Feast of the Ascension of Jesus

Ascension of the Lord

Feast of the ascension of the Lord comes 40 days (or sixth Thursday) after the Easter. The gospels of Luke and Mark describes the event of ascension. Acts of the Apostles provides a more vivid description of the ascension of the Lord and the events that followed it.

From the Acts we learn that Jesus ascended 40 days after the resurrection. Further we learn that Jesus ascended to the heavens from Mount Olive. Take a virtual tour of Mount Olive.

After ascension, the next ten days are the period of preparation and waiting for the Holy Spirit, on the day of Pentecost. In some traditions in Malankara, the faithful fast before the feast of Pentecost.
The fast begins from the day of ascension and ends with the feast of Pentecost. The faithful generally do not conduct marriages, baptisms, etc., during these ten days of preparation for empowering of the Holy Spirit.

We read in Acts how the apostles, St. Mary and others prepared for the empowering of the Holy Spirit.  Acts 1: "12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey. 13 And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. 14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brother...
Acts 2: 1 When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.