Solemnities are the highest-ranking holy days in the Roman liturgical calendar and are usually reserved for the most important mysteries of faith, including the Ascension of the Lord. New Advent’s Catholic Encyclopedia explains the Ascension celebrates “the completion of the work of our salvation, the pledge of our glorification with Christ and his entry into heaven with our human nature glorified.”
As the Catechism explains: “Christ’s ascension marks the definitive entrance of Jesus’ humanity into God’s heavenly domain, whence he will come again (Acts 1:11).
“Jesus Christ, the head of the Church, precedes us into the Father’s glorious kingdom so that we, the members of his body, may live in the hope of one day being with him forever” (665-667).
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