Feast of the Ascension

READ the IMAGE: This holy card, like the vast majority of Ascension art, has both a heaven and an earth element. Jesus ascends into “heaven” with His full resurrected body. This shows that He retains His humanity and divinity forever. The people watching Jesus from earth vary from artist to artist. Some include the Blessed Virgin Mary, but some do not. Some have only a few apostles and disciples, but others depict a much larger crowd. That’s because the people represent the entire Church, not an historical record of who was present.

Jesus and the clouds are bright white indicating His purity and the light of God. Some paintings include angels to emphasize Jesus ascending to heaven where, Christians believe, Jesus sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. Most paintings show a cluster of clouds. This is meant to convey that Jesus goes to heaven, but what heaven is, or more precisely, where heaven is, is still a mystery to us. We know that Jesus does more than levitate into the atmosphere or float into what we call outer space. A deacon, a former pilot, explained at Mass on Sunday: “On earth, it’s easy to measure location by our movement on the ground and to measure time by the earth’s movement around the sun. But heaven transcends time and place, a phenomena you get a taste of when you fly in a jet. Heaven isn’t a place we can reach by earthly means, such as by a rocket ship. But we know from eye witnesses that Jesus did ascend into heaven by His own power.”

People unfamiliar with Jesus, might look at this image and think He is waving to the people He is leaving. But He isn’t. He’s blessing the Church, promising them that He will send the Holy Spirit, and reminding them that He will be with them until the end of the age.

COMMENTARY: For many reasons, Ascension Thursday was one of my favorite days as a child. For days before the feastday, our classrooms and Catechism had beautiful pictures, such as this holy card, on display. We always had the day off from school (which I still argue is a wonderful way to teach children to remember the date). And it always meant the end of the school year was only one short week away. There hasn’t been a late May Thursday since then when I haven’t thought of the Ascension.

But gone are the days (in my archdiocese anyway) of late May Ascension Thursdays. Or getting a free day from school. Or the church being packed with families observing the feast day together at an evening Mass. This year we celebrated on Thursday, May 13th, along with the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima. The evening Mass was packed, not for the Ascension, but for the very important Sacrament of Confirmation.

REFLECTION They still had their eyes fixed on the sky as he went away, when two men dressed in white suddenly stood beside them and said, “Galileans, why are you standing ther looking up at the sky? This Jesus, who was taken from you into heaven, will com back in the same way that you saw him go to heaven.” (Acts 1: 10-11) —

IMAGINE yourself in this scene. Would you be standing or kneeling? Which detail (clouds, ascending, men in white, or something else) surprizes or moves you the most? Does this event affect your faith? Does it affect how you feel about dying?

SPEND some time talking with the Lord, then sitting quietly in His holy Presence.