ASCENSION SUNDAY

ASCENSION SUNDAY – Celebrated on the Sunday following Ascension Day.

Gladden us with holy joys, Almighty God, and make us rejoice with devout thanksgiving, for the Ascension of Christ your Son is our exaltation, and, where the Head has gone before in glory, the Body is called to follow in hope. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

Seventh Sunday of Easter: Graciously hear our supplications, O Lord, so that we, who believe that the Savior of the human race is with you in your glory, may experience, as he promised, until the end of the world, his abiding presence among us. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

At the end of His earthly life Jesus ascends triumphantly into heaven. The Church acclaims Him in His holy humanity, invited to sit on the Father’s right hand and to share His glory. But Christ’s Ascension is the pledge of our own.

Filled with an immense hope, the Church looks up towards her leader, who precedes her into the heavenly home and takes her with Him in His own person: “for the Son of God, after incorporating in Himself those whom the devil’s jealousy had banished from the earthly paradise, ascends again to His Father and takes them with Him” (St. Leo).

The ecclesiastical provinces of Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, and the State of Nebraska and many parts of the world have retained the celebration of the Ascension of the Lord on the proper Thursday, while others have transferred this solemnity to the Seventh Sunday of Easter.

THE ASCENSION 

The death of a member of his family or of a loved friend, must be the saddest event imaginable in the life of an atheist. He is one who really is convinced that there is no God, no future life and therefore that the relative or friend is to turn into dust in the grave, never to be met with again.

The thought that every day that passes is bringing him too nearer to that same sad fate, death, which will be the end of all his ambitions, all his enjoyments, the end of everything he thought he was or had, must be something hard to live with.

Thank God, we have the good fortune to know, and reason and faith convince us of this truth, that death is not the end of man. It is rather the real beginning. Today’s feast—the Ascension of our Lord in his human nature—to his Father’s and our Father’s home, is the confirmation and the guarantee of this doctrine of our faith.

We shall all rise from the grave with new, glorified bodies and ascend to heaven, as Christ did. There we’ll begin our true life of eternal happiness.

While it is true that even for good Christians the death of a beloved one is a cause of sorrow and tears, this is natural as we still are of the earth earthly. Yet the certitude that our beloved one has gone to his true life and will be there to meet us when our turn comes, is always at the back of our minds to console and comfort us. What all human beings want is to live on forever with our dear ones. Death breaks that continuity but only for a little while. That break is necessary for the new life to begin.

It is only in heaven that this natural desire of an unending life with all those we love can be realized and death on earth is the door to that eternal life.

Look up to heaven today. See Christ ascending to his Father and our Father. Say: Thank you, God, for creating me, and for giving me, through the Incarnation of your beloved Son, the possibility and the assurance that if I do my part here, when death comes it will not be an enemy but a friend, to speed me on my way to the true, supernatural life which you have, in your love, planned and prepared for me.

It was written, and foretold, that Christ should suffer and so enter into his glory. The servant is not above the Master. I too must suffer. I too must accept the hardships and the trials of this life, if I want, and I do, to enter into the life of glory.

Christ, who was sinless, suffered hardship and pain. I have earned many, if not all of my hardships, by my own sins. I should be glad of the opportunity to make some atonement for my past offenses, by willingly accepting the crosses he sends me. These crosses are signs of God’s interest in my true welfare.

Through him he is giving me a chance to prepare myself for the day of reckoning, for the moment of my death which will decide my eternal future. For every prayer I say for success in life, I should say three for a successful death, a death free from sin and at peace with God.

—Excepted from The Sunday Readings, Fr. Kevin O’Sullivan, O.F.M.

Source: catholicculture

REFLECTIONS FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD

Acts 1:1-11

HE ASCENDED — BUT HE DID NOT LEAVE US

INTRODUCTION

Goodbyes are often painful moments in life. The disciples also experienced sorrow as Jesus departed from their visible sight. Yet the Ascension is not about absence, but about a new and deeper presence. Christ ascended to the Father, but He remains with us through the Holy Spirit, the Church, and our mission in the world.

WHY ARE YOU STANDING LOOKING AT THE SKY?

The Ascension calls Christians from passive waiting to active mission. When the disciples stood gazing upward, the angels reminded them not to remain inactive. Jesus did not ask His followers to escape the world, but to transform it through love, faith, and service.

A woman who spent long hours in prayer but ignored the needs of people around her later realized that true prayer must lead to compassion and service. She began helping the sick and the poor and discovered that heaven calls us to serve on earth.

The Ascension reminds us that Christian life is lived in families, workplaces, schools, and relationships. Faith is not escape from responsibility but commitment to it.

ALL AUTHORITY IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH HAS BEEN GIVEN TO ME

Even when the world seems filled with suffering, injustice, and fear, Christ remains Lord over history. The Ascension is the enthronement of Christ, whose power is shown not through domination but through love and redemption.

During the hardships of war, a mother explained to her son that Christ rules by transforming suffering rather than avoiding it. That lesson inspired him later to dedicate his life to serving refugees and the poor.

The Ascension assures us that evil, pain, and death do not have the final word. Jesus carries wounded humanity into the glory of God, giving hope to every human struggle.

I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS

As Jesus ascended, He gave the comforting promise that He would remain with His people always. Though physically unseen, He is spiritually present everywhere — in the Church, the Eucharist, Scripture, prayer, the poor, and every act of love.

A child once missed her father who worked far away, but later understood that love can remain deeply present even without physical closeness. The Ascension teaches us the same truth about Christ.

Faith invites us to encounter Jesus not only through sight, but through prayer, mercy, forgiveness, and daily faithfulness.

GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES

The mission of spreading the Gospel belongs to every Christian, not only priests or missionaries. Ordinary believers reveal Christ through kindness, honesty, forgiveness, and faithful living.

A humble school janitor quietly cared for children and helped poor students. Years later, one former student told him that his simple goodness had taught him the meaning of Christianity more than sermons ever had.

Witnessing to Christ often happens through ordinary acts of love, patience, integrity, and compassion. Jesus continues His work in the world through His people.

CONCLUSION

The Ascension is not Jesus abandoning the world. It is Christ reigning in glory, remaining with His people, and entrusting His mission to the Church.

The disciples who once stood looking toward the sky eventually transformed the world because they understood that Jesus had not left them alone. He had gone before them and continued walking beside them.

Today Christ asks us not to remain fearful or inactive, but to live the Gospel with courage, serve others with love, and trust His promise:

“I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

ASCENSION SUNDAY 

When they had gathered together they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.

They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.” Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away. ~Acts 6:1–12

PRAYER

My Ascended Lord, forty days after You rose from the dead You ascended to the right hand of the Father in Heaven, taking up Your throne from which You pour forth both judgment and mercy. As we honor this great mystery of Your divine and human life, I beg for mercy upon me and upon the whole world. Free us from all sin, and open the floodgates of Your mercy so that all people will share one day, body and soul, in the glory of Your Beatific Vision. Jesus, I trust in You. Amen

– (My Catholic Life)