When I was very young, I used to dream I could fly. For most of these dreams my flying ability’s were the same. I would jump up and off I was, into the air with ease. I could only fly when no one could see me. The second someone was present, I couldn’t fly anymore.

One dream in particular was quite different. I was late for school. As I stood a cloud gathered around me and whisked me off my feet, enveloping me and placed me safely down at my school, St Maria Goretti. I was not flying by my power, nor my own energy. I had forgotten about this dream for many years and only recently remembered it.

When I pray the rosary and I am pondering The Ascension of our Lord, I am always reminded of this dream. But rather then seeing myself floating away, I can see our Lord being taken up to heaven in much the same way. All the power of Abba Father enveloping our Lord, surrounding Him and without even placing a crease in His garments, taking Him home.

The Ascension is a feast that used to be celebrated on Thursdays. At Mass one day this week, my Priest commented on why Ascension Thursday was changed to the Sunday after. He had said that most would forget that it was a Holy Day of Obligation and the church became almost empty on this day. He remarked that the church needed to move it to Sunday because so many forgot about it. I couldn’t understand this as God hasn’t forgotten about it. Our Lord ascended into Heaven 40 days after He rose from the dead. Why is it that so many can forget about this? 10 days later, He sent the Holy Spirit. Keep in mind, this is only something happening in the USA. Most of the world doesn’t forget. I highly suggest American Catholics never forget this again. I pray none of us forget.

Pope Benedict XVI on the Feast of the Ascension: “This is the mystery of the Ascension that we celebrate today. The verb ‘to lift up’ was used in the Old Testament to refer to royal enthronement. Thus, the Ascension means in the first place Jesus’ enthronement and the manifestation of God’s kingship over the world. As a result of Christ’s ascension into Heaven, humanity has entered into intimacy with God in a new and unheard-of way. Heaven does not indicate a place above the stars, but something far more daring and sublime: Man’s very being in God, this is Heaven. Thus, we enter Heaven to the extent that we draw close to Jesus and enter more fully into communion with him.

We can now understand why Luke says that, after the Ascension, the disciples returned to Jerusalem ‘with great joy’ (Lk 24:52). Their joy stems from the fact that what had happened was not really a separation: on the contrary, they were then certain that Christ was alive and enthroned, and that in him, the gates of eternal life are opened to humanity for ever. His Ascension does not imply a temporary absence from the world; rather it inaugurates the new and definitive form of his presence. That is why the Feast of the Ascension should fill us with serenity and enthusiasm, just as it did the Apostles who set out ‘with great joy’.”