by Fr. She is the primary developer of CatholicCulture.org’s liturgical year section. Certain customs were connected with the liturgy of this feast, such as the blessing of beans and grapes after the Commemoration of the Dead in the Canon of the Mass, the blessing of first fruits, afterwards done on Rogation Days the blessing of a candle, the wearing of mitres by deacon and subdeacon, the extinction of the paschal candle, and triumphal processions with torches and banners outside the churches to commemorate the entry of Christ into heaven. 25. There are four solemnities that rank right behind Easter: Christmas, Epiphany, Ascension, and Pentecost. The Liturgy of the Hours also provides different prayers for before and after the Ascension. The liturgy continues the rejoicing of “mounting his throne” from Thursday until Saturday, and our hearts should be echoing that joy throughout those days, too. At the end of his gospel, the risen Christ (after having had a meal with his disciples) tells them to stay in Jerusalem until they have been ‘clothed with power from on high’. This way includes every one of us who bear His name. Although no documentary evidence of it exists prior to the beginning of the fifth century, St. Augustine says that it is of Apostolic origin, and he speaks of it in a way that shows it was the universal observance of the Church long before his time. This is a joyful feast; it is the fulfillment of Christ’s salvific mission. In the Old Testament numerology, forty signified the age of the world: it is an intensification of four, which recalls the four corners of the earth and hence the brokenness, the finite, incomplete and toil some nature of all earthly existence. Rock records the English custom of carrying at the head of the procession the banner bearing the device of the lion and at the foot the banner of the dragon, to symbolize the triumph of Christ in His ascension over the evil one. Both The Easter Book by Fr. These fifty days are the answer to the forty days of tribulation and preparation by which the Church leads up to Easter. Pope Benedict saying “[t]he forty prepare for the fifty” can also apply to the Ascension falling on the fortieth day, with the last days in particular preparing for the fiftieth day, Pentecost. Thursday will mark forty (40) days after the Resurrection. The Church has rendezvoused to help us experience Easter as the feast of feasts, as the basic reason for all celebration and joy, by causing the Easter octave to last for seven times seven days. The Feast of the Ascension is celebrated on the 40th day of Easter, always a Thursday; the Orthodox tradition has a different calendar up to a month later than in the Western tradition, and while the Anglican communion continues to observe the feast, many Protestant churches have abandoned the observance. Weiser, and Florence Berger's Cooking for Christ share this traditional activity to commemorate the feast. The Solemnity of the Ascension can be a holyday of obligation or Sunday, which the Church in Canon Law states our duties: Can. So 1/5 of the states celebrate Ascension Thursday: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania. We can do small ways to keep the joy of the Ascension throughout Thursday through Sunday. articles Depending where you live will determine whether you will celebrate Ascension Thursday or Ascension Sunday. If you are a current donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off! So the feast of Pentecost on the fiftieth day after Easter is not in fact an entirely new feast; it rounds off the circle of the seven times seven days which signify our breaking out of subservience to time into the boundless joy of the children of God, a joy uninterrupted by any striking of the hour. It is also a feast of waiting. There is a tradition in some areas of picnicking on hilltops on the Feast of the Ascension. This is the model novena. In some churches the scene of the Ascension was vividly reproduced by elevating the figure of Christ above the altar through an opening in the roof of the church. Where such is not possible, the novena should try to reflect the liturgical themes of the days from Ascension to the Vigil of Pentecost. In the Eastern Church this feast was known as analepssis, the taking up, and also as the episozomene, the salvation, denoting that by ascending into His glory Christ completed the work of our redemption. The Church has continued attaching the significance to the number forty (40). Determining the date of Ascension is also complicated by the fact that, in many dioceses of the United States (or, more accurately, many ecclesiastical provinces, which are collections of dioceses), the celebration of Ascension has been transferred from Ascension Thursday (40 days after Easter) to the following Sunday (43 days after … Today is the Feast of the Ascension. We have incorporated this tradition for our family in the last couple of years. (Since the feast of the Visitation falls this Friday this will not be completely obvious this year.) We have been granted joy and now wait for the power. The numeric significance is interrupted when the Ascension is moved to Sunday. The forty prepare for the fifty, the fragmentary for the complete; and the Lord’s Resurrection is at the axis of both. Some of the passages aren’t speaking of the Ascension outright, but do contain traces: The Liturgy of the Hours also points to the traditional Ascension Thursday: There is also a significance of the number of days found throughout the Bible and Liturgy. :-). Monday through Wednesday before Ascension Thursday marked the traditional minor Rogation days. Even through this temporal arrangement the Church has provided a profound psychological interpretation of what Easter means and of how we can and should celebrate it. The celebration resounds for a whole week and is renewed on the eighth day. Thus, the Ascension is a feast at which we see both the divine and human natures of Christ, and catch a glimpse of our true calling as humans created in the image of God. 65-67 (emphasis mine): Since the most ancient times the Church has underlined her great feasts by not restricting them to a single day but giving them a whole octave of days. See also The Fact of the Ascension.. The pious exercise of the Pentecost novena, widely practised among the faithful, emerged from prayerful reflection on this salvific event. Ecclesiastical provinces usually follow state lines, but some provinces cover more than one state. It is not until Jesus ascends and returns to His Father that His act of Redemption is completed. The fortieth day after Easter Sunday, commemorating the Ascension of Christ into heaven, according to Mark 16:19 , Luke 24:51 , and Acts 1:2 .. Indeed, this novena is already present in the Missal and in the Liturgy of the Hours, especially in the second vespers of Pentecost: the biblical and eucological texts, in different ways, recall the disciples’ expectation of the Paraclete. Their prayer for the coming of the Holy Spirit, which began on Ascension Thursday, ended with the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday, ten days later. The preparation for Pentecost in the form of a novena should begin on Ascension Thursday. Our reward will be greater in heaven. The apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary were waiting for that fiftieth day. As I mentioned last week the current General Norms of the Liturgical Year and Calendar which revised the Liturgical Calendar in 1969 did not abandon this liturgical tradition, but dates and celebration of Rogation Days is now determined on the local ordinary or authority. The number nine (9) which is used in novenas is also significant. Tradition designates Mount Olivet near Bethany as the place where Christ left the earth. Bumping up this 2014 post for the feast of the Ascension, whether it is celebrated on Thursday or Sunday. Before His Ascension, Christ promised to send the Holy Spirit to His apostles. Feast of the Ascension † Catholic Encyclopedia Feast of the Ascension See also The Fact of the Ascension.

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