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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