He ascended into Heaven....

Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord*

*All worldwide and ecclesiastical U.S. provinces of Boston, Hartford, 
New York, Newark, Philadelphia and the state of Nebraska have retained
this celebration on Thursday, while all other US provinces have transferred
the Solemnity to the Seventh Sunday of Easter.  This year: May 13.

...the fortieth day after Easter Sunday, 
commemorating the Ascension of Christ into heaven, 
according to Mark 16:19, Luke 24:51, and Acts 1:2.

In the liturgies the day is meant to celebrate the completion of the work

of our salvation, the pledge of our glorification with Christ,

and His entry into heaven with our human nature glorified.

"Let our hearts ascend with Christ."  

 St Augustine

 

“Ascending once again to the Inaccessible Light…

You remain still in the ‘valley of tears,’

hidden beneath the appearances of a white host.”

St. Thérèse of Lisieux

PAINTING:  The Ascension of Christ - Rembrandt - 1636

 

Fr Antoine Thomas, CSJ, celebrating Holy Mass

"...Christ's Ascension is our uplifting, and the hope of the Body is raised, 

whither the glory of the Head has gone before, let us exult, dearly-beloved, 

with worthy joy and delight in the loyal paying of thanks.

For today not only are we confirmed as possessors of paradise, but have also 

in Christ penetrated the heights of heaven, and have gained still greater things through Christ's unspeakable grace than we had lost throughthe devil's malice."

Pope St Gregory the Great - Sermon LXXIII

 

The Feast of the Ascension marks the beginning of the first novena,
or nine days of prayer.  Today, Catholics recall that first novena

by praying the Novena to the Holy Ghost between Ascension and Pentecost,

asking for the gifts of the Holy Spirit. BEGIN the NOVENA FRIDAY!

Click here: Pentecost Novena PRAYERS 
(PrayMoreNovenas: prayers sent to your email daily)

OR simply pray each day ...

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful,

and enkindle in them the fire of Your love.

 Send forth Your Spirit, and they shall be created,

And You shall renew the face of the earth.

O God, Who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts

of Your faithful, grant that by that same Holy Spirit,

we may be truly wise and ever rejoice

in His consolation, through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Click here: Introit. Feast of the Ascension.Gregorian Chant.Australia (3 mins)

Click here: Scott Hahn - Ascension: Underrated Mystery - YouTube (3 mins)
Pope Leo XIII 9 May 1897 On the Holy Spirit

Becoming more oneself...

"Help me to journey beyond the familiar and into the unknown. 
Give me the faith to leave old ways 
and break fresh ground with You." - St Brendan



"The Mass is not only about

God becoming man,

it is about Man

becoming more himself."

GK Chesterton

First Holy Communion (3rd in series of 3) ...

"How lovely it was, that first kiss of Jesus in my heart — 
it was truly a kiss of love." - St Thérèse of Lisieux

St. Thérèse of Lisieux tells of the experience of her First Holy Communion...

"I would not tell you everything, even if I could, for there are certain things which lose their fragrance in the open air, certain thoughts so intimate that they cannot be translated into earthly language without losing at once their deep and heavenly meaning. How lovely it was, that first kiss of Jesus in my heart — it was truly a kiss of love. I knew that I was loved and said, “I love You, and I give myself to You forever.”

Jesus asked for nothing, He claimed no sacrifice. Long before that, He and little Thérèse had seen and understood one another well, but on that day it was more than a meeting — it was a complete fusion. We were no longer two, for Thérèse had disappeared like a drop of water lost in the mighty ocean. Jesus alone remained — the Master and the King. Had she not asked Him to take away her liberty, the liberty she feared? She felt so weak and frail that she wanted to unite herself forever to His Divine Strength. And her joy became so vast, so deep, that now it overflowed. Soon she was weeping, to the astonishment of her companions, who said to one another later on: “Why did she cry? Was there something on her conscience? Perhaps it was because her mother was not there, or the Carmelite sister she loves so much.”

It was beyond them that all the joy of Heaven had entered one small, exiled heart, and that it was too frail and weak to bear it without tears. As if the absence of my mother could make me unhappy on the day of my First Communion! As all Heaven entered my soul when I received Jesus, my mother came to me as well. Nor could I cry because you were not there, we were closer than ever before. It was joy alone, deep ineffable joy that filled my heart."

