It is also the first Sunday in 2021 when we can attend Mass in person. This year, the solemnity of the Ascension falls on May 16th, which is also the feast -day of our patron saint, St Brendan. In Ireland, this solemnity is celebrate on the 7 th Sunday of Easter. Thus Ascension Day falls 40 days after Easter, on the 6th Thursday of Easter. Jesus goes to prepare a place for us and as the Scriptures reminds us where he is, we also will be. Luke 24:52).Today, Ascension Sunday, is a feast of hope – we commemorate Jesus’ ascension into heaven 40 days after his resurrection. It may be beyond our normal understanding, but it is, as it has been for Christians throughout the centuries, a source of “great joy” (cf.

In whatever way you celebrate Ascension Day 2021, may you find yourself embraced in its “mandorla” truth. If you would like someone else to celebrate this Ascension Day with you are most welcome to join Deacon Arleen tonight (Thursday) at 8:10 p.m.

In a season when many people have felt alone, and maybe even abandoned, the reality of the Ascension is that the Holy Spirit, the very Presence of God, is always with us. The ascension does not mean that Jesus is no longer here among us, but that Jesus is accessible everywhere through the Holy Spirit enlivening his followers. Jesus’ Ascension prepares the way for the sending of the Spirit (i.e., Pentecost). Jesus did not “depart” to get away from us. Malcolm Guite puts this beautifully in his Ascension sonnet: “Earth became part of heaven’s story/ And heaven opened to his human face./ We saw him go and yet we were not parted,/ He took us with him to the heart of things.”įinally, the Ascension means we are not alone. No one knows where “heaven” is located, but Christians believe that Jesus still has a body and, as such, he brings humanity into heaven’s place. Next, the Ascension means that earth became part of heaven. Until then, this promise fuels hope, especially in times of crisis and grief. In other words, Jesus’ prayer – thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven – will be realized in the future. Jesus will come again to bring to final conclusion what he has started. The Ascension alerts us to another key reality in that final sentence of this Colossians passage, namely, it promises the return of the King. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. The Apostle Paul states the implications of this for us in his letter to the Colossians (3:1-4): Ascension Day, always on a Thursday and forty days after Resurrection Sunday, is the formal acknowledgment that Jesus is the King over everything and everyone. For example, Queen Elizabeth II “ascended” to her throne on 2 June 1953. We still use the language of “ascent” to describe an enthronement.

How so?įirst, it means that Jesus is the King. The Ascension of Christ is one of those realities.Įven though we admit the Ascension is beyond scientific description, it is a theological reality that changes, and joyfully so, the way we view other realities. When you see a Mandorla in an icon it is there to alert you that what is inside the frame is pointing to a reality that is beyond our normal vision or understanding. A Mandorla, in the Christian iconographic tradition, is an almond shaped frame around a figure.

Ascension thursday 2021