souls are uplifted to
Him; because, as stated above (A. 1, ad 3), His Ascension fosters,
first, faith; secondly, hope; thirdly, charity. Fourthly, our
reverence for Him is thereby increased, since we no longer deem Him
an earthly man, but the God of heaven; thus the Apostle says (2 Cor.
5:16): "If we have known Christ according to the flesh--'that is, as
mortal, whereby we reputed Him as a mere man,'" as the gloss
interprets the words--"but now we know Him so no longer."

On His part, in regard to those things which, in ascending, He did
for our salvation. First, He prepared the way for our ascent into
heaven, according to His own saying (John 14:2): "I go to prepare a
place for you," and the words of Micheas (2:13), "He shall go up that
shall open the way before them." For since He is our Head the members
must follow whither the Head has gone: hence He said (John 14:3):
"That where I am, you also may be." In sign whereof He took to heaven
the souls of the saints delivered from hell, according to Ps. 67:19
(Cf. Eph. 4:8): "Ascending on high, He led captivity captive,"
because He took with Him to heaven those who had been held captives
by the devil--to heaven, as to a place strange to human nature.
captives in deed of a happy taking, since they were acquired by His
victory.

Secondly, because as the high-priest under the Old Testament entered
the holy place to stand before God for the people, so also Christ
entered heaven "to make intercession for us," as is said in Heb.
7:25. Because the very showing of Himself in the human nature which
He took with Him to heaven is a pleading for us, so that for the very
reason that God so exalted human nature in Christ, He may take pity
on them for whom the Son of God took human nature. Thirdly, that
being established in His heavenly seat as God and Lord, He might send
down gifts upon men, according to Eph. 4:10: "He ascended above all
the heavens, that He might fill all things," that is, "with His
gifts," according to the gloss.

Reply Obj. 1: Christ's Ascension is the cause of our salvation by way
not of merit, but of efficiency, as was stated above regarding His
Resurrection (Q. 56, A. 1, ad 3, 4).

Reply Obj. 2: Christ's Passion is the cause of our ascending to
heaven, properly speaking, by removing the hindrance which is sin,
and also by way of merit: whereas Christ's Ascension is the direct
cause of our ascension, as by beginning it in Him who is our Head,
with whom th