Thursday, 21 May 2009.
Mass Schedule: 7:30 am Low Mass and 7:30 pm High Mass. The 9:00 am Mass is cancelled on this day.

The 40th day after Easter commemorates Christ’s Ascension into Heaven from Mount Olivet. After the Gospel is sung, the Paschal Candle, lit from the New Fire of the Easter Vigil, is extinguished to symbolise the departure of Christ. Although the place of the Ascension is not explicitly stated, it would appear from the Acts that it was Mount Olivet, since after the Ascension the disciples are described as returning to Jerusalem from that mount, and tradition has consecrated this site as the Mount of Ascension. Saint Helena built the first memorial there, which was destroyed by the Sassanid Persians in 614, rebuilt in the eighth century, destroyed again, but rebuilt a second time by the crusaders. This the Muslims destroyed after Salah ad-Din (Saladin) recaptured Jerusalem, leaving only the octagonal edicule which encloses the Ascension stone said to bear the imprint of the feet of Christ. Initially, the Muslim conquerors intended to rebuild the site as a mosque, but since so many Christian pilgrims continued to come to venerate this holy shrine, the mosque was built elsewhere and the traditional place of Our Lord’s ascension was preserved as a place of Christian worship.