Hello all, Happy feast day to all those born, baptized and married today Happy feast day to all, Seminarians, Deacons, Priests, Bishops, Cardinals, Monks, Nuns, Reverend Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus. Happy feast day to all Christians Happy feast day to all Catholics, especially all who constantly profess the Apostle’s Creed also known as the “I Believe in God” or the “Credo” Happy feast day to all Catholic Missionaries Today (May 29th), marks the Solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ Today we celebrate “The Feast of the Ascension of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity” The Feast can also be called “Ascension Day” The Feast is popularly known as “Ascension Thursday” Today is a Holy Day of Obligation and Catholics are advised to attend Holy Mass today. Today’s liturgical memorial is found in the New Testament. Sacred Scripture teaches us that the resurrected Jesus was taken up to Heaven in His resurrected body, in the presence of eleven of his apostles [Acts 1:9-11] In the Roman Catholic Church, todays Feast is known as the “Solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord”. The Feast of the Ascension is one of the great feasts in the Christian liturgical calendar, and commemorates the bodily Ascension of Jesus into Heaven Ascension Day is traditionally celebrated on a Thursday, the fortieth (40th) day of Easter, although some Roman Catholic provinces have moved the observance to the following Sunday. The Feast is one of the ecumenical feasts of Christians. It is Universally Celebrated It ranks with the Feasts of the Passion, the Feast of Easter, and also the Feast of Pentecost. Catholic Tradition teaches us that this event occurred 40 days after the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the biblical narrative, an angel tells the watching disciples that Jesus second coming will take place in the same manner as his ascension. The Ascension of Jesus is professed in the Nicene Creed and in the Apostles Creed. The Ascension implies Jesus humanity being taken into Heaven. The Feast of the Ascension, celebrated on the 40th day of Easter (always a Thursday), is one of the Chief Feasts of the Christian year. The account of Jesus ascending bodily into the clouds is given fully only in the Acts of the Apostles, but is briefly described also in the Gospel of Luke (often considered to be by the same author) in Luke 24:50-53 The event is also recounted in the ending of Mark 16:19. The Ascension has been a frequent subject in Christian art, as well as a theme in theological writings. By the 6th century the iconography of the Ascension had been established and by the 9th century Ascension scenes were being depicted on domes of churches. Many ascension scenes have two parts, an upper (Heavenly) part and a lower (earthly) part. The ascending Christ may be carrying a resurrection banner or make a sign of benediction with his right hand. The blessing gesture by Christ with his right hand is directed towards the earthly group below him and signifies that he is blessing the entire Church. In the left hand, he may be holding a Gospel or a scroll, signifying teaching and preaching The observance of this feast is of great antiquity. Although no documentary evidence of it exists prior to the beginning of the 5th century, Saint Augustine says that it is of Apostolic origin, and he speaks of it in a way that shows it was the universal observance of the Church long before his time. Frequent mention of the Ascension is made in the writings of Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Gregory of Nyssa, and in the Constitution of the Apostles. The Pilgrimage of Aetheria speaks of the vigil of this feast and of the feast itself, as they were kept in the church built over the grotto in Bethlehem in which Christ was born. The Latin terms used for the feast, ascensio and, occasionally, ascensa, signify that Christ was raised up by his own powers, and it is from these terms that the holy day gets its name. In Roman Catholicism the Ascension of the Lord is a Holy Day of Obligation. The three days before Ascension Thursday are sometimes referred to as the Rogation days and the previous Sunday, the Sixth Sunday of Easter (or the Fifth Sunday after Easter), is referred to as Rogation Sunday. Ascension has a vigil and, since the 15th century, an octave, which is set apart for a novena of preparation for Pentecost, in accordance with the directions of Pope Leo XIII (who was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church since the pontificate of Saint Peter the Apostle) In Western Christianity, the earliest possible date of the Solemnity of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ is April 30, while the latest possible date is June 3. The Roman Catholic Church in a number of countries that do not observe the feast as a public holiday has obtained permission from the Vatican to move observance of the Feast of the Ascension from the traditional Thursday to the following Sunday, which is the Sunday before Pentecost. This is in keeping with a trend to move Holy Days of Obligation from weekdays to Sunday, to encourage more Catholics to observe feasts considered important. The decision to move a feast is made by the bishops of an ecclesiastical province, i.e. an archbishop and the neighbouring bishops of the Catholic Arch Diocese. The switch of the Feast from Thursday to Sunday was made in 1992 by the church in Australia; The switch of the Feast from Thursday to Sunday was made before 1996 in parts of Europe; The switch of the Feast from Thursday to Sunday was made in 1996 in Ireland; The switch of the Feast from Thursday to Sunday was made before 1998 in Canada and parts of the western United States; The switch of the Feast from Thursday to Sunday was made in many other provinces in the United States from 1999 The switch of the Feast from Thursday to Sunday was made in England and Wales from 2007. The U.S. provinces which retain Thursday observance in 2009 are Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Omaha, and Philadelphia. ------------------------------------------------------------- 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, He 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 Christs Resurrection. Christs 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 Adams fall. Catholic Tradition teaches that the “Feast of the Ascension” marks the beginning of the First Novena, or nine days of prayer (while waiting for God the Holy Spirit the Comforter). 