Forty Holy Martyrs

In the Catechism, we learn that Jesus’ descent into hell means that he truly experienced death and, in his human soul united to his divine person, entered the realm of the dead. He went there as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there. He did not descend to free the damned or destroy the hell of damnation, but to deliver the just who had gone before him and were awaiting their Redeemer. In this final phase of his messianic mission, Christ’s redemptive work reaches all who are saved, across all times and places. By his death, Jesus conquered death and the devil, who held the power of death, and he opened heaven’s gates for the just. This is a powerful source of hope: the risen Christ holds the keys of Death and Hades, and the dead who hear the voice of the Son of God will live.

In the Catechism, we learn about the significance of Christ's Ascension into heaven. After his Resurrection, Jesus entered definitively into God's heavenly domain and sits at the right hand of the Father, his humanity glorified. This event inaugurates the Messiah's kingdom, which will have no end. Christ also remains our high priest and mediator, constantly interceding for those who draw near to God through him. For family devotion, these truths offer hope: Christ, the head of the Church, has gone before us into the Father's glorious kingdom, opening access to God's life and happiness so that we may hope to be with him for ever.