Feast of the Ascension of the Lord


The Feast of the Ascension of Jesus into heaven is celebrated on Thursday of the sixth week after Easter (40 days after Easter). Lucia, from the Jerusalem community, explains to us the importance of the Feast.

The solemn feast of the Ascension of the Lord is part of the Easter cycle and is celebrated on the 40th day after Easter. It is one of the most important and most ancient Christian celebrations. The feast is already mentioned in the fourth century. At that time it was celebrated in Jerusalem within the framework of the feasts around Pentecost, and it was marked by a solemn procession on the Mount of Olives, from where Jesus ascended into heaven. The most ancient formulations of the Christian creed, dating from the first and second centuries, spoke of the Ascension of the Lord, after his Resurrection, as one of the most important events in the earthly mission of Jesus Christ (see 1Timothy 3:16 for example). The importance of the Ascension is also underlined in many of the ancient Eucharistic prayers (anaphoras).


The event of the Ascension is mentioned in the Gospels of Mark and Matthew as well as in the Acts of the Apostles. After his Resurrection, Jesus appeared to his still doubting disciples for forty days, first in Jerusalem and then in Galilee, preparing his Church, born at the Cross, to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit so that she might continue his work on earth, bringing the Good News to all of creation. As Pentecost (Shavuot - the Feast of Weeks) approached, the disciples went up to Jerusalem where Jesus appeared to them for the last time, giving them last instructions and blessing them, commanding them to proclaim the Good News to all peoples and then he ascended into heaven before their eyes. However, this was not a separation as Jesus said: "I am with you always to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20).


"From that time on, he is not in Jerusalem, nor in Bethlehem, nor in Nazareth, not on the mountain nor on the plain, not in the sea nor in the city but rather - he is everywhere. He is seated at the right of the Father and he is there where God is - everywhere. Therefore, wherever we might be and at whatever time we can call to him and he will be with us. He will be our Lord, he will hear us, because he is with us always until the end of the age" (Father Alexander Men, Homily for the Feast of the Ascension).


On this day the Church commemorates the last apparition of the Resurrected one to his disciples which signals the end of his earthly mission - the work of our salvation - from the time of his Incarnation through his redemptive death and Resurrection until his Ascension into heaven where he is seated in glory at the right hand of God the Father. "I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and am going to the Father" (John 16:28).


The Ascension of the Lord points to the fullness of our salvation: Redemption is achieved when Christ crucified is resurrected and, as our eternal High Priest, enters, by his own blood, the heavenly sanctuary (Hebrews 9:12, 24-26). From then on the Christ, seated on the throne with his Father, intercedes without ceasing for all those who come to the Father through him. And we must always remember that our true city is in the heavens with Christ (Philippians 3:20), according to his own promise: "I go to prepare a place for you?1 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:2-3). If we have died with him, we will live with him and we will be reborn with him (2Timothy 2:11-12).


By his Ascension, Jesus has united the heaven and the earth: his Mysterious Body - the Church - is on earth, but her head - Christ - reigns already in the heavens. Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father marks the coming of the Kingdom of Christ, the fulfillment of the vision of the Prophet Daniel about the Son of Man: "To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed." (Daniel 7:14). From this moment, the apostles become witnesses of his Kingdom which will have no end. This witness became possible because Jesus, in himself, elevated human nature to the heavens and thus prepared the human person to receive the Spirit.


Meanwhile, on earth, with the Ascension of Christ and while awaiting his Second Coming, the time of "touching" is concluded and the time of faith begins. "That which was visible in our Savior is now contained in the sacraments. Our faith must be even more perfect and strong, for teaching has replaced vision and his commandments must be accommodated by the hearts of the faithful illuminated by heavenly light" (Saint Leo the Great, On the Ascension). Taken up into the heavens, having completed his mission to the end, Jesus remains in his Church, which is the "first fruit of the Kingdom of Christ on earth" (Lumen Gentium 53). Having established the foundations of the Church, he confides to the apostles the ongoing work of building, with the help of the Holy Spirit which they will receive on the day of Pentecost.

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