This week is Ascension Thursday. Most dioceses in the United States will wait until Sunday to celebrate this feast which is a Holy Day of Obligation so it helps many to have it on Sunday. I still like the idea of Ascension Thursday and will be in the Chapel before noon as tradition had it that Jesus ascended into Heaven around noon. We have Mass at 12:15 at the University everyday so I usually try to go to the Chapel early anyway to prepare the reading and have some time for silent prayer before the Liturgy. Before all the changes in Religious Life, all the community and the school would assemble in the Chapel to sing "Beau Ciel" on Ascension Thursday at noon. I think there is a certain feeling of nostalgia when imagining Jesus leaving us to go to His Father; the forty days of his consoling presence seems to be a loss but it really isn't as now Jesus comes to us in a different way.
I read this morning that we pray to give God joy; we also pray to be transformed. We need transformation in order to be united to Christ. Each day brings its own ways of transformation, if we are alert to profit from the opportunities presented to us.
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