Today is Ascension Thursday–the celebration of Christ’s ascension into heaven, 40 days after Easter Sunday.
In many parts of the U.S. (though not in California, where I live), this is a holy day of obligation.
I view that as an absurdity. A country should either treat this as a holy day of obligation or not. Culture doesn’t vary that much within a country that it should have different holy days of obligation compared to other parts of the same country. But I’m not the one who makes the rules, and the Vatican approved the current arrangement.
Part of the edge for me is that–given St. Luke’s indication that the ascension occurred 40 days after Easter, we know (at least in approximate terms) that the Ascension occurred on a Thursday, and I don’t like the idea of transferring it to the following Sunday. Of all the holy days, we have special reason to place this one on a Thursday.
Part of it also is that I’ve stood on the place on the Mount of Olives where the site of the Ascention is commemorated by a stone tower, though no one knows precisely where on the mountain the spot was from which Jesus ascended.
Still, it makes it more real to me.
Regardless of what ecclesiastical province you live in–inside or outside of the United States–I hope that you have a very blessed celebration of the transition of Our Lord from this lowly, fallen world back to the realms of glory from which he descended.
I’m also in CA. I hate that the holy day is moved to make it more “convenient”.
Can someone who prays the divine office tell me what we’re supposed to do through Saturday? Is tomorrow the Friday after Ascension or is it Friday of Easter week 6 and if so what do I do for the responsory and prayer, which only go up to week 5?
On a related topic: I live in the L.A. archdiocese, and I just do not understand what kind of reasoning is behind the practice of releasing people from the obligation to attend Mass when holy days of obligation fall on a Monday. (And Saturday too, I think.)
Is it just considered to onerous to go to Mass two days in a row? What ends up happening is that the parishes do not have the normal holy day Mass schedule because they figure (perhaps rightly) that most people won’t come if there’s no obligation. So those of us who really do want to celebrate the holy day with Mass find it a lot harder to do so because of work and school schedules. So their assumption about Mass attendance on these days becomes self fullfilling.
Anyway, it just doesn’t seem like a very good way to promote a sense of the importance of celebrating the liturgical year.
So here’s a question, if its moved to Sunday, does that make it a holy day of obligation, or does that title not matter since its on a Sunday? I think in New Mexico its on Sunday as well, not sure yet, I’m still looking it up.
If it still is a day of obligation on Sunday, then is there some special status or something given to that Sunday over other Sundays?
DJ –
All Sundays are days of obligation
That’s a great depiction of the Ascension.
Here’s what I do:
(1) With my public liturgical life, I just go with the bishop. If the bishop says, “We celebrate the Ascension on Sunday,” then, fine, on Sunday we gather and celebrate the Ascension. No problem. I love and obey my bishop.
(2) With my private devotional life, I celebrate the Ascenion on Thursday. In regard to the Office/Liturgy of the Hours, which I do not pray in a public, liturgical fashion, I enjoyed the antiphons and hymn and readings for the Ascension this morning (5-6 a.m.). During the same hours on Sunday, I will enjoythe anitophons, hymn and readings for the 7th Sunday of Easter.
Not a problem.
This is about as simple as realizing that how I dress at home is not the same as how I dress in a business meeting (or a liturgy with my bishop).
Nothing to worry about.
I’ve always tried to visulaize the Ascension, and can’t really seem to do it. How do ya’ll see it? Is it like a figure actually going up into the sky, or more like a fadeout that you might see on Star trek? Or something else?
This causes real problems for people who are traveling. Last year Ascension Thurs. was just before Mother’s Day. We were traveling from Houston to New Hampshire on that day. No Ascension Thursday in Houston, so no vigil Mass or early morning Mass for it. There was Ascension Thursday in New Hampshire, but we arrived too late to get to a Mass. We were still there on Sunday when they celebrated the Sunday Mass, so we had no Ascension Mass last year.
This one irks me no end, too.
The idea, I assume, is to make it possible for those who won’t go to church on a weekday to celebrate the feast on sunday. The problem is that those who won’t go on a weekday are also those who won’t go on a sunday. I say, follow the ancient tradition and keep the feast on a thursday. Those who are good Catholics will attend as we do on the Immaculate Conception and Assumption, which don’t get moved to sunday; and those who are not will only show up on Christmas and Easter!
