Week Thirty–Ascension Day

Children’s Ascension Art Project

Ascension Day 2016

Last year, a kindergartener did this lovely drawing of Jesus ascending. We glued cotton balls to construction paper for clouds, and had foam figures to paste and decorate with markers. The artist explained to me that he had drawn Jesus “in a space suit to help him rise up.”

The Ascension of the Lord

“I am with you always.”

Thursday, May 25th is the Ascension Day of our Lord. It is a Holy Day of Obligation that is transferred to Sunday, May 28th. It is also the day before the long Memorial Day weekend. Because so many families will be out of town or visiting with friends and family, we decided to take this Sunday off from our CCD classes. Memorial Day has become a day for fun and family time. It is, most importantly, a day to remember and honor service people who have died serving our country. This week we remember The Ascension of the Lord “to mount his throne.” Let’s take a moment on Thursday to read about the Ascension, before we begin our Memorial Day events.

“As the Apostles were looking on, Jesus was lifted up.” Source: Magnifikid! May 25 or May 28

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles

Source: USCCB.Org ACTS 1:1-11

“In the first book, Theophilus,
I dealt with all that Jesus did and taught
until the day he was taken up,
after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit
to the apostles whom he had chosen.
He presented himself alive to them
by many proofs after he had suffered,
appearing to them during forty days
and speaking about the kingdom of God.
While meeting with the them,
he enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem,
but to wait for “the promise of the Father
about which you have heard me speak;
for John baptized with water,
but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

When they had gathered together they asked him,
“Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
He answered them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons
that the Father has established by his own authority.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you,
and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem,
throughout Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.”
When he had said this, as they were looking on,
he was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight.
While they were looking intently at the sky as he was going,
suddenly two men dressed in white garments stood beside them.
They said, “Men of Galilee,
why are you standing there looking at the sky?
This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven
will return in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”

A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew chapter 28:16-20

“The eleven disciples went to Galilee,
to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them.
When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted.
Then Jesus approached and said to them,
“All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”