Ascension Thursday-Sunday

This Thursday is ASCENSION THURSDAY.

Oh wait... no. Well, er um.

Where do you live? Yes it matters.
More than likely... Thursday is...well 40 days from Easter, but not Ascension Thursday.
Sunday is Ascension Thursday the feast of the Ascension.
The whole issue is quite confusing, but the American Bishops, well most of them have decided to move the feast to Sunday, for a multitude of reasons.

As I have said in the past... I think we should RESTORE all of the Holy Days of Obligation... and in this case return the Feast to its proper day, and maintain its obligatory status. Father Z. has a famous "rant" about this issue and explains the significance of this feast day:

Be clear. Not only Christ’s humanity but our humanity ascended into heaven. Preaching on 1 June 444 St. Leo I, “the Great” (+461) taught (my emphasis), “Truly it was a great and indescribable source of rejoicing when, in the sight of the heavenly multitudes, the nature of our human race ascended over the dignity of all heavenly creatures, to pass the angelic orders and to be raised beyond the heights of archangels. In its ascension it did not stop at any other height until this same nature was received at the seat of the eternal Father, to be associated on the throne of the glory of that One to whose nature it was joined in the Son.”

Therefore he is perplexed as to why we would think it ok to just up and move the feast day. He continues his rant and says:

Folks, I know the argument. The bishops hope to expose more people to the mystery of the Ascension of the Lord. Because it is too hard to go to Mass also on Thursday, they moved the feast to Sunday. Well… in most places they moved it to Sunday. What is even more confusing is that it isn’t transferred in some dioceses. In the 1983 Code of Canon Law c. 1246, Ascension Thursday is indicated as one of the few Holy Days of Obligation. Again, I know the laudable reason for moving the feast.


However, perhaps it is the influence of reading so much St. Augustine over the years, but my present view of human nature suggests to me that when Holy Mother Church’s pastors lower expectations regarding the liturgy, people get the hint: it just isn’t that important. Maybe none of it is important.


Thus, I am left with the opinion that the option to dislocate such an important and ancient feast is an arrogant novelty.


The celebration of Ascension on a particular Thursday is rooted in Scripture and reflects the ancient practice of the Church in East and West alike. We read in Holy Scripture that nine days, not six, intervened between the Lord’s physical ascent to the Father’s right hand and the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Ascension Thursday was fixed at the 40th day after Easter from about the end of the 4th century. In the Latin West, St. Augustine of Hippo (+430) called it Quadragesima (“fortieth”) Ascensionis. In the Greek East, St. Gregory of Nyssa spoke of it in 388. That’s only a 16 century tradition. Eastern Christians haven’t transferred Ascension.


What must the Easterners think of us Latins?

 This is another example of our faith speaking to us in idiom... whose idiom, I am not sure. Again, through this little move we lose a part of the Sacredness of our Faith. We have abandoned not only tradition, but scripture. There is little to no support for this move... except modernism. A replacement of the sacred with the "busyness of life." We must pray for a return of the feast to Sunday... for continuity with the rest of the world and with the Theological teachings of Holy Mother Church.