Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Looking for Ascension Thursday; try Sunday

We have once again arrived at the beautiful celebration of the Ascension; the feast of the resurrected Lord ascending to Heaven. This rich feast has traditionally been celebrated 40 days after Easter. It has been assigned to a Thursday and is one of the Church's Holy Days of Obligation.

However, many years ago, in a desire to expose a greater number of the Catholic faithful to the beauty of the Ascension, many Bishops agreed to move the obligation to a Sunday. In my Archdiocese of New Orleans we have done just that. So in these deep south neck of the woods, come to Mass Sunday and we will celebrate Ascension Thursday. Confused?

Well, don't get so hung up on the Thursday part. The official celebration is the Ascension of the Lord. Our diocese, along with most of the dioceses in America have ok'd the move to Sunday. In other parts of the world and even in America, the feast remains Thursday - May 13th - tomorrow to be exact.

The only part, for me, that disappoints concerning our moving of the feast is that the beautiful liturgy and scripture readings for the 7th Sunday of Easter are lost. If you have a missal or book of readings, spend some time looking them over. But this Sunday, here in the New Orleans area, it's Ascension Thursday.

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