Father Joe Cook

Dear Sisters and Brothers in the Lord:

The Ascension of Our Lord, which occurred 40 days after Jesus Christ rose from the dead on Easter, is the final act of our redemption that Christ began on Good Friday. On this day, the risen Christ, in the sight of His apostles, ascended bodily into Heaven (Luke 24:51; Mark 16:19; Acts 1:9-11). The reality of the Ascension is so important that the creeds (the basic statements of belief) of Christianity all affirm, in the words of the Apostles’ Creed that “He ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.” The denial of the Ascension is as grave a departure from Christian teaching as is denial of Christ’s Resurrection.

Christ’s bodily Ascension foreshadows our own entrance into Heaven not simply as souls, after our death, but as glorified bodies, after the resurrection of the dead at the Final Judgment. In redeeming mankind, Christ not only offered salvation to our souls but began the restoration of the material world itself to the glory that God intended before Adam’s fall.

The Feast of the Ascension marks the beginning of the first novena, or nine days of prayer. Before His Ascension, Christ promised to send the Holy Spirit to His apostles. 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. Catholics recall that first novena by praying the Novena to the Holy Spirit between Ascension and Pentecost, asking for the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

As mentioned earlier, the Ascension occurred 40 days after Easter Sunday, so it falls on a Thursday; however, in most dioceses in the United States, the celebration of the Ascension has been transferred to the following Sunday. Ascension Thursday falls on May 17, 2012, and it will be celebrated on that day in the ecclesiastical provinces of Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, and the state of Nebraska. In all other dioceses of the United States, the celebration of the Feast of the Ascension is transferred to the following Sunday, May 20, 2012.

Let us give our hearts and minds to the Lord this Easter Season!

Fr. Joe