A cursory
glance at the SOLEMNITY OF ASCENSION OF THE LORD: Its Historical Background and
Customs
The celebration of the Ascension of the Lord has been an aged
long tradition in the Church. Following our Christian belief, the ascension of
Jesus Christ into Heaven took place on the 40th day after His Resurrection
(Easter being reckoned as the first day). Thus, it is celebrated each year on
the fortieth day after the Great and Holy Feast of Pascha (Easter).
Since the date of Pascha changes each year, the date for the solemnity
of the Ascension also changes. The solemnity is always celebrated on Thursday
and therefore designated with the term, “Ascension Thursday”. It
commemorates the bodily Ascension of Jesus into Heaven. It has an Ecumenical
character. But in the Roman Catholic Church it is named ‘‘the Solemnity of the
Ascension of the Lord’’, and traditionally celebrated on a Thursday, the
fortieth day after Easter, (following the account of Acts 1:3); although some
Roman Catholic Provinces have moved the observance to the following Sunday with
the permission from the Vatican, the Sunday before Pentecost. This is in
keeping with a trend to move the “Holy Days of Obligation” from weekdays to
Sunday, to encourage more Catholics to observe feasts considered important. ( cf. "Ascension." Encyclopædia
Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite.
Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2014).
The decision to move a feast is made by the bishops of an
ecclesiastical province, i.e. an Archbishop and the neighbouring bishops. The
switch to Sunday was made in 1992 by the Church in Australia; before 1996 in
parts of Europe; in 1996 in Ireland; before 1998 in Canada and parts of the
western United States; in many other parts in the United States from 1999; and
in England and Wales from 2007. The U.S. cities which retain Thursday
observance in 2009 are Boston, Hartford, New York, Omaha, and Philadelphia and
the Church here in Nigeria.
The Ascension of Our Lord is the final act of our redemption that
Christ began on Good Friday. On this day, the risen Christ, in the sight of His
apostles, ascended bodily into Heaven (cf. Luke 24:51; Mark 16:19; Acts
1:9-11). This solemn celebration precedes the feast of Pentecost, which is
celebrated fiftieth day after the Resurrection of our Lord and Redeemer. It is in line with this celebration that
this work mounts its searchlight to unravel the historical background, and its
theological imports in our lives.
The Solemnity of Ascension as it is called
in the Roman Catholic tradition is known in Eastern rite in Greek as Analepsis,
the "taking up", and also as the Episozomene, the
"salvation from on high", denoting that by ascending into His glory
Christ completed the work of our redemption. Ascension is one of the Twelve
Great Feasts of the Orthodox liturgical year. In the Eastern rite, the feast is
always observed with an All-night-vigil. The day before is the Apodosis
(leave-taking) of Easter (i.e., the last day of the Feast of Easter). The Paroemia
(Old Testament readings) at Vespers on
the eve of the Feast are Isaiah 2:2-3; 62:10-63:3, 63:7-9; and Zech. 14:1-4;
14:8-11. At the Divine Liturgy, the Epistle is Acts 1:1-12, and the Gospel is
Luke 24:36-53. Ascension Thursday also commemorates the Holy Georgian Martyrs
of Persia (17th–18th centuries). The Sunday after Ascension is the Sunday of
the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea. This council
formulated the Nicene Creed up to the words, "He [Jesus] ascended into
heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father; and shall come again, with
glory, to judge the living and the dead; Whose kingdom shall have no end."
The After feast ends on the following Friday, the Friday before Pentecost. The
next day is appropriately a Saturday of the Dead (general commemoration of all
faithful departed).
However, the customs of the Solemnity of
Ascension were connected with the liturgy of this feast, such as the blessing
of beans and grapes after the Commemoration of the Dead in the Canon of the
Mass, the blessing of first fruits, afterwards done on Rogation Days, the
blessing of a candle, the wearing of mitres by deacon and sub-deacon, the
extinguishing of the paschal candle, and triumphal processions with torches and
banners outside the churches to commemorate the entry of Christ into heaven.
The antiquarian Daniel Rock records the
English custom of carrying at the head of the procession the banner bearing the
device of the lion and at the foot the banner of the dragon, to symbolize the
triumph of Christ in his ascension over the evil one (and can also be
interpreted by analogy as the triumph of England over Wales). In some churches
the scene of the Ascension was vividly reproduced by elevating the figure of
Christ above the altar through an opening in the roof of the church. In others,
whilst the figure of Christ was made to ascend, that of the devil was made to
descend. ( cf. www.newadvent.org).
Biblically, the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, records
account of Jesus appearing to the Apostles on various occasions during a period
of 40 days, here Jesus was taken up in their presence and was then hidden from
them by a cloud, a frequent biblical image signifying the presence of God.
Although belief in the Ascension is apparent in other books of the New
Testament, the emphasis and the imagery differ. In The Gospel according to
John, the glorification described by the Ascension story seems to have taken
place immediately after the Resurrection. The imagery of the account in The
Gospel according to Luke is similar to that of Acts, but there is no mention of
a period of 40 days.
The meaning of the Ascension for Christians is derived from their
belief in the glorification and exaltation of Jesus following his death and
Resurrection, as well as from the theme of his return to the Father. Thus, The
Gospel according to John uses both the sayings of Jesus and his post-Resurrection
appearances to indicate a new relationship between Jesus and his Father and
between him and his followers, rather than a simple physical relocation from
earth to heaven.
The Ascension of Jesus is mentioned in the
Apostles’ Creed, a profession of faith used for baptism in the early church.
The feast of the Ascension ranks with Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost in the
universality of its observance among Christians. The feast has been celebrated
40 days after Easter in both Eastern and Western Christianity since the 4th
century. Prior to that time, the Ascension was commemorated as a part of the
celebration of the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
The importance of this great festival cannot
be overemphasized, according to St. Augustine in his Sermons on the Ascension
many centuries ago; he outlined the spiritual imports of this event. Stressing
that, the Ascension of our Lord into Heaven has transcends the pictorial
ascending of our Lord, but goes further to assume the confirmation of the
father’s love for us. For St. Augustine, as Jesus Christ our Lord went up to
Heaven, let our hearts go up with Him, bearing in mind the admonition of St.
Paul, who asserted that ‘If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things
that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your
minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.’ It is a
truism that Christ is now raised above the Heavens; but He still experiences on
earth whatever sufferings we His members feel. He showed that this is true when
He called out from Heaven: ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ And: ‘I was
thirsty and you gave me drink’ (cf. Sermons of St. Augustine on the
Ascension, Mai 98, The Divine Office, Vol. II, p. 627).
In conclusion, the reality of Christ's Ascension
is so important that the creeds (the basic statements of our belief) of
Christianity 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 as departure from Christian teaching and 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 Solemnity of the Ascension marks the
beginning of nine days of prayer in honour 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.
It is on this note that the Catholics all
over the world recalled that first novena, by praying the Novena to the Holy
Spirit between Ascension and Pentecost, asking for the gifts of the Holy Spirit
and her fruits. Therefore, while in great anticipation of the descent of the
paraclete (Holy Spirit), let us pray to God to enlighten the darkness of our
innermost heart to see the seven beautiful gifts of the third person in the Holy
Trinity. And give us the necessary grace to exercise these gifts for the
greater glory of God.
HAPPY SOLEMNITY OF ASCENSION OF CHRIST, OUR LORD AND REDEEMER! May our prayers and intentions ascend with Him to the Father.
