Journey from Ascension to Pentecost – Come Holy Spirit

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

The traditional Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord or what we call Ascension Thursday is 40 days after Easter Sunday, which is Thursday in the sixth week of Easter.

The Ascension of the Lord celebrates the event described in Acts when Jesus appeared to his disciples numerous times for 40 days before ascending to heaven from the top of the Mount of Olives.

The Province of Dubuque (which includes the four dioceses of Iowa) has chosen to celebrate the Ascension not on Thursday, but on the following Sunday.

In other dioceses, including our neighbors in the Archdiocese of Omaha (just across the river from those of us living in Sioux City), Ascension Thursday is a holy day of obligation and the faithful residing in that territory must attend Mass. The Scripture readings for the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord that we in the Diocese of Sioux City, and the majority of the U.S., hear will be proclaimed at our weekend Masses May 11 and 12. This makes for “Ascension Sunday,” rather than “Ascension Thursday.”

In the provinces of Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Omaha and Philadelphia the Ascension is observed on Ascension Thursday, not on a Sunday. Yes, very confusing!

In 1998, the United Stats Conference of Catholic Bishops voted to allow each province to determine whether or not they would transfer the observance of the Ascension from Thursday to the following Sunday. They hoped that more of the faithful would be exposed to the Ascension celebration on the weekend due to the unfortunate reality that not all Catholics attend holy days of obligation Masses.

 The move was actually debated for a decade before the vote. Several European countries and Australia adopted a similar plan – with the approval of the Vatican. My personal opinion is that we should not be afraid to celebrate all the Holy Days of Obligation, no matter what day of the week on which they fall.

Regardless of when we attend Mass and commemorate the Lord’s ascension into heaven, I encourage you to reflect upon a famous fifth century homily of St. Augustine, bishop of Hippo. The saint illustrates in an ascension homily how we are together with Christ even now.

“While in heaven he is also with us; and we while on earth are with him. He is here with us by his divinity, his power and his love. We cannot be in heaven, as he is on earth, by divinity, but in him, we can be there by love,” from St. Augustine.

For the next 10 days, we will wait patiently like the disciples and Mary for the third person of the Trinity to come to us as the Holy Spirit when we celebrate the great feast of Pentecost, (Greek for 50^th day) on May 19.

The disciples were baptized with the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and they were commissioned to spread the good news of Christ’s death and resurrection throughout the earth. This is why we consider Pentecost the birthday of the church.

May the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost empower us to be true and faithful disciples of Christ and his church, spreading the good news throughout the earth. Veni, Sancte Spiritus - Come, Holy Spirit Come!

My Colorado teams are all doing fairly well, especially the Nuggets and the Avalanche.  The season is still early for the Rockies, and of course we will have to wait to see what the Broncos do with a new quarterback!

Blessings to all and enjoy our great spring weather!

Your brother in Christ,

Bishop Walker Nickless

Diocese of Sioux City