Talk about Extreme Mountaineering… Jesus went higher than Sir Edmund Hilary! :-p
I hope to paint the Ascension as part of a series (the mysteries of the Rosary). Visualizing it is difficult without falling back on cliches (which is not necessarily that bad a thing).
It and the Transfiguration are tricky, being, as they are, so far outside our normal experience of the world.
I’m in NYC and it is a holy day of obligation here. To be honest, I think they keep it because it would be annoying to change the parking rules – they’re suspended today because of it. And no, I’m not kidding you, they would be that practical about it.
I like it as a holy day, though. You’re right. It should be one thing or the other.
–Ann
I agree whole-heartedly. I think transferring days this important are a reflection of the “crisis of faith” we have in the Church. I’m celebrating the ascension on my own via the Liturgy of the Hours today and will celebrate AGAIN on Sunday!
Oops, looks like my cookies got disabled…That last post was me. But, now that I’ve read all the posts I want to add that I agree w/ Catherine. I live in the Detroit Archdiocese, but am from the Lansing Diocese, so I always go home on Sundays. When I went to Holy Mass Sunday (in the Lansing Diocese) they said it was transferred. Then I go to Holy Mass this morning (in the Detroit Archdiocese) and they’re celebrating the Ascension. Jimmy if you’re frustrated that we can’t have liturgical uniformity in the same country–how much more ridiculous for us who don’t even have it within the same state!
I agree that this is a silly decision – especially the different practices in different parts of the country.
I remember a few years ago I lived in Baltimore, where Ascension was celebrated on Thursday. However, I had a business trip in Seattle that week, where Ascension was celebrated on Sunday. I was in Seattle on Thursday and back in Baltimore by Sunday. So I never could celebrate the Ascension even though I really wanted to! It was like being in some sci-fi time warp…
I am also in the unfortunate circumstance of being in a place where the Ascention has been moved to Sunday and leaving on Saturday for a place where it is celebrated on Thursday.
I think that the idea of moving Holy Days is utterly absurd.
Just to throw my five decades in…
in the Seattle archdiocese, Ascension has been shifted to this coming Sunday.
I also do like old zhao; follow the bishop in public, but follow the divine office in private.
In my private devotion, I celebrate today as Ascension day in my Liturgy of the Hours.
Blessed Ascension day to all! (even those for whom it is not yet Ascension day)… yeah, talk about frustratingly confusingly not a norm for us all. : )
One of the great things about the Easter Season, is we know that we are celebrating it, liturgically, in it’s correct time frame from Holy Thursday through to Pentecost Sunday.
Today, 40 days after Easter Sunday, we celebrate Christ’s Ascension. Tomorrow begins the 9 day novena to the Holy Spirit reflecting the 9 days the apostles and Our Lady spent in prayer, prior to the Holy Spirit Coming upon them at Pentecost.
By moving the celebration of the Ascension to the Sunday, much of that significance is lost.
Good post, Jimmy. I lived in California for several years and was always perplexed that they seemed to have a separate litturgical year.
I did a post on my blog on Ascension. Where I live in central PA, Ascension is a big deal…among the Amish! It’s one of their most important holidays (actually, one of their *few* holidays).
(Oops! Hit the Post key at the wrong time. Continuing…)
I did a post on my blog on Ascension at http://mazurland.typepad.com/myweblog/2006/05/today_is_the_fe.html. Where I live in central PA, Ascension is a big deal…among the Amish! It’s one of their most important holidays (actually, one of their *few* holidays).
Excuse me but…….. couldn’t this all have to do with the historical fact of Catholic Spanish California being on the map long before the 13 Protestant East colonies hence the separation and differing liturgical year. Some one please look into it thanks
Speaking as a native Californian, I would refer Kevin to New Mexico which was invaded by Franciscans in the 16th century, long before California saw Catholics. Serra didn’t get started with his run up coastal California from San Diego until the late 18th century. Perhaps we should all follow the lead of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. They celebrate the Ascension today.
This may make Ascension the longest holy day of obligation out of the year. Lets see…any given hour of the day exists for 26 hours given the overlap of timezones, add 23 hours to that as the delta between the first hour for the first timezone to the last hour for the last timezone..then add the places in the world where one can see this day being celebrated on Sunday..of course one will have to be careful for overlap…
Hey, anybody have a list of where in the world the Ascension is celebrated on Sunday?