Excerpt from St. Thérèse’s autobiography, The Story of a Soul

St Thérèse of Lisieux

France ~ 1873-1897

Carmelite, Doctor of the Church

First Holy Communion date: May 8, 1884

Painting above: Ecce Agnus Dei - Albert Chevallier Tayler

A day in HISTORY:  Today, May 8, is not only the Anniversary of St Therese's First Holy Communion, but also the Birthday Anniversary of both St John Vianney and Ven Fulton J Sheen, and the Anniversary of my First Holy Communion - oh-so-many years ago. Earlier in that week I had contracted the measles and so was home convalescing, but I remember the day vividly! 

Everything was made ready:  Two tiny beeswax candles were lit from the Crucifix Sick Call set.  A silver spoon lay ready next to a glass of water in case I needed assistance. 

When Fr.Kern brought the Blessed Sacrament into our home a sweet, holy hush blanketed the living room. The relatives that had gathered to celebrate my private First Holy Communion, reverently bowed very low.  I listened, I watched and I pondered all - fittingly dressed in my white dress and veil.  My polka-dotted face held a beaming grin and my heart nearly burst! ~ Janette

Translation Holy card: "The things of earth seem of little account when one possesses the highest good." 

Oh, happy, holy day!

Do you remember/can you figure out 

your First Holy Communion date? 

Do HEARTILY celebrate it!

First Holy Communion (2nd in series of 3) ...

"Today I have received Jesus, and now I possess Him entirely

in my miserable soul...." - St Gemma Galgani

An excerpt from a letter of St Gemma, happily describing her First Communion Day

to her Spiritual Director, Fr Gernamus Ruoppolo, C.P:

"I prepared myself, with much work on the part of those good nuns,

for my general Confession.  I made it in three sessions to Msgr. Volpi. 

I finished it on Saturday, the vigil of that happy day.

Finally, Sunday morning came.  I arose early and ran to Jesus for the first time.

At last my desires were realized.  I understood for the first time

the promise of Jesus: 'He who eats of Me shall live of My life.'

Dear Father, I do not know how to tell what passed between Jesus and me

at that moment.  Jesus made Himself felt very strongly by more poor soul.

I understood at that moment that the delights of heaven

are not like those of the earth.  I felt myself overcome by the

desire to render that union with my God continual.  I felt weary of the

world more and more, and more disposed to recollection. It was that same morning that Jesus gave me the great desire to be a religious."

St Gemma Galgani

1878-1903

Patron Saint of Children and First Communion

St Gemma received her First Holy Communion (age 9) on June 17, 1887,

which was the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus that year.

Top Photo image hat tip: Click here: Trust Like A Child - Totus Tuus Family & Catholic Homeschool

Do you remember/can you figure out 

your First Holy Communion date? 

Do HEARTILY celebrate it!

First Holy Communion (1st in series of 3)...

6th Sunday of Easter

"If angels could be jealous of men, they would be so 
for one reason: Holy Communion." - St Maximilian Kolbe

 

In the spring of 1891, when Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity was

almost eleven years old she made her First Communion. Sensitive

by nature, especially to things sacred, she was profoundly affected

by her first reception of Jesus Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist.

Tears of joy were seen to run down the young girl's face after 

her Communion.   Upon leaving the church, she said to a close friend,

"I'm no longer hungry.  Jesus has fed me."

On the afternoon of her First Communion, Elizabeth also encountered the prioress of the Carmel of Dijon for the first time.  The prioress, upon learning the name of the child, explained that "Elizabeth" means "house of God."  A few days later, she would send this same message to Elizabeth, writing on the back of a holy card:

"Your blessed name hides a mystery, 

accomplished on this great day. 

Child, your heart is the House of God on earth, 

of the God of love."

This theme of being the "house of God," then, was at first closely associated with the mystery of the Eucharist in the mind of Elizabeth. In a poem that she would later write to commemorate the seventh anniversary of her First Communion,  she meditates upon the day:

"When Jesus made in me His dwelling place, 

When God took possession of my heart, 

So well that since that hour, 

Since that mysterious colloquy, 

That divine and delicious meeting, 

I have aspired to nothing else but to give my life

In order to return a bit of His great love

To the Beloved of the Eucharist

Who reposed in my feeble heart, 

Inundating it with all of His favors."

Elizabeth once wrote the following words to a friend who had just made her First Communion: 

"If He came this morning into your little heart, 
it was not to pass through it and go away, 
but to remain there always."

Excerpt from article, The Saint of the Divine Indwelling

by Fr. Gregory Ross, O.C.D., S.T.L.

Painting: After the First Holy Communion ~ Carlo F Smith (1892)

Photo: St Elizabeth of the Trinity

Do you remember/can you figure out 

your First Holy Communion date? 

Do HEARTILY celebrate it!