So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God’ (Mk 16:19).
During those forty days from resurrection to ascension Jesus told many things to his disciples. He commissioned them with the duty to preach the gospel, gave them power and authority over all forces of evil, endowed them with the power to heal the sick and do miracles, and promised them victory against all instruments of the enemy. Thus he completed his mission on earth. Before leaving them to occupy his seat with the Father, he also told them another important thing. ‘While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me’ (Acts 1:4).
The promise of the Father conveyed through Jesus to the disciples was nothing but the Holy Spirit (Jn 14:26). The disciples obeyed his words and it was those nine days that they lived in Jerusalem and spent in prayer that prepared them to receive an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
So the feasts of Ascension and Pentecost must be understood together. Because the Lord himself stated that unless ascension takes place the Holy Spirit will not be sent from heaven (Jn 16:7). The Church has prescribed the Novena to the Holy Spirit (the only Novena formally prescribed for the universal Church) with the intention of helping the believers to share the spirit of preparation that we saw in Jerusalem where the disciples under the leadership of Mary spent their time in prayer.
Ideally the Novena is to be said for nine days from the next day of the Feast of Ascension(Friday) to the Saturday before the Feast of Pentecost. We wish all our readers the grace to spend the next nine days in prayer in preparation for the great anointing that awaits us on Pentecost.
Wish you all a very blessed Feast of the Ascension.
(www.v-catholic.com)
