St. Matthias Parish Masses
TBA

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The celebration of Easter is the oldest early festival of the Church. We know this because we still have a few of the writings of second century Christians, such as Bishop Polycarp of Smyrna who was taught by some of Jesus’ disciples.

On the night of the Jewish Passover, Polycarp celebrated in memory of the death and resurrection of Christ. Other groups of Christians celebrated on the Saturday night and Sunday that followed the Passover.

Especially in the fourth and fifth centuries, new holy days were kept in celebration of Gospel events. That’s when most Christians started to celebrate Christmas, Epiphany, the Presentation, the Annunciation, the Birth of John the Baptist and many other festivals. This didn’t happen everywhere at the same time. There were different ways of celebrating and different ways of calculating the seasons.

In the late fourth century many Christians began to celebrate a feast day in memory of the Ascension of the Lord. In most places this was kept on the 40th day of the 50 days of Easter rejoicing.

St. Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus: “The fullness of Christ fills all in all.” That is what we celebrate on Ascension Day. This day is not about the absence of Christ. It is about Christ’s presence. At the conclusion of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says, “ I am with you always.”

Click here for a kid's coloring page of The Ascension.