What is it?

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.

Ascensiontide refers to the ten-day period between the Feast of the Ascension and the Feast of Pentecost.[4] The Sunday within that period may be referred to as the Seventh Sunday of Easter or the Sunday in Ascensiontide.

The Latin terms used for the feast, ascensio and, occasionally, ascensa, signify that Christ was raised up by his own powers, and it is from these terms that the holy day gets its name. In the Book of Common Prayer of the Anglican Communion, “Holy Thursday” is listed as another name for Ascension Day. William Blake’s poem “Holy Thursday” refers to Ascension Day;

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Forty days from the day he rose from the grave, Jesus ascended into heaven. Here is how Luke described the event:

Therefore, when they [the disciples and the risen Christ] had come together, they asked Him saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

Now when he had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up and a cloud received Him out of their sight…” (Acts 1: 4-9 New King James Version).

“And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.'”

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How I see Ascension Day?

For Christians it is a very important feast because their faith says that for just as Jesus went into heaven, so will all Christians. Those who are dead will rise first; those who are living will be caught up to meet him in the air, according to Paul, writing to the church at Thessalonica. This is called the rapture. With this hope in mind, Christians sometimes conclude their meetings with the words, “Come Lord Jesus.”

I look at the Bible and all spiritual texts from a metaphysical point of view. In my understanding, Heaven is on Earth if we are able to ‘ascend’. As we lift ourselves higher by letting go of the burdens of misconceptions and error-thinking, we release what holds us back from experiencing God’s Love and Care for us, which is actually being in Heaven.

Yes, we can ascend just as Jesus did but not through him. If you can accept Jesus as your guide, someone you can relate to and feel connected to, you can use his teachings to lift yourself up and move into Oneness with the Divine or God.

Jesus’ ascension is the ‘example’; we can do what he did; he was Loving, Forgiving, Accepting; he held nothing against himself or others; he worked on his shortcomings, faced his fears; and he was a humble servant, a great teacher. By living life following his example, we can ascend to a higher level of consciousness and experience Heaven on Earth, before dying.