Today our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven; let our hearts ascend with him. Listen to the words of the Apostle: “If you have risen with Christ, set your hearts on the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; seek the things that are above, not the things that are on earth.” For just as he remained with us even after his ascension, so we too are already in heaven with him, even though what is promised us has not yet been fulfilled in our bodies.
…We cannot be in heaven, as he is on earth, by divinity, but in him, we can be there by love.
-Augustine
Sermon for the Lord’s Ascension
So, as the hymn says, the ‘cloud from sight received him’, now the forty days were completed. We should heed the words of the Angel – we should not stand here looking upwards – he is everywhere, and with us ever more. In one of his sermons on the Ascension, Pope St Leo the Great wrote:
Christ’s Ascension is therefore also our own, upon the glory of the Head rests the hope of the body. On this holy day, we have received not only the assurance of entering into possession of eternal glory, but we have already entered into the heights of heaven with Christ Jesus.
That is something to remind ourselves on this, the feast of the Ascension.
For reasons best known to themselves, our bishops have decided that man, even the God-Man, were made for the Sabbath, and insisted on moving the feast to the nearest Sunday. This is a sad concession to the secular world, but then the pass there was long sold – we now have a Saturday evening Mass so that those who don’t want to get up early on Sunday can fulfil their ‘obligation’. It all marks a move towards an accommodation with a world which is not actually interested in accommodation. It is part of a wider incomprehension by so many Christian leaders.
Since the 1960s the dominant theme in the Roman Catholic and Anglican churches has been one of making ourselves ‘relevant’ and ‘accessible’ But the faith had managed to be both those things for the best part of two thousand years, because it, and it alone through Christ, can heal what ails us. If we think nothing ails us and we do not need healing, then the faith is not accessible or relevant. If we think of Christ as the cure for what ails us, then it is. It sometimes feels as though, with Christ out of sight now the cloud has received him, that we have forgotten that this world is not all there is, and that he has simply gone before us to where we are going.
As we reflect, this Ascension day, let us bear in mind the words of the Angels:
“Men of Galilee,” they said, “why are you standing here staring into heaven? Jesus has been taken from you into heaven, but someday he will return from heaven in the same way you saw him go!”
Yeah, us too, and it’s very sad. Too me it speaks of a lack of leadership, in our leadership. Far too many willing to go along to get along, not doing what is necessary to the mission, and yet our countries have never yet had a shortage of people willing to take up a challenging mission, who else could staff militaries that are the best in the world-with volunteers?
The problem is, as it always is in an organization, with the leaders, ( I originally typed loafers, maybe I should have left it!) who lack vision, and the fortitude to do the harder right instead of the easier wrong. That is hardly unique to our time and for 2000 years other leaders have arisen, so we may hope , and pray, they shall, once more
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I’m rather angry than sad that this great feast, a Holy Day of Obligation, was moved. The reason given was that many people worked and would not go or couldn’t go to an early Mass, though there would have been on on Wednesday Eve.
For many in Europe it also provided for a “Ponte.”
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Absolutely right to be angry. Talk about WWJD – in this case we know WJD
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Agree as well. It’s pretty much axiomatic that when we fool around moving feast days (or secular holidays, for that matter) we will lose much of that meaning. It’s one thing to celebrate 40 days after Easter, it’s something else to celebrate on the nearest Sunday to forty days after Easter. Similarly it’s one thing to celebrate an armistice at the 11th hour of the 11 day of the 11th month; the 9th of November, even though it’s a Monday just ain’t the same.
We should, I think, be angry about this fooling around, to please those who don’t discern what the celebration is about, anyway.
Yes, it would, and did inconvenience some but the meaning of the thing is more important, I think.
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Aye, accommodations to people and a lack of accommodation to the Lord: no Friday penance, no more Holy Days of Obligation on the proper days that filled the Churches to the rafters, no more genuflections in the Creed (too hard I guess), no more fasts before Mass (even though the sick and the young were excused). We have become weak in the faith and are like an army that was trained by giving up basic training and heavy packs to tote during that training. Is it a wonder that the challenge of being Christian is gone and thereby the men, who rise to a challenge, stay home under this watered down religion of easy peasy?
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It is the virtual denial of the next world which is so puzzling – unless, of course, some of them don’t actually believe in it.
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Giving the state of things that is not entirely out of the question.
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Have never understood why Holydays moved to nearest Sunday, or why we have vigil mass on Saturday, 1 hr fast? is that long enough to prepare for receiving Our Lord? But at the moment I am angry that this Joyous Feast day is now celebrated on different days, when the Catholic Church should be united on Ascension Thursday as are other Christian faiths
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It seems all very like a need to seem ‘relevant’ to a world not interested.
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My diocese here in the US celebrates mass on the holy days. Churches not filled to the rafters, sure, but many people come and reverently so. 7 PM mass tonight. Just sayin’.
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Sounds good to me 😀
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Glad to see someone is doing the way it should be.
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Where I live it was celebrated today. Thanks be to God and a few stubborn non-conformists. Maybe God needs a few good rebels to shake it up and go against the flow for a little bit. Meantime, don’t be sad Chalcedon. This isn’t Heaven and you’ve that to look forward to. The Liturgy there IS perfect and all the hymns are sung on-key without guitar back-up. God bless. Ginnyfree.
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P.S. Your essay is very nice. Thank you. God bless. Ginnyfree.
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Thank you, ginny, and for your tireless efforts with Bosco.
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Pingback: Pope Francis’ Daily Homilies: Spiritual Reflection: “The days between the resurrection and the ascension of the Lord” From a sermon by Saint Leo the Great, pope (Sermo 1 de Ascensione, 2-4: PL 54, 395-396) | euzicasa
The problem I see with so much of this ‘easy-osy’ attitude today is that the Church is trying to please all people, rather than pleasing God. The Church, as I understand it, should reflect God, The Divine Truth, Our Blessed Lord, The Blessed Virgin Mary, All the Saints and Angels NOT the whims and wishes of society which is what seems to be the way things are going. As I said before, it all begins to resemble a box of Quality Street….pick out your favourite bits and leave what you don’t like, or worse, try and re-write the recipe.
The issue with so much of society seems to be that God will always come second to all the other ‘must-dos’ in life, whether that is work, children, school activities, family commitments, leisure etc. Nothing stems from Jesus anymore and consequently I sense that priests are so fearful of losing the last of their congregation because of this back-to-front way of living and thinking, that they arrange things to ‘suit’ people in order to get them into the churches……and there lies the problem. Make it ‘user-friendly’, change this, remove that, do away with all the hard bits etc. etc. The tail wagging the dog again. Until humanity realigns its priorities and put Jesus at the centre of everything, He will always be slotted in wherever it is most convenient.
Currently I worship at an Anglo-Catholic church, living too far from most Orthodox communities but at least there they keep the Holy Feasts and the usual group of devout faithful always attend and we have lovely Masses. Most Sunday Masses we have at least 4 altar boys serving which is encouraging, with one little chap looking like he’s set for the priesthood..! Here’s hoping 🙂
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