Thank you for your generous offerings of May 1/2. The
regular collection brought in $15,147, and the Poor Box
yielded $ 749. The Poor Box offerings for the first week
of each month will go to benefit A Woman’s Choice.
The Feast of the Ascension of the Lord
Observed May 16th
When they had gathered together they asked him, “Lord,
are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or
seasons that the Father has established by his own
authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit
comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in
Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends
of the earth.”
When he had said this, as they were looking on, he was
lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. While they
were looking intently at the sky as he was going, suddenly
two mean dressed in white garments stood beside them.
They said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there
looking at the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up
from you into heaven will return in the same way as you
have seen him going into heaven.”
Acts 1:6-12
Jesus commissioned his disciples to baptize in his name,
reminding them that he is always present through his Spirit.
Having ascended to his father amid cries of gladness, we
are to be his witnesses, for we have been gifted with his
Spirit of wisdom and revelation. Let us, therefore, live in a
manner worthy of the call we have received.
The History
The observance of this feast is of great antiquity. Although
no documentary evidence of it exists prior to the beginning
of the fifth century, St. 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 it is made in the writings of St. John
Chrysostom, St. Gregory of Nyssa, and in the Constitution
of the Apostles. The Pilgrimage of Sylvia (Peregrinatio
Etheriae) 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 (Duchesne, Christian
Worship, 491-515).
In the liturgy generally the day is meant to celebrate the
completion of the work of our salvation, the pledge of our
glorification with Christ, and His entry into heaven with our
human nature glorified.