"Ascension Day is officially celebrated on a Thursday on the 40th day of Easter (or 39 days after Easter Sunday)." [1]
Quoted in part from Catholic Culture [2]:
At first glance, the Ascension would seem to be a sad day. Christ in his human body is leaving the world for the last time. But we need to take our cues from the liturgy. This is a joyful feast; it is the fulfillment of Christ’s salvific mission. The Ascension is the final leg of the Paschal Mystery: Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension into heaven .... It is not until Jesus ascends and returns to His Father that His act of Redemption is completed. Our place in heaven is prepared at this feast—we will now share in Christ’s glory.
"The observance of this feast is of great antiquity. Eusebius seems to hint at the celebration of it in the 4th century. At the beginning of the 5th century, St. Augustine says that it is of Apostolic origin, and he speaks of it in a way that shows it was the universal observance of the Church long before his time." [3]
Passages quoted below are from Acts 1:8-11, Biblegateway (Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition) [4]:
[Y]ou shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth.And when he had said these things, while they looked on, he was raised up: and a cloud received him out of their sight.And while they were beholding him going up to heaven, behold two men stood by them in white garments.Who also said: Ye men of Galilee, why stand you looking up to heaven? This Jesus who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come, as you have seen him going into heaven.
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feast_of_the_Ascension, quoted with reference and hyperlinks.
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