birds—how they fly and rise through the air—and remember what great glory you'll have if you go through the air wherever you wish; and see what great pain you'll have if your body sinks down into the abyss of hell and into a dark dungeon and prison, without any consolation, and in anguish.7 Just as all the angels and saints in glory came out to meet our Lord Jesus Christ with the sweetest songs and a grand procession to honor him when he ascended into glory, so when sinful people pass from this world into the next, the demons of hell come out with a terrifying appearance to cast them into everlasting fire and torment them.✦✦89
The Path of Ascent
To ascend with Christ, one must practice penance, detach from worldly vanity, and fix the mind on heavenly things.
If you, my son, want to climb to a place as high and as excellent as heaven, you need to begin while you still have time—by doing good works—and take care that you don't make your body so heavy with sin that you can't climb the heights that those climb who, by the path of penance done in fasting and good works, rise to heavenly glory.✦✦ Son, if you want to rise up where Jesus Christ is, lift your mind and your desire to him, and bring your memory down to the lowliness from which you came and to the frailty in which you stand in this world; and despise this world, so that you may be prized in the next. From that place where the saints of paradise are, the demons have fallen—who are now in the middle of the earth, buried in sulfur and boiling water and burning embers—and in that place where the demons have fallen, the sinful people who despise and disbelieve the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ will go down and remain.✦✦
Read the original Latin
Entin, amable fill, aqüestes paraules que yot dich, e ages creensa en elles. Sapies que aprés . xl. jorns que nostro Senyor Jhesu Christ fo resuscitat, s en pujá al cel, seer a la part dreta de Deu lo Pare. On, com aquest mon sia loch de corrupcio e de defalliment e car lo sant cors gloriós del Fill de Deu sia glorificat, per assó, fill, no fora covinent cosa que cors tan gloriós com aquell romangués sajús en aquest mon enfre nos qui avem cors mortal e corrumpable.
En l ascensio del Fill de Deu es significada lasumcio el pujament quel teu cors ferá, fill, al dia del judici, en lo cel, si en aquest mon est servidor e amador e loador del Fill de Deu; car en axi com lo Fill de Deu vench en aquest mon pendre nostra natura e sen pujá al cel ab ella, en axi pujará en los cels tots los cossos daquells qui son e daquelles, qui en est mon serán estats sos servidors e qui creurán la sua encarnacio e qui plorerán per honrar sos honraments. Mas si per aventura, fiil, tu est hom peccador e est desagradable a nostro Senyor Deu e no creus en los articles de la santa fe catholica, per cert sapies que ton cors al dia del juy devallará als inferns, e aquí estarás ab los demonis en foch perdurable.
Veges, fill, los aucells con volen e pujen per laer, e remembra con gran gloria auras si per laire vas on te vulles; e veges con gran dolor aurás si ton cors devalla al abis infernal e en cárcer tenebrós e en presó, sens nula consolacio e engoximent.
Enaxí com tots los ángels e tots los sants de gloria ab cant de molt gran dolçor e ab gran professó exiren a nostro Senyor Jhesu Christ per fer honrament con pujá en gloria, enaxí als homens peccadors con passen daquest mon en laltre ixen los demonis de infern ab molt horrible esguardament, per tal que en foch perdurable los meten els turmenten.
Si tu, fill, vols pujar en tan alt loch e en tan excellent com lo cel, a comensar te cové, dementre que temps has, com fasses bones obres, e guarda t que ab peccat no fasses ton cors tan fexuch, que no pusques pujar en les altees que pugen aquells qui per via de penitencia feta en dejunis e en bones obres pugen a la celestial gloria.
Fill, si vols pujar lá on es Jhesu Christ, puja ta pensa e ton desig a ell, e devalla ton remembrament a la viltat don est vengut e al defalliment en lo qual estás en aquest mon; e menysprea aquest mon, per so que sies preat en laltre.
Daquell loch on son los sants de paradís, son cahuts los demonis qui están en lo mig loch de la térra, soterrats en sofre e en aygua bullent e en brases de foch: e en aquell loch on son cahuts los demonis, devallarán e estarán los homens peccadors qui menyspreen e descreen la gloria de nostro Senyor Jhesu Christ.
Scripture echoes
- ↩Acts.1.9-Acts.1.11 — And after he said these things, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. Acts.1.10 — And as they were looking intently into the sky as he was going, behold, two men stood beside them in white garments. Acts.1.11 — Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way you saw him go into heaven.
- ↩Matt.25.41 — Then he will also say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'
- ↩Heb.12.1 — Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race set before us.
- ↩Gal.6.10;John.9.4 — So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. John.9.4 — We must work the works of the One who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work.
- ↩Luke.10.18;Rev.12.7-Rev.12.9;Isa.14.12 — He said to them, "I watched Satan fall from heaven like lightning." Rev.12.7 — And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. Rev.12.8 — And they did not prevail, and no place was found for them any longer in heaven. Rev.12.9 — And the great dragon was thrown down—the ancient serpent, the one called the Devil and Satan, the one who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Isa.14.12 — How you have fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who laid low the nations!
- ↩Rev.20.10;Luke.16.24 — And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are also, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Luke.16.24 — And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.'
Notes
- 1 ↩Incomplete fragment in the printed segmentation; continues through s3–s4 as one sentence: 'Know that after forty days from when our Lord Jesus Christ was raised…'
- 2 ↩Roman numeral 'xl.' rendered as 'forty'; mid-sentence fragment between s2 and s4.
- 3 ↩'s en pujá' read as se'n pujá ('he went up from here / ascended'); 'seer' as purpose/result infinitive 'to sit'.
- 4 ↩Read as l'assumpció e el pujament (the assumption/taking-up and the rising). Medieval orthography collapses the article and may drop the conjunction; rendered as appositive 'taking up—the rising' to keep both nouns without stiff church diction.
- 5 ↩honraments = honors/marks of honor. Kept close to the source ('weep to honor his honors') rather than paraphrasing as generic repentance, though the likely sense is penitential tears offered as honor to Christ.
- 6 ↩Treated as fill ('son'); the double i is a likely scribal/print error, consistent with the chapter's address (fill) in neighboring sections.
- 7 ↩Old Catalan engoximent is taken as anguish/distress (angoixa/angoixament). The phrase sens nula consolacio e engoximent is read as 'without any consolation, and in anguish,' not as the negation of both consolation and anguish.
- 8 ↩Old Catalan esguardament can mean look, gaze, countenance, or appearance; rendered as “look” for the demons’ terrifying aspect at death.
- 9 ↩Read as e·ls turmenten (“and torment them”), the usual medieval Catalan elision of e + els, not a separate subject.
Doctrine for Children — Opening companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit