``Where the
Bishop is, there let the multitude of believers be;
even as where Jesus is, there is the Catholic Church'' Ignatius of
Antioch, 1st c. A.D
Ascension
This Holy day of Obligation, the 40th day of Easter,
commemorates Christ's Ascension into Heaven from Mount Olivet 40 days
after He rose from the dead (Mark 16:14-20). After the Gospel is sung,
the Paschal Candle, lit from the New Fire of the Easter Vigil, is
extinguished to symbolize the departure of Christ (if you use a Paschal
candle at home, it should be put away today, too).
The story of Our Lord's Ascension and His foretelling of the Pentecost
to come is recounted most fully by Luke in in Acts 1:1-11:
The former
treatise I made, O Theophilus, of all things which Jesus began to do
and to teach, Until the day on which, giving commandments by the Holy
Ghost to the apostles whom He had chosen, He was taken up. To whom also
He shewed Himself alive after His passion, by many proofs, for forty
days appearing to them, and speaking of the kingdom of God. And eating
together with them, He commanded them, that they should not depart from
Jerusalem, but should wait for the promise of the Father, which you
have heard (saith he) by my mouth. For John indeed baptized with water,
but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost, not many days hence.
They therefore who were come together, asked Him, saying: Lord, wilt
Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? But He said to
them: It is not for you to know the times or moments, which the Father
hath put in His own power: But you shall receive the power of the Holy
Ghost coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem,
and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the
earth.
And when He had said these things, while they looked on, He was
raised up: and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they
were beholding Him going up to heaven, behold two men stood by them in
white garments. Who also said: Ye men of Galilee, why stand you looking
up to heaven? This Jesus Who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so
come, as you have seen Hm going into heaven. Then they returned to
Jerusalem...
He ascended to
be glorified with the Father, to sit at the Father's right hand, to
rule as King of Kings, to send us the Holy Ghost, and, as Hebrews 1:1-2
says, to be our High Priest Who
is set on the
right hand of the throne of majesty in the heavens, A minister of the
holies, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord hath pitched, and
not man.
And He ascended
to prepare a place for us. St. John recounts in the first 3 verses of
the fourteenth chapter of his Gospel that after the Last Supper, Our
Lord told His disciples:
Let not your
heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My
Father's house there are many mansions. If not, I would have told you:
because I go to prepare a place for you. And if I shall go, and prepare
a place for you, I will come again, and will take you to Myself; that
where I am, you also may be.
Glorious promise
to those who believe and obey! And there is something else most
splendid about the Ascension: Christ foretold it, and in such a way as
to teach the Apostles of the miraculous nature of the Eucharist. In
John 6:56-58, we read:
For My Flesh is
meat indeed: and My Blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My Flesh, and
drinketh My Blood, abideth in Me, and I in him. As the living Father
hath sent Me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth Me, the same
also shall live by Me.
Immediately
after hearing these words, some of His disciples are scandalized --
some even to the point of walking away from Him. Jesus then said to
them that they would know His words are true when they will see an
obvious miracle with their own eyes -- His Ascension. Verses 62-63:62
But Jesus,
knowing in Himself, that His disciples murmured at this, said to them:
Doth this scandalize you? If then you shall see the Son of man ascend
up where He was before?
As to the place
of His Ascension, the Golden Legend, written in A.D. 1275 by Jacobus de
Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa, has this to say:
As to the first
He ascended from the mount of Olives by Bethany; the which mountain, by
another relation, is said the mountain of three lights. For by night on
the side of the west it is lighted of the fire that burneth in the
Temple, which never is put out ne quenched. On the morning it is light
of the orient, for she hath first the rays of the sun before it shineth
in the city, and also it hath great abundance of oil that nourisheth the
light, and therefore it is said the hill of three lights.
Unto this hill Jesu Christ commanded His disciples that they should go.
For on the day of His Ascension he appeared two times, one time to
eleven disciples that ate in the hall where they had supped with Him.
