Therefore, because of the strong tradition of nine days, it is a custom to begin to pray the novena to the Holy Spirit on the second Friday before Pentecost (9 th day before Pentecost) irrespective of when the Ascension is celebrated. 155) said: “the pious exercise of the Pentecost novena, widely practiced among the faithful, emerged from prayerful reflection on this salvific event.” However, with Ascension Sunday the time between the aforementioned feasts is shortened to six days and no longer coincides with the original nine days. 26) elevated the Pentecost novena as liturgical when it declared: “The weekdays after the Ascension until the Saturday before Pentecost inclusive are a preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit ” and The Directory of Popular Piety and the Liturgy (n. This original novena is esteemed by the Church so much that it now enjoys an official recognition: General Norms of the Liturgical Year and Calendar (n.
It is from this event that we have the custom of novenas (nine days of prayer). After the Ascension of Jesus, the apostles (and some other disciples) along with the Blessed Mother stayed in Jerusalem and prayed for nine days as they waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit. With Ascension Sundays, however, the numeric significance of 40 is broken up (as we celebrate the Ascension on the 43 rd day after Easter) and the novena to the Holy Spirit becomes a little muddy. Today only the provinces of Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, and Omaha have Ascension Thursday, the rest of US (along with the Ohio Province) has moved it to Sunday. Consequently, some provinces have decided to keep it and some moved it to Sunday. In US, in 1998, the bishops reached a decision that each ecclesiastical province can make decision on this matter. Several countries began this process of moving the solemnity. However, the tradition of Ascension Thursday was weakened in 1969 when the Church allowed different ecclesial jurisdictions (with permission) to move the Solemnity of Ascension (and Epiphany and Corpus Christi as well) to a nearest Sunday (if it is not to be a Holy Day of obligation). It is a number that denotes preparation, purification (e.g., the flood at Noah’s time kept coming for 40 days the People of Israel wandered for 40 years in the desert before entering the Promised Land Moses, Elijah and Jesus fasted 40 days and nights in the desert 40 days of Lent). The number 40 is a highly symbolic number. Since around 350, for more than the millennium and half, the Church has been celebrating this event on the Thursday of the sixth week of Easter, which is the 40 th day after Easter. According to the Scriptures, our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into Heaven on the 40 th day after Easter.
BONA: We are all familiar with the Ascension Thursday. TODAY’S MASS INTENTION: Christina Martin Goda, by Jánossy FamilyįROM THE DESK OF FR. Just enough to carry her through these years to eternity with Him.RESPONSORIAL PSALM: God mounts his throne to shouts of joy: a blare of trumpets for the Lord. She senses that the Spirit is enough for now, If only I could be with my Lord, she says.īeyond the confusion, toil and suffering of this world.īut as she holds His heart, His Spirit comes and enfolds her. Reaching her hands up to be taken with HimĪs she stands watching this glorious sight. She holds His heart as He ascends to Heaven Truly inspired by the Holy Spirit and reflective of my Easter journey with the Lord and the places spiritually He led me to.
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