Tomorrow in our nation, we celebrate Memorial Day. Pray today, that the spirit may guide us in using our gifts well for the service of others. The Spirit is a generous gift of God! The Spirit continues to refresh and renew us. Rather, the Spirit is again outpoured over each of us. When the priest, through the ancient gesture of extending his hands over the bread and the wine, and as the Spirit is invoked, the Spirit doesn’t come down just upon the bread and wine. Remember, we don’t just receive the Spirit at Baptism and then again at Confirmation we receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit every time we are at Mass. The use of our gifts release the power of the Spirit. On Pentecost Sunday, as we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, we call to mind the gifts of the Spirit we have received. Early Christians reinterpreted the Jewish festival as a commemoration of the coming of the Spirit. The word Pentecost, meaning 50, derives its name from the Feast of Weeks, a Jewish festival of the early harvest celebrated 50 days after Passover. Pentecost celebrates the great outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles and upon the church. Today is Pentecost Sunday and it is the last day of the Easter Season. Thank you for your continued support of our parish family.ĭear Parishioners and Friends of Ascension, Sign up today by visiting faith.direct/NY588, or text ‘Enroll’ to (Text-to-Give Number). You can set up a recurring donation or make a one-time gift. We prayerfully request that you consider signing up for eGiving from your computer, smartphone or tablet. The need is great in our community, and your generous online gifts will help people all around us. To continue to make a difference in 2023, Roman Catholic Church of Ascension is reaching out to our parishioners.īegin the new year with eGiving to help sustain and build ministries throughout 2023 that reflect the steadfast promise of God’s love. In disappearing from their view “He was raised up and a cloud received Him out of their sight” (Acts, 1, 9), and entering into glory He dwells with the Father in the honor and power denoted by the Scripture phrase.The new year is filled with hope and promise as we seek to grow our vital ministries, explore new ways to share the good news of Christ’s love, and reflect His care and mercy to those in need throughout the community. To say that He was taken up, or that He ascended, does not necessarily imply that they locate heaven directly above the earth no more than the words “sitteth on the right hand of God” mean that this is His actual posture. The language used by the Evangelists to describe the Ascension must be interpreted according to usage. John, vi, 63, Christ asks the Jews: “If then you shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before?” and xx, 17, He says to Mary Magdalen:- “Do not touch Me, for I am not yet ascended to My Father, but go to My brethren, and say to them: I ascend to My Father and to your Father, to My God and to your God.” Again, in Ephesians, iv, 8-10, and I Timothy, iii, 16, the Ascension of Christ is spoken of as an accepted fact. Not only is the fact of the Ascension related in the passages of Scripture cited above, but it is also elsewhere predicted and spoken of as an established fact. This the Mohammedans also destroyed, leaving only the octagonal structure which encloses the stone said to bear the imprint of the feet of Christ, that is now used as an oratory. Helena built the first memorial, which was destroyed by the Persians in 614, rebuilt in the eighth century, to be destroyed again, but rebuilt a second time by the crusaders. Tradition has consecrated this site as the Mount of Ascension and Christian piety has memorialized the event by erecting over the site a basilica. Luke, xxiv, 51, and in the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles.Īlthough the place of the Ascension is not distinctly stated, it would appear from the Acts that it was Mount Olivet, since after the Ascension the disciples are described as returning to Jerusalem from the mount that is called Olivet, which is nigh Jerusalem, within a Sabbath day’s journey. Ascension#2, the elevation of Christ into heaven by His own power in presence of His disciples the fortieth day after His Resurrection.
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