orty days after the Resurrection, our Lord Jesus Christ, attended by Angels, ascended into heaven, in the sight of His most holy Mother, His Apostles and disciples, to the great wonder of them all. He entered into possession of the Kingdom of Heaven, which He had gained by His sufferings. St. Paul declares that God “hath made us sit together in the heavenly places, through Christ Jesus.” “There where the Head has gone, the Body is called to follow!” (Missale Romanum).

According to Carmelite Fr. Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalen in Divine Intimacy,

The central idea in the liturgy today is the raising of our hearts toward heaven, so that we may begin to dwell in spirit where Jesus has gone before us. … “Where thy treasure, there is thy heart also” (Matthew 6:21), Jesus said one day. If Jesus is really our treasure, our heart cannot be anywhere but near Him in heaven. This is the greatest hope of the Christian soul, so beautifully expressed in the hymn for Vespers: “O Jesus, be the hope of our hearts, our joy in sorrow, the sweet fruit of our life” (Roman Breviary).

Besides the hope and the joyful expectancy of heaven so characteristic of the Ascension feast there is a note of melancholy. Before the final departure of Jesus, the Apostles must have been very much disturbed: each felt the distress of one who sees his dearest friend and companion going away forever, and finds himself alone to face all the difficulties of life. The Lord realized their state of mind and consoled them once more, promising the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter: “He commanded them,” we read in the Epistle (Acts 1:1-11), “that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but should wait for the promise of the Father … you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit, not many days hence.” But even this time the Apostles did not understand how much they needed to be enlightened and transformed by the Holy Spirit in order to accomplish the great mission which was to be entrusted to them! Jesus continued, “You shall receive the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon you and you shall be witnesses unto Me … even to the uttermost part of the earth.” For the moment, however, they were there, around the Master, weak, timid, frightened, like little children watching their mother leave for a distant, unknown land. In fact, “while they looked on, He was raised up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.” Two angels came to distract them from their great amazement and to make them realize what had happened. Then, placing their trust in the word of Jesus, which would henceforth be their only support, they returned to Jerusalem where, in the Cenacle, they awaited in prayer the fulfillment of the promise. It was the first novena in preparation for Pentecost: “All these were persevering with one mind in prayer with … Mary, the Mother of Jesus” (ibid. 1:14).

Silence, recollection, prayer, peace with our brethren, and union with Mary: these are the characteristics of the novena we too should make in preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit. (Excerpted from “Ascension Thursday,” Divine Intimacy)

Holy day of obligation

The Feast of the Ascension of our Lord is this Thursday, May 1, and is a holy day of obligation.

For those in New York City, a Missa Cantata will be celebrated on the Vigil of the Feast of the Ascension (Wednesday, April 30) at 6.00 pm, in the Usus Antiquior at Church of Our Saviour, 59 Park Avenue at 38th Streeet. Music for the Mass will be the Missa Choralis of Franz Liszt, who composed the work for the Sistine Chapel in 1865 during a difficult period in the history of church music — when as a result of the increasing secularization of the nineteenth century, the practice of liturgical choral music had declined. Liszt makes use of both elements of Gregorian tradition and contemporary hymn tunes, thus taking advantage of a wide spectrum of musical possibilities. This single work combines modal writing, passages with simple harmonies, and colorful chromatic sophistication.

A traditional Latin Mass will also be celebrated on the Feast of the Ascension (Thursday, May 1) at 7.00 pm at Our Lady of Good Counsel, 230 East 90th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues.