A Solemnity in the Catholic Church is a feast day of the highest rank celebrating a mystery of faith such as the Trinity, an event in the life of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, or important saints. In 2025 the month of June has the most Solemnities of the year. Every Sunday in June is a Solemnity. In addition there are two other weekday Solemnities during the fourth week of June. It is a day of great joy and festivity.
June 1 Ascension of the Lord Solemnity
June 8 Pentecost Sunday Solemnity
June 15 Most Holy Trinity Solemnity
June 22 Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ Solemnity
June 24 Nativity of St. John the Baptist Solemnity
June 27 Most Sacred Heart of Jesus Solemnity
June 29 Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles Solemnity
As June begins we are still celebrating the Easter Season. This will continue up to Pentecost Sunday. During the Easter season the Paschal Candle, a symbol of the presence of the Risen Christ among the people of God, remains in the sanctuary near the Altar or Ambo until Pentecost Sunday. An overview of the liturgical season known as Easter which is represented by the liturgical color white — the color of light, a symbol of joy, purity and innocence (absolute or restored). The Easter season, also called the Paschaltide, is a joyous celebration of the Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension of our Savior – Lord Jesus Christ.
The Ascension
“I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”
~ John 20:17
“Go and teach all nations, says the Lord; I am with you always, until the end of the world.”
~ Matthew 28:16-20
“The Solemnity of the Ascension invites us to be in profound communion with the dead and Risen Jesus, invisibly present in the life of each one of us.”
~ Pope Benedict XVI
“The Ascension was the triumph of redeemed man. It is the completion of his redemption. It was the last act, making the whole sure, for now man is actually in heaven.”
~ St. John Henry Newman
Here is a sermon given by Saint Augustine on the Ascension. I highly recommend it. It is short but filled with beautiful reflections on the Ascension.
St. Augustine Sermon on the Ascension
“Today our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven; let our hearts ascend with him. Listen to the words of the Apostle: If you have risen with Christ, set your hearts on the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God; seek the things that are above, not the things that are on earth. For just as he remained with us even after his ascension, so we too are already in heaven with him, even though what is promised us has not yet been fulfilled in our bodies.
Christ is now exalted above the heavens, but he still suffers on earth all the pain that we, the members of his body, have to bear. He showed this when he cried out from above: Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? and when he said: I was hungry and you gave me food. Why do we on earth not strive to find rest with him in heaven even now, through the faith, hope and love that unites us to him?
While in heaven he is also with us; and we while on earth are with him. He is here with us by his divinity, his power and his love. We cannot be in heaven, as he is on earth, by divinity, but in him, we can be there by love.
He did not leave heaven when he came down to us; nor did he withdraw from us when he went up again into heaven. The fact that he was in heaven even while he was on earth is borne out by his own statement: No one has ever ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven. These words are explained by our oneness with Christ, for he is our head and we are his body. No one ascended into heaven except Christ because we also are Christ: he is the Son of Man by his union with us, and we by our union with him are sons of God.
So the Apostle says: Just as the human body, which has many members, is a unity, because all the different members make one body, so is it also with Christ. He too has many members, but one body. Out of compassion for us he descended from heaven, and although he ascended alone, we also ascend, because we are in him by grace. Thus, no one but Christ descended and no one but Christ ascended; not because there is no distinction between the head and the body, but because the body as a unity cannot be separated from the head.”
From a sermon by Saint Augustine, bishop (Sermo de Ascensione Domini, Mai 98, 1-7: PLS 2, 429-495)
How great is that to reflect that as Jesus is in us, we are also in His Body and therefore are partially in heaven. For heaven is communion with God. Those who know Christ after His ascension will have a greater joy than even those who knew Him in the flesh. The ascension does not end with a separation, but with an intensified Christ’s presence in His Church. They knew Jesus as the God-man separate from their person. Through the Eucharist and the Holy Spirit we know Him as part of us and we part of Him.
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always,the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you.
I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live.
On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”
– Jn 14:16-21
“Our Lord does not come down from Heaven every day to lie in a golden ciborium. He comes to find another heaven which is infinitely dearer to him – the heaven of our souls, created in His Image, the living temples of the Adorable Trinity.”
– Saint Therese of Lisieux
“The soul is in God and God is in the soul. God is closer to us than water is to a fish.”
– St. Catherine of Siena