I have read somewhere that God the Father always uses his left hand. Do you know why? "Because Jesus is sitting on his right hand!"

Today, we celebrate Christ's Ascension into heaven where he sits at the right hand of the Father. As enshrined in Article 6 of our Creed, we believe: "He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father."

What does being "seated at the right hand of the Father" mean for us?

Quoting Saint John Damascene, our universal catechism explains, "By 'the Father's right hand' we understand the glory and honor of divinity, where he who exists as Son of God before all ages, indeed as God, of one being with the Father, is seated bodily after he became incarnate and his flesh was glorified" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 663). The Catechism continues: "Being seated at the Father's right hand signifies the inauguration of the Messiah's kingdom, the fulfillment of the prophet Daniel's vision concerning the Son of man: 'To him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed'" (Dn 7:14) (n. 664).

In other words, Christ being "seated at the right hand of the Father" means:

1. "the definitive entrance of Jesus' humanity into God's heavenly domain" (CCC, 665)
2. "so that we, the members of his Body, may live in the hope of one day being with him" (CCC, 666)
3. who "intercedes constantly for us as the mediator who assures us of the permanent outpouring of the Holy Spirit" (CCC, 667)

Virgilio T.J. Suerte Felipe