Interfaith Holidays and Holy Days, Week of May 14, 2007

Feast of the Ascension of Christ, May 17, 2007

This week, Christians celebrate the feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ into Heaven. The Gospel of Mark and of Luke describe how Christ was brought bodily into Heaven while in the presence of his eleven remaining disciples. Judas Iscariot, Jesus' betrayer and one of the original 12 Apostles, was dead by this point. He had either committed suicide (Matthew, Ch. 17, vv. 3-9), or fell from a ledge and was disembowled by the impact of the fall (Acts, Ch. 1, vv. 15-20).

Belief in and celebration of the Ascension are both universal among all Christian denominations. The feast day is traditionally marked 40 days after Easter each year. While the feast day is marked on Thursday, May 17 of this year, Catholics are required to attend Mass on Sunday, May 20, or Ascension Sunday, which is a Holy Day of Obligation.

The belief in Jesus' bodily ascension into Heaven is one of a handful of foundational beliefs that Christians affirm through the recitation of both the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed. Other such foundational, universal Christian beliefs include the immaculate conception of Jesus, as well as his crucifixion, death and resurrection. Christianity teaches that upon his ascension into Heaven, Jesus joined God and the Holy Spirit, and that he shall return to earth from Heaven one day, "to judge the living and the dead" at the end of the world.

- Doug L.


FOR FURTHER REFERENCE:

Church Year.net (Ascension Feast)

The Apostles' Creed

The Nicene Creed