Thursday, May 17, The Ascension of the Lord—a Holy Day of Obligation.

Are you confused as to why we celebrate this holy day on Thursday and not, as many dioceses do, on the following Sunday? The Feast of the Ascension remains a Holy Day of Obligation throughout the United States. The day on which it is celebrated, however, varies. The 40th day after Easter Sunday isalways a Thursday, and the feast has traditionally been celebrated on that Thursday. However, because attendance at Ascension Thursday Masses had been falling for years, the bishops of the United States, in accordance with canon law, petitioned the Vatican to allow the celebration to be transferred to the following Sunday. The Vatican agreed. Today, only the ecclesiastical provinces of Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, and Omaha (the state of Nebraska) continue to celebrate the Ascension of Our Lord on Thursday. The faithful in those provinces (an ecclesiastical province is basically one large archdiocese and the dioceses that are historically associated with it) are required, under the Precepts of the Church, to attend Mass on Ascension Thursday.

Today is the day we celebrate that the Lord, who suffered, died and rose from the dead for our eternal souls, entered into His glorious Kingdom so that, having conquered sin and death, and forever offers us the gift of living and in sharing the divine life of God: living in complete and perfect eternal joy. What a gift! The “inconvenience” of a weekday obligation of attending Mass should, I would hope, seem minor in the scope of our eternal souls. Our Holy Day Mass schedule is: Wednesday Vigil at 6:30 p.m., Thursday Masses are 8:30 a.m.

and 6:30 p.m.