CCC 661 This final stage stays closely linked to the first, that is, to his descent from heaven in the Incarnation. Only the one who “came from the Father” can return to the Father: Christ Jesus.¹ “No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man.”² Left to its own natural powers humanity does not have access to the “Father’s house”, to God’s life and happiness.³ Only Christ can open to man such access that we, his members, might have confidence that we too shall go where he, our Head and our Source, has preceded us.⁴

1 Cf. Jn 16:28.
2 Jn 3:13; cf. Eph 4:8-10.
3 Jn 14:2.
4 Missale Romanum, Preface of the Ascension: sed ut illuc confideremus, sua membra, nos subsequi quo ipse, caput nostrum principiumque, praecessit.