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Sunday after the Ascension PDF Print E-mail

Summary of comments of this office by Dom Schuster, in his work L'année liturgique.

The celebration of the octave of the Ascension only dates from the 15th century; thus, in the anterior Roman documents, this Sunday is simply called dominica de rosa.

The station is assigned to the temple of Sancta Maria rotunda, the ancient sanctuary of the Martyrs, formerly the Pantheon of Agrippa. The Pope himself celebrated the Mass and pronounced the homily, announcing to the people the coming of the Holy Ghost close at hand. And to give a more tangible form to the theme that he was developing, even as the Pope was preaching from the opening in the center of the high edifice a shower of roses was rained upon the people as a figure of the descent of the Holy Ghost.

To the present day, the Mass, during which only a commemoration is made of the Ascension, is a preparation for the forthcoming feast of Pentecost: the epistle of St. Peter describes the various charisms of the Holy Ghost, and the Gospel reading contains the formal promise that Jesus Christ made during the last Supper.

The Introït is taken from Psalm 26: "Hear, O Lord, my voice with which I have cried to Thee; my heart hath said to Thee, I have sought Thy face, Thy face, O Lord, I will seek: turn not away Thy face from me."


The versicle of the Alleluia is taken from Psalm 46: God is the King of all the earth. He has crushed the subjects that revolted against Him, that is, the apostate angels who, at the beginning of creation, had refused to recognize Him for their chief in His human nature.


The versicle that precedes the Gospel is taken from St. John (14:18): "I will not leave you orphans: I go away, and I come unto you... by my grace through my Spirit, and in my Eucharist, and your heart shall rejoice." These, then, are the sources of Christian joy: the continual contact with Jesus by means of the sacraments of the Church.


The antiphon of the Offertory is the same as on Ascension Day.  As the angels' trumpets accompany Jesus ascending into heaven, so also this same sound will be heard on the day of His return to earth, when all the dead shall rise from their graves and go forth to meet Him.


The antiphon for the Communion is taken from the last prayer of Jesus at the last Supper (Jn. 17: 12-15): "Father, while I was with them, I kept them whom Thou gavest Me, alleluia; but now I come to thee: I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldst keep them from evil, alleluia, alleluia."

 

 
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