All the apostles and the disciples and also the women, abode in that
part of Jerusalem which is called Mello, in the mountain of Sion, where
David had made his palace. And there was the great hall arrayed and
ordained for to sup, whereas Jesu Christ commanded that they should
make ready for to eat the Paschal Lamb, and in this place the eleven
apostles abode, and the other disciples, and the women abode in divers
mansions there about.
And when they had eaten in this hall, our Lord appeared to them and
reproved them of their incredulity. And when He had eaten with them,
and had commanded them that they should go to the Mount of Olivet on
the side by Bethany, He appeared again to them, and answered to them of
the demands that they made to Him indiscreetly, and with His hands
lifted he blessed them; and anon before them He ascended unto heaven.
Of the place of this ascension saith Sulpicius, Bishop of Jerusalem,
and it is in the Gloss. For there was edified a church in the place
where were made the signs of His ascension. Never sith [afterwards]
might be set there any pavement, it could not be laid ne set but anon
it issued out, and the stones of the marble sprang into the visages of
them that set it. And that is a sign that they be stones on which
Christ passed upon, which lie in the powder and dust, and abide for a
token and sign certain.
The footprints
said to be His are now enclosed in a shrine called the Chapel of the
Ascension near the top of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. The
original
building was destroyed by the Persians in A.D. 614, but was rebuilt by
Crusaders. The Moslems took control of the building in the 13th century
and transformed it into a mosque, walling in the arches, and adding a
dome.
Note that the station church for
the Feast of the Ascension is S. Pietro in Vaticano.
Customs
First, a prayer
for the
day:
We praise Thee,
dearest Heart of Jesus, Fountain of all goodness.
We praise Thee, most kind Heart of Jesus, for the boundless graces that
hast flowed and shall continueth to flow from Thee into the souls of
the just.
We praise Thee, most gentle Heart of Jesus, for the tender love with
which Thou hast so often refreshed devout hearts through Divine
consolations.
We praise Thee, most loving Heart of Jesus, for the fullness of Thy
grace, the splendor of Thy virtues, the generosity of Thy Heart, and
the purity of Thy love.
We praise Thee, royal Heart of Jesus, for Thy victory over death and
sin, Thy power over souls, and Thy triumph over the living and the dead.
We praise Thee, Heart so poor and yet so rich, for having despiseth all
earthly riches and for having renounced all earthly honors.
We praise Thee, most obedient Heart of Jesus, that hungereth after the
fulfillment of the Divine Will and thirsted after the greater glory of
God and the salvation of souls.
We praise Thee, most generous Heart of Jesus, that did not seeketh Its
own glory; most patient Heart, that willingly bore the greatest
insults; most unselfish Heart, that longeth for and lovingly embrace
the Cross.
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, teacheth us to love Thee with our whole
hearts, and granteth that, according to the little strength we have, we
may imitate Thy wonderful virtues. Amen.
God our Father, maketh us joyful in the Ascension of Thy Son Jesus
Christ. Mayeth we follow Him into the new creation, for His Ascension
is our glory and our hope. We asketh this through our Lord Jesus
Christ, Thy Son, Who livest and reignest with Thee and the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever. Amen.
As to music, one of the most popular
hymns for this feast is "Praise Him as He Mounts the Skies,"
And as to food customs,
it is traditional to eat some sort of bird on this day, in honor of
Christ Who "flew" to Heaven. If you live in a hilly or mountainous
area, climbing the hills in commemoration of Jesus and the Apostles'
climbing the Mt. of Olives, whence Jesus ascended to Heaven, is
customary. Putting the two together, a chicken picnic eaten on a hill
or mountain would be a perfect way to spend
the day.
In Florence, Italy, there is the interesting
custom of catching crickets on this day. Families will have a picnic
while the children look for crickets, which are said to bring blessings
(as they are seen to do in the East, too) -- especially if they still
sing when taken home in little cricket cages. Back in the day, a man
would adorn his beloved's doors with flowers on this Feast, and give
her a cricket cage, too. I have no idea as to how crickets came to be
associated with the Ascension, but the Feast is also known in parts of
Italy as "La Festa del Grillo" ("the Feast of the Cricket"). Now this
custom usually takes place on the Sunday after Ascension Day, and caged
crickets are sold so that children can release them -- but crickets can be kept as singing pets, too! If
the cricket lives until the Feast of St.
