What's Up with the Ascension on Sunday?
We used to celebrate the Ascension exactly forty days after Easter on
Thursday. On that day the Paschal, or Easter, Candle was extinguished
after the Gospel as a sign that Jesus, the light of the world, had left
for heaven. Nowadays we celebrate the Ascension on the Sunday after.
Why? The Ascension, the mystery of Jesus returning to the Father in
heaven, is of key importance, and so it is a holy day of obligation. For
many people who work it is difficult to go to Mass on a weekday.
Therefore, our bishops transferred our celebration to Sunday so that
this great feast can be given its due and more people can celebrate it.
Actually, the accounts of the Ascension in Scripture set this event on
different days. In the Gospels of Mark and Luke, Jesus ascends on Easter
Sunday. John too apparently assumes that Jesus goes directly from risen
glory to heaven. It is in the Acts of the Apostles that we find that
after the resurrection, Jesus continues teaching the apostles for forty
days and then returns to heaven. The number forty is symbolic to the
Jewish people. It stands for a period of spiritual growth. Recall that
the Israelites spent forty years in the desert and Jesus spent forty
days in the desert. Click to continue
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