Today is Ascension Thursday. If you live in the ecclesiastical provinces of Boston, Hartford, New York, Newark, Philadelphia or the state of Nebraska, you would already know that since you’d be going to Mass today.
Yes, I know if you look at a liturgical calendar it will tell you that the Feast of the Ascension is celebrated this coming Sunday for the rest of the country, and it’s a shame that like Epiphany (the 12th day of Christmas), this holy day gets unceremoniously bumped to the nearest Sunday. In the past I have heard that this was done because people didn’t want to be obligated to go to Mass in the middle of the week and attendance was low.
Since when has faith been something that one does only when it is convenient? This could be the root of the problem with the world today. Everything is about what is convenient for me and not what is best for me. Holy days of obligation, which both the Ascension and Epiphany are, should be times that we should be grateful we can go to Mass and give thanks and praise for our Salvation. They recall occasions so important that the Church has given them their own feast days and obliged us to attend Mass so that we may never forget, and be eternally grateful.
Hopefully one day these holy days that have been punted to Sundays will return to their usual places on the calendar and we are forced to make a little extra time throughout the year to go to a few extra Masses. I promise, it won’t hurt. I’m going to Mass today, you can too.
