We are commemorating the day on which our poor human nature was carried up in Christ, above all the hosts of heaven, above all the ranks of angels, beyond the highest heavenly powers to the very throne of God the Father. Today we have been made possessors of paradise, having gained more through Christ’s unspeakable grace than we had lost through the devil’s malice. Our enemy drove us out of the bliss of first abode, but the Son of God has placed us at the right hand of the Father, with who he lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
From a sermon on the Ascension of Leo the Great (c.400-461)