"He in fact came to the world to bring men back to God, not on the level of ideas - like a philosopher or master of wisdom - but really, as a shepherd who wants to lead his sheep back to the fold . . . It is for us that he came down from Heaven, and it is for us that he ascended there after making himself like men in all things, humiliated to the point of death on the cross, and after touching the abyss of the greatest separation from God".
"And what does man need more in
every age if not this: a solid anchoring for his existence? After the Ascension
the first disciples remained gathered together in the Cenacle around the Mother
of Jesus, in fervent expectation of the gift of the Holy Spirit, promised by
Jesus (cf. Acts 1:14).... [this divine invitation is offered to us] "to remain
united together in prayer, to invoke the gift of the Holy Spirit. In fact, only
to those who 'are born again from above,'", that is, of the born of the Holy
Spirit.
Pope Benedict XVI, Ascension, 2008
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