(Benvenuto Tisi, “Ascension of Christ”/Wikimedia Commons Images)
By Gina Christian • Posted May 13, 2021
A somewhat “overlooked” holy day of obligation is actually “pivotal” for an understanding of eternal life, said an archdiocesan priest.
The Solemnity of the Ascension (celebrated today in Philadelphia and five other ecclesiastical provinces, and on May 16 in the rest of the U.S. for the year 2021) marks the “definitive entrance of Jesus’ humanity into God’s heavenly domain,” according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC).
Without the Ascension, the Easter mysteries would remain incomplete, said Father Dennis Gill, director of the archdiocesan Office for Divine Worship and rector of the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul.