Station at Saint Peter's

[Latin Text]

Introit: Acts i

Ye men of Galilee, why wonder you, looking up to heaven? Alleluia. He shall so come to you as you have seen Him going up to heaven. [Ps. xliv] O clap your hands, all ye nations; shout unto God with the voice of exultation. Glory be.... Ye men....

Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, that we who believe Thine only-begotten Son, our Redeemer, to have this day ascended into heaven, may ourselves dwell in spirit among heavenly things.

In the former book, O Theophilus, I spoke of all that Jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day on which He was taken up, after He had given commandments through the Holy Ghost to the apostles whom He had chosen. To them also He showed Himself alive after His passion by many proofs, during forty days appearing to them and speaking of the kingdom of God. And while eating with them, He charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, "of whom you have heard," said He, "by My mouth; for John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." They therefore who had come together began to ask Him, saying, "Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore the kingdom of Israel?" But He said to them, "It is not for you to know the times or the dates which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you shall receive power when the Holy Ghost comes upon you, and you shall be witnesses for Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the very ends of the earth." And when He had said this, He was lifted up before their eyes, and a cloud took Him out of their sight. And while they were gazing up to heaven as He went, behold, two men stood by them in white garments, and said to them, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up to heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, shall come in the same way as you have seen Him going up to heaven."

Alleluia, alleluia! God is ascended with jubilee, and the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Alleluia! The Lord is in Sinai, in the holy place; ascending on high He led captivity captive. Alleluia!

At that time, Jesus appeared to the eleven disciples as they were at table; and He upbraided them for their lack of faith and hardness of heart, in that they had not believed those that had seen Him after He had risen. And He said to them, "Go into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned. And these signs shall attend those who believe: in My name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak in new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; and they shall lay hands upon the sick and they shall get well." So then the Lord Jesus, after He had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sits at the right hand of God. But they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the preaching by the signs that followed.

Credo.

God is ascended with jubilee, and the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Alleluia!

Accept, O Lord, the gifts we offer Thee in memory of the glorious ascension of Thy Son, and graciously grant that, being delivered from present dangers, we may attain eternal life.

Sing ye to the Lord who mounteth above the heaven of heavens to the east. Alleluia!

Grant us, we beseech Thee, O almighty and merciful God, that what we have received in visible mysteries may profit us by its invisible effect.