Hurray for Connectict, which leaves it on Thursday.
I remember when I was younger and they moved all the major civil holidays to Monday so people could have three day weekends. I put up with that, but I think it is ridiculous to move Ascension Day,since it is supposed to be 40 days after Easter and 10 days before Pentecost….
I’m in Utah, and it’s been moved to Sunday here as well. Though considering how few priests we have, and how far some of them have to travel to say Mass, it does make things a little easier on them.
I also live in the Seattle Archdiocese. Moving Holy Days so that you don’t “impose” on the lives of your flock is like not making your young children bathe because they don’t like it. Or maybe the reason is because the local Church knows that it has done such a terrible job of teaching the faith that they know people won’t come, and thus be in a state of mortal sin. Then the local church would be forced in to the position of denying communion to people on the Sunday following a holy day.
Hi,
I live in Hamilton, Ontario about an hour’s drive from Toronto. Ascension Thurs is sadly no longer a Holy Day of Obligation here – it is transfered to the Sat/Sun Masses. I went to Mass this morning and it seemed very odd not to even have the Epistle and Gospel reading about the Ascension. The priest apologetically mused about how the feast was moved because people were too busy, etc. Still, it makes a statement to be there for the Lord.
Agreed. It’s the same here in India, transferred to Sunday. That didn’t stop many people from turning up for the daily service, though.
Thank God I live in a diocese that leaves it on Thursday!
I’m certainly not shy about noticing when priests or bishop improvise with the Mass and ignore the Missal texts and rubrics, substitute readings, use unapproved and perhaps unhelpful music, etc.
But, in this caes, the various archbishops and bishops around the world who decide to celebreate the Ascension on Sunday instead of Thursday in their own (arch)diocese are faithfully following the rubrics of the Roman Misasl.
I say, “Good for them.” Nothing like seeing bishops make liturgical choices which are among the choices listed in the Missal.
The initial rubric for the Ascension in the 2002 Roman Missal is:
Ubi sollemnitas Ascensionis non est de praecepto servanda, assignatur, tamquam diei proprio, dominicae VII Paschae.
(i.e., it may be moved to the 7th Sunday of Easter)
The initial rubric for Feria Quinta (Thursday) of the 6th Week of Easter is:
In regionibus ubi sollemnitas Ascensionis fit dominica sequenti.
(In regions where the Ascension is on the following Sunday.)
And, the page heads for Feria Sexta and Sabbato (Friday and Saturday) are:
In Feriis Post Ascensionem vel Dominicam VI Paschae.
(Weekdays after Ascension or 6th Sunday of Easter)
So, the bishops are free to make this choice. The choice is in the universal Roman Missal. It is not just a thing of one country, or region. It is a free choice in the Roman liturgy for all bishops to make for their own dioceses.
They are following the rubrics.
Give them a break.
Old Zhou and Tim M.,
It is very good that you are both praying the Divine Office.
You should know, however, that even if you are praying it alone, the Office is still liturgy and not “private devotion.” You are praying the prayer of the Church with the whole Church.
The Liturgy of the Hours is very flexible (this is not surprising, given that it was designed to serve as the prayer book of diocesan priests), but it is liturgy nonetheless.
The Byzantines offered extra Divine Liturgies to celebrate it, without ever using the phrase “Holy Day of Obligation.” So I went Wednesday evening to a Vigil of the Assumption Divine Liturgy. I sort of assumed that in the Roman rite parish it would be moved to Sunday, so off I went to regular Thursday morning mass at 7 am…no one was there. That means they were treating Assumption as a Holy Day of Obligation, and had masses the evening before and the evening of, but not the regular daily masses…I guess since the priests can only say so many. By the way, the Byzantine church had just as many people there as they do for regular Sunday masses, something which isn’t true in the Roman rite parishes I know. Even though the Byzantines don’t call it an “obligation.” (I mean, for all I know their rules say it is an obligation, but they don’t use that term in the church bulletin or from the pulpit. )
Susan Peterson
Right on Susan, I was going to say that the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics don’t have this problem. They are traditional to a fault.
I am on the east coast (NJ). I have always celebrated Ascension on a Thursday. Although Sunday’s are days of obligation and we do go to Mass on Sundays; Ascension should be a separate day. God bless all on this day