To be taken to the heavens of our own souls.

This is the charm of the Feast of the Ascension: to be taken into the heaven of our own souls, apex mentis, the peak of our immediate contact with God. To remain on this quiet summit in the darkness that surrounds God. To live through all trials and all busyness with the "silent God who makes all things silent" (St. Bernard). God be with me this day and forever.

(Thomas Merton, diary entry from the vigil of the Feast of the Ascension, May 14, 1947)