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. Today, Catholics recall the First novena by praying the Novena to the Holy Ghost between Ascension and Pentecost, asking for the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the fruits of the Holy Spirit. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Prayer by Pope Saint Pius V Grant, we beseech You, Almighty God that we who believe Your only-begotten Son, our Redeemer, to have this day ascended into heaven, may dwell in spirit amid heavenly things. Through the same Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen. -Pope Saint Pius V (who was the 225th Vicar of Christ since the pontificate of Saint Peter the Apostle) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Reflection of the Day “He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.” The inclusion of this statement as one of the twelve articles in the Apostles’ Creed, that early and succinct statement or “symbol” of faith, suggests the great importance of the Ascension. And the Solemnity of the Ascension is one of six great solemnities Catholics are obligated to observe. Yet specific reasons for its significance can be difficult to articulate. After all, we believe Jesus is God, so why be surprised that he would ascend into heaven? His work was “finished,” so doesn’t it make sense he would exit the earthly stage soon after the Resurrection? When speaking to the Pharisee, Nicodemus, Jesus said, “No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man” (John. 3:13). The Ascension is closely related to the reality of the Incarnation;it is, in fact, an essential act of the Incarnate One. “This final stage”—that is, the exaltation revealed in the Ascension—“stays closely linked to the first,” states the Catechism, “to his descent from heaven in the Incarnation”. When the Son became man, the relationship between God and humanity changed in ways that men could hardly begin to appreciate or comprehend. The eternal Creator chose to become a creature, and in so doing established a new relationship with mankind as well as time and history. Jesus is the bridge, the door, the mediator, between God and man. He established what man desperately needed, but only God could provide, what theologians call admirabile commercium, or “the wondrous exchange.” In the words of Saint Augustine, “God wanted to be the Son of Man and he wanted men to be the sons of God.” The Son was rich in holiness and perfect in his divinity, but became poor for our sake, embracing the poverty of human flesh in order that men might become filled with holiness and the divine life. This glorious exchange is the essence of the kingdom of God, which the risen Lord spoke about with his disciples so often prior to the Ascension. But this great promise of the Father, Jesus said, would not be realized until the disciples were “baptized with the Holy Spirit,” the Lord and giver of life. The messianic kingdom would be inaugurated when the Son of man—Who is forever Incarnate, fully man and fully God—was seated at the right hand of the Father. ------------------------------------------------------------- Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, who became (Pope Benedict XVI and the 265th Bishop of Rome and Head of the Catholic Church), reflected profoundly on this fact: “Christ’s Ascension is therefore not a spectacle for the disciples but an event into which they themselves are included. It is a sursum corda, a movement toward the above into which we are all called. It tells us that man can live toward the above, that he is capable of attaining heights. More: the altitude that alone is suited to the dimensions of being human is the altitude of God himself. Man can live at this height, and only from this height do we properly understand him. The image of man has been raised up, but we have the freedom to tear it down or to let ourselves be raised.” To be “raised up” is to be filled with the Holy Spirit, reborn as children of God, marked with the promise of heavenly glory. This is possible because the Father loved the world so much that HE established a plan of salvation. This is a reality because the Son, the Word, became a man and joined divinity to humanity forever, and sits in the heavenly places as the Incarnate Word. This is a fact because the Holy Spirit, at baptism, regenerates the souls of men, making them sons of God by grace. The Incarnation revealed that God could become flesh and dwell among men. The Ascension revealed that man could be divinized and dwell eternally with God ---------------------------------------------------------------- Let us pray (Oremus) Almighty God, We believe your only-begotten Son our Redeemer has ascended into heaven and works amidst us through the Holy Spirit. May He always dwell in our hearts and lead us in the right way to Your Eternal Home. Amen. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Let us pray that through The Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, we may in this group find the spiritual motivation to win our souls for God. Amen History of the Feast of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, can be viewed by clicking the photo of the Ascension of Jesus Christ in our group’s photo section Feast of the day would be communicated to you as promptly and consistently as humanly possible, by Gods grace. May we all in this group and beyond this group, Christians and non Christians alike, Catholics and non Catholics alike, be saved from the fires of hell and lifted up into heaven after our stay here on this exile. Amen May our Lord Jesus Christ, through His Ascension and through Gods Divine Mercy strengthen our souls, open out the way for us all, and above all, intoxicate us with HIS love. Amen May Christ make us into blazing fires to enkindle the earth with the heavenly fire HE brought us. Amen Jesus we love you, all we have is yours, yours we are and yours we want to be, please do with us whatever you will. Amen The Holy Family of (Jesus, Mary and Joseph), we give you our lives and our salvation. Amen Jesus, Mary we love you, please save our souls. Amen God bless you and grant your heart’s desire. Amen God help us and may HE grant us salvation through the Resurrection and Ascension of His Son our Lord Jesus Christ, we humbly ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Please click the links below: youtube/watch?v=PFbcUErz5ec youtube/watch?v=zaYDWdPmu-w
Posted on: Thu, 29 May 2014 16:39:26 +0000
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