Ascension Sunday – June 1, 2025
As a liturgical feast, the Solemnity of the Ascension is primarily the beginning of a nine-day novena in preparation for the Solemnity of Pentecost. (This is clearer in dioceses where Ascension remains on the Thursday of the sixth week of Easter.)
Liminality, that waiting in the in-between space, is counter to our culture of immediacy. We like to have access on demand, results made effortless by artificial means. Our doom-scrolling habits have made us an impatient people. But the mandate of the Ascension leading us to the great sending out of Pentecost calls us to step back, contemplate, and listen intently together: “And behold I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Lk 24:49).
The paschal mystery opens up a better way: a communal, intentional contemplation and deep trust in the slow work of the Spirit whom Jesus promised would be with us, always.
When our world gets turned upside-down, we can react with our natural instincts to fight or flee. In those knee-jerk responses, we panic and try to save ourselves or recede into fear and paralysis. But the paschal mystery opens up a better way: a communal, intentional contemplation and deep trust in the slow work of the Spirit whom Jesus promised would be with us, always.
As people of the paschal mystery, let us have faith in Christ—and in one another—enough to wait, listen, and move slowly and deliberately together instead of acting on our own.
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