Lawrence on August 10, it's said to be good luck.
Men selling crickets in little cages,
Ascension 1931
Something else wonderful happens in Italy on the Feast of the Ascension
and the days following: in Venice, there is a clock tower in the Piazza
San Marco. This marvelous clock, made in A.D. 1499 (and recently
restored) indicates not only the minutes and hours, but the days,
months, Zodiacal signs, and phases of the
Moon as well. At the top of
the tower are two large figures known as the Moors ("Mori"), who signal
the hour by striking a large bell. Underneath them is a large, golden
lion -- the symbol of St. Mark, patron of Venice. Underneath this is a
niche which holds a figure of Our Lady and her Son. Twice a year -- on
the Feast of the Epiphany and
during the festivities surrounding the Ascension (known as "la Festa
della Sensa" in Venice) -- doors on either side of Our Lady open up,
and out come the three Magi, led by an angel. The angel and Kings make
their way around Our Lady and Jesus, the angel regaling them with his
trumpet, and the Kings bowing and removing their crowns. 1
Also on this day, a very old civic ritual is re-enacted in this city.
The Ascension had always been an important Feast to the Venetians: in
A.D. 1000, the Doge left on this Feast Day to aid the Dalmatians who
were being threatened by the Slavs. This led to Venetian security and
became celebrated annually with a blessing of the sea. Then, in A.D.
1177, the Doge helped bring about a peace between Barbarossa and the
Papal States. Pope Alexander III was so grateful for the Doge's service
that he sent a blessed ring as a sign of the sovereignty that the Doge
and his successors will have perpetually over the sea. The blessing of
the sea turned into a "marriage with the sea," and since that time, the
Doge of Venice would board an ornate, gilded boat (the Bucintoro, or
Bucentaur) and be rowed to the lagoon in front of the church of San
Nicolo del Lido, accompanied by clergy and government types, and with a
procession of other decorated boats following behind. There, the Doge
would throw a ring into the waters while saying the words "Desponsamus
te mare, in signum veri perpetuique dominii," which mean, "We
marry
you, oh sea, as a symbol of perpetual dominion." Then the mayor throws
a ring into the waters thereby uniting that beautiful city with the
sea... (See paintings of the Clock Tower and
the voyage of
the Doge on the bucintoro, painted by Francesco Guardi.)
In eastern Germany, the Ascension is known as Himmelfahrstag, and is celebrated
as "Men's Day." Men get together and do many things, like taking hikes
in the woods, playing sports, etc.
What tends not to be done on Ascension is working in fields,
swimming in lakes or rivers, getting married, or sewing. All are
considered to be "bad luck" today (clothes that have been touched by a
needle on the Ascension are said to attract lightning strikes!).
Finally, it's common practice to begin a Novena tomorrow (Friday) --
the Novena to the Holy Ghost, in
anticipation of the Feast of the
Pentecost. This is the time during which the very first novena
of the Church Age was
made, when Mary and the Apostles prayed from Christ's Ascension to the
Pentecost, a period of nine days (Acts 1-2).
Readings
Sermons by
Pope Leo the Great (ca. 395-461)
Sermon LXXIII
I.
