The Feast of the Ascension of Jesus Christ (also called the Solemnity of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, Ascension Day, Ascension Thursday, or sometimes Holy Thursday) commemorates the Christian belief of the bodily Ascension of Jesus into Heaven. It is one of the ecumenical (shared by multiple denominations) feasts of Christian churches, ranking with the feasts of the Passion and Pentecost. Following the account of Acts 1:3 that the risen Jesus appeared for 40 days prior to his Ascension, Ascension Day is traditionally celebrated on a Thursday, the fortieth day of Easter, although some Christian denominations have moved the observance to the following Sunday, sometimes called Ascension Sunday. The day of observance varies by ecclesiastical province in many Christian denominations, as with Methodists and Catholics, for example.
- Wikipedia
Acts 1:1-11
Eph 1:17-23
Mt 28:16-20
“And know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time.”
At around this time last year, I was leading a study trip to Zurich with a group of senior professionals from my country. We had meticulously planned the logistics and details of this programme. However, we were informed in April that many of our partners would not be able to meet with us on the Thursday of our week in Zurich. This was because that day happened to be the Feast of the Ascension. In many Swiss cantons, Ascension Day is a public holiday.
We were stuck in a quagmire because the programme for all the other days was already confirmed. We could not change our study trip to any other week. In the end, we decided to proceed with the study trip and engaged a local guide to bring us around Zurich and to visit the Rhine Falls that day. It turned out to be a refreshing break from what was otherwise a busy week, and a wonderful bonding session for everyone. On hindsight, it was fortuitous for Ascension Day to be a public holiday in Zurich. While our study trip was disrupted, we managed to have rest and fellowship.
But isn’t disruption the point of Jesus’s ascension of heaven? For with His resurrection and ascension, He has shown us our true nature as sons and daughters of God and our true destination of Heaven. This is a significant disruption to what would otherwise be a mundane worldly existence steeped in materialism, consumerism, everyday busyness and, worst of all, what the early desert father Evagrius called ‘acedia’.
Also known as the ‘noonday devil’, acedia is a form of spiritual ennui or apathy that results in a lack of concern for our spiritual lives. St Thomas Aquinas calls acedia a “sadness regarding spiritual goods” while Pope Francis, in his 14 February 2024 General Audience, spoke of acedia as the root cause of laziness, sloth and a deeper loss of interest in one’s spiritual life. While it is tempting to think of acedia as a consequence of insufficient interest or lack of activity, it is also true that acedia can arise from too much activity.
This is certainly true for me, as the busyness of work and everyday life often takes precedence over my spiritual practices. The Ascension of our Lord is meant to disrupt this acedia and false busyness. Indeed, the gospel readings relate how He had asked His disciples to go and “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you”. It is action in the service of God, rather than action in the service of ourselves, that will at the end of the day, combat the acedia that is increasingly infecting society today.
Brothers and sisters, on this Feast of the Ascension, let us invite the Lord to disrupt our worldly lives. Let us view this disruption not as an inconvenience, but as a powerful reminder of our true purpose as children of God and disciples of Christ.
(Today’s OXYGEN by Jacob Woo)
Prayer: Lord, as You have ascended to Heaven, we pray for the wisdom and fortitude to follow You in our everyday lives, in the hope that we too will enter Your Kingdom in Heaven.
Thanksgiving: We are thankful for the daily blessings and reminders that we receive from our Lord, even amid our busyness.
OXYGEN 
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