From the Pastor’s Desk

Dear Parishioners,

The Ascension of Our Lord occurred 40 days after Jesus Christ rose from the dead on Easter.  It is the final act of our redemption that Christ began at His birth and continued through the Triduum. On this day, the risen Christ, in the sight of His apostles, ascended bodily into Heaven. The reality of Christ's Ascension is so important that the different Christian creeds all affirm, in the words of the Apostles' Creed; that "He ascended into heaven, 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 Christ's Resurrection.

Christ's 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 Adam's fall.

The Feast of the Ascension marks the beginning of nine days of prayer before the descent of the Holy Spirit. 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.

In the 1990s The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops began to look at moving the celebration to the following Sunday.  Many countries had already done so in the 70s and 80s.  Several reasons were given, the two most important being: 1) Ascension is so important to our Christian Faith; 2) celebrating it on Sunday meant more people would truly celebrate it.

As of Friday May 23, summer began.  The school year, 2024–2025, has finished.  What a glorious season of the year, but then I enjoy all seasons: spring, summer, fall, and winter.  As we enter the summer months, I always take a look at our prayer life, especially regarding weekend Mass.  Can’t we just pray at home, or on the lake, or on the mountain top and do just as well in our relationship with God?

The Mass is the best expression of what it is to be a Catholic.  It is the very first thing that the early Christians felt they needed to do.  After Pentecost, they recalled that Jesus had instructed them to gather for the “breaking of the bread” (their way of speaking about the Mass).  In this way, they believed they would experience the presence of the Risen Lord.  Wherever you are during the summer, take the time to go to Sunday Mass, take the time to pray.  Please do not take a vacation from God.

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