Vigil of the Ascension

Tomorrow is forty days since Easter, the Solemnity of the Ascension, when Christ ascended into heaven in what has to be one of the great comic scenes in the Bible:

[A]s 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.”

(Acts, Chapter 1 verses 9 – 11)

Can you just imagine the Apostles standing and staring into the sky? And the angels bringing them back to earth? Or is it just me?

As I said, the feast is tomorrow, making this the vigil. Of course, in most dioceses of the United States, we’ve moved the feast a couple of days so it falls on a Sunday. This strikes me as kind of lazy.

Father Z has a really good take on it as well in his annual rant about Ascension Thursday Sunday.

I have to say I agree with his conclusion,

…my present view of human nature suggests to me that when Holy Mother Church’s pastors lower expectations regarding the liturgy, people get the hint: it just isn’t that important. Maybe none of it is important.

It’s true – we send a message by how we behave, whether it’s what we say, how we move, or what we’re willing to make time for.

How can the mysteries of the Christian faith be important, when our liturgical language is so casual?

How can the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist be important when we can’t be bothered to even genuflect before the tabernacle?

How can Sacred time be important, when we can arbitrarily move holy days all over the calendar?

Some things to think about.