Thought for Ascension Day

Fr David Howell• May 29, 2025

“And he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. While he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.” (Luke 24:50-51)

Why did Jesus choose to ascend into heaven from Bethany?

From there he had entered Jerusalem in triumph on Palm Sunday; from there he then entered heaven in glory.

But Bethany was also his home during his ministry: he visited Lazarus, Martha and Mary to dine with them, to raise Lazarus and to be anointed before his Passion. From his home there he ascended to his eternal home.

Each time he visited Bethany, there was a focus on his feet: Mary of Bethany sat at his feet listening to him (Luke 10:39); she fell at his feet pleading with him on behalf of her brother (John 11:32); she anointed his feet with costly perfume (John 12:3).

When he ascended, Jesus’s feet no longer touched the ground, but our feet became his: we must bring Jesus to every corner of the earth as he prays for us from heaven.

Mary our Mother gives us good example: her feet carried Jesus while he was in her womb and she brought him to her cousin Elizabeth with joy and faith – let us follow her!

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Photo: Detail from Ascension of Christ by Giacomo Cavedone. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons.)

Fr David Howell is an assistant priest at St Bede’s in Clapham Park. His previous studies include canon law in Rome, Classics at Oxford and a licence in Patristics at the Augustinianum Institute in Rome. He is a regular contributor to the Catholic Herald; his other articles can be accessed here.