The events
recorded as happening after the Resurrection were intended to convince
its truth. Since the blessed and glorious Resurrection of our Lord
Jesus Christ, whereby the Divine power in three days raised the true
Temple of God, which the wickedness of the Jews had overthrown, the
sacred forty days, dearly-beloved are to-day ended, which by most holy
appointment were devoted to our most profitable instruction, so that,
during the period that the Lord thus protracted the lingering of His
bodily presence, our faith in the Resurrection might be fortified by
needful proofs. For Christ's Death had much disturbed the disciples'
hearts, and a kind of torpor of distrust had crept over their
grief-laden minds at His torture on the cross, at His giving up the
ghost, at His lifeless body's burial. For, when the holy women, as the
Gospel-story has revealed, brought word of tile stone rolled away from
the tomb, the sepulchre emptied of the body, and the angels bearing
witness to the living Lord, their words seemed like ravings to the
Apostles and other disciples. Which doubtfulness, the result of human
weakness, the Spirit of Truth would most assuredly not have permitted
to exist in His own preacher's breasts, had not their trembling anxiety
and careful hesitation laid the foundations of our faith. It was our
perplexities and our dangers that were provided for in the Apostles: it
was ourselves who in these men were taught how to meet the cavillings
of the ungodly and the arguments of earthly wisdom. We are instructed
by their lookings, we are taught by their hearings, we are convinced by
their handlings. Let us give thanks to the Divine management and the
holy Fathers' necessary slowness of belief. Others doubted, that we
might not doubt.
II.
And therefore
they are in the highest degree instructive. Those days, therefore,
dearly-beloved, which intervened between the Lord's Resurrection and
Ascension did not pass by in uneventful leisure, but great mysteries
were ratified in them, deep truths revealed. In them the fear of awful
death was removed, and the immortality not only of the soul but also of
the flesh established. In them, through the Lord's breathing upon them,
the Holy Ghost is poured upon all the Apostles, and to the blessed
Apostle Peter beyond the rest the care of the Lord's flock is
entrusted, in addition to the keys of the kingdom. Then it was that the
Lord joined the two disciples as a companion on the way, and, to the
sweeping away of all the clouds of our uncertainty, upbraided them with
the slowness of their timorous hearts. Their enlightened hearts catch
the flame of faith, and lukewarm as they have been, are made to burn
while the Lord unfolds the Scriptures. In the breaking of bread also
their eyes are opened as they eat with Him: how far more blessed is the
opening of their eyes, to whom the glorification of their nature is
revealed than that of our first parents, on whom fell the disastrous
consequences of their transgression.
III.
The prove the
Resurrection of the flesh. And in the course of these and other
miracles, when the disciples were harassed by bewildering thoughts, and
the Lord had appeared in their midst and said, "Peace be unto you,"
that what was passing through their hearts might not be their fixed
opinion (for they thought they saw a spirit not flesh), He refutes
their thoughts so discordant with the Truth, offers to the doubters'
eyes the marks of the cross that remained in His hands and feet, and
invites them to handle Him with careful scrutiny, because the traces of
the nails and spear had been retained to heal the wounds of unbelieving
hearts, so that not with wavering faith, but with most stedfast
knowledge they might comprehend that the Nature which had been lain in
the sepulchre was to sit on God the Father's throne.
IV.
Christ's
Ascension has given us greater privileges and joys than the devil had
taken from us. Accordingly, dearly-beloved, throughout this time which
elapsed between the Lord's Resurrection and Ascension, God's Providence
had this in view, to teach and impress upon both the eyes and hearts of
His own people that the Lord Jesus Christ might be acknowledged to have
as truly risen, as He was truly born, suffered, and died. And hence the
most blessed Apostles and all the disciples, who had been both
bewildered at His death on the cross and backward in believing His
Resurrection, were so strengthened by the clearness of the truth that
when the Lord entered the heights of heaven, not only were they
affected with no sadness, but were even filled with great joy. And
truly great and unspeakable was their cause for joy, when in the sight
of the holy multitude, above the dignity of all heavenly creatures, the
Nature of mankind went up, to pass above the angels' ranks and to rise
beyond the archangels' heights, and to have Its uplifting limited by no
elevation until, received to sit with the Eternal Father, It should be
associated on the throne with His glory, to Whose Nature It was united
in the Son. Since then Christ's Ascension is our uplifting, and the
hope of the Body is raised, whither the glory of the Head has gone
before, let us exult, dearly-beloved, with worthy joy and delight in
the loyal paying of thanks. For today not only are we confirmed as
possessors of paradise, but have also in Christ penetrated the heights
of heaven, and have gained still greater things through Christ's
unspeakable grace than we had lost through the devil's malice. For us,
whom our virulent enemy had driven out from the bliss of our first
abode, the Son of God has made members of Himself and placed at the
right hand of the Father, with Whom He lives and reigns in the unity of
the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.
