Today I want you to participate in the proclamation of today's message. Perhaps it will help you to remember the spectacular event and its significance that we are commemorating today.

Today is perhaps the most misunderstood and forgotten holiday of the entire Christian church year. Today, forty days after the resurrection of Jesus, the church for millennia has commemorated the ascension of Jesus. The first reading reports that memorable day when Jesus took his disciples to a hill outside of Jerusalem where he ascended into the clouds and disappeared from their sight. It used to be one of the biggest holidays of the church. Churches were packed for worship. In Germany, it is still a national holiday, Himmlefahrts Tag. Today only a few churches bother to have worship services. Nevertheless…