Īlthough the ascension is an important article of faith in Christianity, only Luke and Acts contain direct accounts of it. The Feast of the Ascension is celebrated on the 40th day of Easter, always a Thursday some Orthodox traditions have a different calendar up to a month later than in the Western tradition, and while the Anglican Communion continues to observe the feast, many Protestant churches have abandoned the observance. In Christian art, the ascending Jesus is often shown blessing an earthly group below him, signifying the entire Church. The ascension is 'more assumed than described,' and only Luke and Acts contain direct accounts of it, but with different chronologies.

The Gospels and other New Testament writings imply resurrection and exaltation as a single event. The doctrine is also found in Islam, where Jesus is believed not to have been crucified but to have ascended while still alive. He is also the host of CATHOLICISM, a groundbreaking, award-winning documentary about the Catholic Faith, which aired on PBS.īishop Barron is a #1 Amazon bestselling author and has published numerous books, essays, and articles on theology and the spiritual life. He is a religion correspondent for NBC and has also appeared on FOX News, CNN, and EWTN.īishop Barron’s website,, reaches millions of people each year, and he is one of the most-followed Catholics on social media. His regular YouTube videos have been viewed over 90 million times.īishop Barron’s pioneering work in evangelizing through the new media led Francis Cardinal George to describe him as “one of the Church’s best messengers.” He has keynoted many conferences and events all over the world, including the 2016 World Youth Day in Kraków, Poland, as well as the 2015 World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia, which marked Pope Francis’ historic visit to the United States.The Ascension of Jesus ( anglicized from the Vulgate Latin: ascensio Iesu, lit.'ascent of Jesus') is the Christian belief, reflected in the major Christian creeds and confessional statements, that Jesus ascended to Heaven after his resurrection, where he was exalted as Lord and Christ, sitting at the right hand of God. Therefore, to say that Jesus has “ascended” to that sphere of existence is not to say that he has “gone away.” It is to assert, if I can adopt a military metaphor, that he has journeyed to a higher point of vantage, where he can see the entire field of battle and direct operations more efficaciously.īishop Robert Barron is the founder of Word on Fire Catholic Ministries and bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester in Minnesota.

This is what we mean when we say that God is “everywhere.” Paul Tillich refers to God’s Überräumlichkeit (over-spacedness), and he insists that this transcendence to any particular space implies the capacity to be present to every space. To move into heaven, or the divine manner of existence, is not to move to another place but to that arena of existence that stands outside of space. It is crucial to remember, however, that this distantiation by no means amounts to an abandonment, but rather to an even more intense form of intimacy. The Ascension of Jesus signals the definitive end of these post-Resurrection appearances and the commencement of Jesus’ operation from the properly heavenly sphere. After his Resurrection, Jesus continued to appear to his disciples for a time-the standard biblical frame of forty days-and then stopped. Friends, today is the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord.

Ascension thursday 2021