Sermon LXXIV
I.
The mystery of
our salvation, dearly-beloved, which the Creator of the universe valued
at the price of His blood, has now been carried out under conditions of
humiliation from the day of His bodily birth to the end of His Passion.
And although even in "the form of a slave" many signs of Divinity have
beamed out, yet the events of all that period served particularly to
show the reality of His assumed Manhood.
But after the Passion, when the chains of death were broken, which had
exposed its own strength by attacking Him, Who was ignorant of sin,
weakness was turned into power, mortality into eternity, contumely into
glory, which the Lord Jesus Christ showed by many clear proofs in the
sight of many, until He carried even into heaven the triumphant victory
which He had won over the dead. As therefore at the Easter
commemoration, the Lord's Resurrection was the cause of our rejoicing;
so the subject of our present gladness is His Ascension, as we
commemorate and duly venerate that day on which the Nature of our
humility in Christ was raised above all the host of heaven, over all
the ranks of angels, beyond the height of all powers, to sit with God
the Father. On which Providential order of events we are founded and
built up, that God's Grace might become more wondrous, when,
notwithstanding the removal from men's sight of what was rightly felt
to command their awe, faith did not fail, hope did not waver, love did
not grow cold. For it is the strength of great minds and the light of
firmly-faithful souls, unhesitatingly to believe what is not seen with
the bodily sight, and there to fix one's affections whither you cannot
direct your gaze. And whence should this Godliness spring up in our
hearts, or how should a man be justified by faith, if our salvation
rested on those things only which lie beneath our eyes? Hence our Lord
said to him who seemed to doubt of Christ's Resurrection, until he had
tested by sight and touch the traces of His Passion in His very Flesh,
"because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed: blessed are, they who
have not seen and yet have believed."
II.
In order,
therefore, dearly-beloved, that we may be capable of this blessedness,
when all things were fulfilled which concerned the Gospel preaching and
the mysteries of the New Testament, our Lord Jesus Christ, on the
fortieth day after the Resurrection in the presence of the disciples,
was raised into heaven, and terminated His presence with us in the
body, to abide on the Father's right hand until the times Divinely
fore-ordained for multiplying the sons of the Church are accomplished,
and He comes to judge the living and the dead in the same flesh in
which He ascended. And so that which till then was visible of our
Redeemer was changed into a sacramental presence, and that faith might
be more excellent and stronger, sight gave way to doctrine, the
authority of which was to be accepted by believing hearts enlightened
with rays from above.
III.
This Faith,
increased by the Lord's Ascension and established by the gift of the
Holy Ghost, was not terrified by bonds, imprisonments, banishments,
hunger, fire, attacks by wild beasts, refined torments of cruel
persecutors. For this Faith throughout the world not only men, but even
women, not only beardless boys, but even tender maids, fought to the
shedding of their blood. This Faith cast out spirits, drove off
sicknesses, raised the dead: and through it the blessed Apostles
themselves also, who after being confirmed by so many miracles and
instructed by so many discourses, had yet been panic-stricken by the
horrors of the Lord's Passion and had not accepted the truth of His
resurrection without hesitation, made such progress after the Lord's
Ascension that everything which had previously filled them with fear
was turned into joy. For they had lifted the whole contemplation of
their mind to the Godhead of Him that sat at the Father's right hand,
and were no longer hindered by the barrier of corporeal sight from
directing their minds' gaze to That Which had never quitted the
Father's side in descending to earth, and had not forsaken the
disciples in ascending to heaven.
IV.
