The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord is the Church’s celebration of the Messiah’s enthronement at the right hand of the Father 40 days after his Resurrection. This event marks the entrance of Jesus’ glorified humanity into the divine heavenly kingdom, making the way for us. Because Jesus’ humanity necessarily included a physical body, his ascension also had to occur physically. The Apostles were given the great honor of witnessing the Lord’s ascension. “And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9). The Apostles are then told that, when Jesus returns at his Second Coming, he “will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” — on a cloud (Acts 1:11).