The Son of Man
and Son of God, therefore, dearly-beloved, then attained a more
excellent and holier fame, when He betook Himself back to the glory of
the Father's Majesty, and in an ineffable manner began to be nearer to
the Father in respect of His Godhead, after having become farther away
in respect of His manhood. A better instructed faith then began to draw
closer to a conception of the Son's equality with the Father without
the necessity of handling the corporeal substance in Christ, whereby He
is less than the Father, since, while the Nature of the glorified Body
still remained the faith of believers was called upon to touch not with
the hand of flesh, but with the spiritual understanding the
Only-begotten, Who was equal with the Father. Hence comes that which
the Lord said after His Resurrection, when Mary Magdalene, representing
the Church, hastened to approach and touch Him: "Touch Me not, for I
have not yet ascended to My Father:" that is, I would not have you come
to Me as to a human body, nor yet recognize Me by fleshly perceptions:
I put thee off for higher things, I prepare greater things for thee:
when I have ascended to My Father, then thou shall handle Me more
perfectly and truly, for thou shall grasp what thou canst not touch and
believe what thou canst not see. But when the disciples eyes followed
the ascending Lord to heaven with upward gaze of earnest wonder, two
angels stood by them in raiment shining with wondrous brightness, who
also said, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing into heaven? This
Jesus Who was taken up from you into heaven shall so come as ye saw Him
going into heaven." By which words all the sons of the Church were
taught to believe that Jesus Christ will come visibly in the same Flesh
wherewith He ascended, and not to doubt that all things are subjected
to Him on Whom the ministry of angels had waited from the first
beginning of His Birth. For, as an angel announced to the blessed
Virgin that Christ should be conceived by the Holy Ghost, so the voice
of heavenly beings sang of His being born of the Virgin also to the
shepherds. As messengers from above were the first to attest His having
risen from the dead, so the service of angels was employed to foretell
His coming in very Flesh to judge the world, that we might understand
what great powers will come with Him as Judge, when such great ones
ministered to Him even in being judged.
V.
And so,
dearly-beloved, let us rejoice with spiritual joy, and let us with
gladness pay God worthy thanks and raise our hearts' eyes unimpeded to
those heights where Christ is. Minds that have heard the call to be
uplifted must not be pressed down by earthly affections, they that are
fore-ordained to things eternal must not be taken up with the things
that perish; they that have entered on the way of Truth must not be
entangled in treacherous snares, and the faithful must so take their
course through these temporal things as to remember that they are
sojourning in the vale of this world, in which, even though they meet
with some attractions, they must not sinfully embrace them, but bravely
pass through them. For to this devotion the blessed Apostle Peter
arouses us, and entreating us with that loving eagerness which he
conceived for feeding Christ's sheep by the threefold profession of
love for the Lord, says, "dearly-beloved, I beseech you, as strangers
and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul."
But for whom do fleshly pleasures wage war, if not for the devil, whose
delight it is to fetter souls that strive after things above, with the
enticements of corruptible good things, and to draw them away from
those abodes from which he himself has been banished? Against his plots
every believer must keep careful watch that he may crush his foe on the
side whence the attack is made. And there is no more powerful weapon,
dearly-beloved, against the devil's wiles than kindly mercy and
bounteous charity, by which every sin is either escaped or vanquished.
But this lofty power is not attained until that which is opposed to it
be overthrown. And what so hostile to mercy and works of charity as
avarice from the root of which spring all evils? And unless it be
destroyed by lack of nourishment, there must needs grow in the ground
of that heart in which this evil weed has taken root, the thorns and
briars of vices rather than any seed of true goodness. Let us then,
dearly-beloved, resist this pestilential evil and "follow after
charity," without which no virtue can flourish, that by this path of
love whereby Christ came down to us, we too may mount up to Him, to
Whom with God the Father and the Holy Spirit is honour and glory for
ever and ever. Amen.
Footnotes: 1 The twice-a-year
appearances of the Magi -- again, on the Epiphany and during the days
surrounding the Ascension -- total fifteen days in all. This clock can
be seen briefly but very up-close and in action in "Summertime" (link offsite), a 1955 film directed
by David Lean and starring Katharine Hepburn and Rossano Brazzi. The
movie is not believable (the leading man's character seems way too
creepily "oily" for Hepburn's character to fall for, and so quickly,
too), has some unintentionally funny dialogue (listen for the atrocious
bit about ravioli), and has an immoral message (centering approvingly
on an adulterous affair), but -- oh, the scenery!