Mass readings for The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord:
Acts 1.1-11
The obvious meaning of the Ascension of Jesus Christ is that he is enthroned in the heavens, signifying his ultimate authority; and so, for us, this validates his teaching, making his words authoritative for us in our pursuit of holiness, eternal life.
But anything so important, so pivotal in the Christian story of salvation will have more than one dimension to its significance, and one of these lies in the humanity of Jesus. His flesh, his human physical nature, is taken up into God. God incorporates humanity into the Trinity.
And living as we do at a time when anti-humanism runs so rampant, when there is so much apparent disgust with the mass of human beings expressed by our elites, so much contempt for human life evident in decisions made by the world’s leadership, we need to remember that God holds us as physical beings in particular esteem. And that must infuriate those working to bring the world to perfection according to their worldly ideals.
Now you might say, “hold on, doesn’t Christianity have a problem with the physical body? St. Paul talks of how it is an avenue for sin, how our spirits might be willing, but weak flesh undermines us. Christian aestheticism, fasting and mortification of the flesh inflicting discomfort, these are all part of our tradition. Surely these speak to an opposition to the body. Let’s recall the old words (since changed in some hymn books) of the Christmas carol, O Come All Ye Faithful sung in reference to Christ’s incarnation through being born of Mary: “Lo, He does not abhor the Virgin’s womb…” Those words are derived from the more ancient hymn, the Te Deum that says: “When you became man to set us free, you did not spurn the Virgin’s womb.” Isn’t this an expression of barely concealed disgust that God overcomes?!
Well, let’s remember that these are hymns composed by human beings and not the words of Christ, but in fairness and to be accurate, there is this issue of corruptible flesh being incompatible with the purity of the divine, and that vexed many of the Church fathers in the early days of the faith as they worked out the relationship of Christ’s divinity to Jesus’ humanity. Indeed, that is where some of the criticism of Christian teaching by those outside the faith arises: God simply can’t limit himself by taking human form, and more importantly, it’s unthinkable that God compromise his holiness by being someone who must carry out all the bodily functions to which a human being is subject. The great Canadian poet, the late Irving Layton, from his perspective as a Jew challenged Christians on this, noting how uncomfortable many were made by the simple conclusion that if Jesus is God, but also a man who eats and drinks, and from that activity comes the usual processes of digestion, then as Layton put it succinctly, Christian believe that God farted! And if you have a problem with that, you have a problem with your religion.
Speaking of emissions, that is the basis for much of the anti-human agenda, the justification for the “immiseration” of western society for all but the elite who will continue enjoying their private jets, super yachts, seaside mansions curiously built at a sea level we’ve been assured will leave them submerged very soon. One gets the impression from their speeches at global conferences that they look upon us as the ignorant masses who must be made to do what they deem necessary for the salvation of the world.
It’s more than unsettling to consider what is planned for us in light of the singular animosity expressed toward carbon as the chief pollutant of our environment because, well, all of life is based on carbon, our bodies are carbon-based and carbon-emitting in and of themselves before ever we turn the key in the ignition of our cars. And so, we get the anti-life agenda pushed all the harder: abortion, contraception, the creation of an economy that discourages marriage and family formation. And all this despite the statistically demonstrable decline in human populations everywhere with the exception of Africa. This demographic collapse will likely solve the problem as it’s been put to us, albeit while creating a great many others.
This negative outlook on life runs so counter to the Judeo-Christian understanding of human beings as invaluable in their potential as co-creators with God. Family is a gift, children are a boon for us all; but ultimately, they are a necessity for the fulfilling God’s project of reconciling the material and the spiritual, the mundane and the divine. Each generation progressing toward the goal of at last greeting our Lord when he comes again.
Our own St. Augustine argued that there was nothing in the Book of Genesis that implied that if Adam and Eve hadn’t given into temptation they would have continued as a chaste couple. Indeed, before the deceiving serpent ever comes on the scene they are told to “be fruitful and multiply.” Augustine said they would have started a family; but a family not subject to the fall from grace. What gives rise to the problems that come of human populations, the disease and squalor, these are not inherent in us, but come of our fallenness, our laziness, our selfishness, all our vices, these are what give rise to what we today call pollution. Indeed, very few actually know that the term “pollution” was originally applied to spiritual matters, how interesting that modern society should take a word applied to humanity’s spiritual state and use it to refer to the physical environment. One could say that there is an inadvertent but accurate application of the term – our pollution of the world reflects our spiritual state. But if we follow St. Augustine’s argument affirming us in our physical living as people who marry, have children, build houses, grow and harvest food, develop technologies to improve the quality of our lives, to care for the sick and injured, but also include the making of art, the playing of sport, etc. There is nothing inherently sinful in these, and indeed, can be done in holiness. So, our problem isn’t that there are too many of us, but that too many of us have forgotten that our aim in life is sanctity, communion with God, to go as the body of Christ where the head has gone before.
There are those who see our sinfulness, our vices, and then believe the answer is greater and greater control over us – they will make us behave. So, while there may be something to this, the remedy is not to put us in chains, however comfortable they might try to make them. As I’ve mentioned before, in Catholic teaching, the role of our leaders is to facilitate our pursuit of holiness. One hears leaders today facing popular opposition issuing dire warnings against populism. The conceit here is they’re not wrong, it’s just that the masses are either stupid or under the sway of some malevolence, or both. And that’s a very uncharitable assessment.
What I’ve always found so admirable in Catholicism is its valuing of the common faithful; those millions and billions of us who live and work outside the confines of Vatican City and the chancery offices of dioceses, the offices of catholic bishops’ conferences – the vast majority of the laity, but parish priests too, and the religious who labour away in hospitals, schools, and any number of ministries and missions. And the source of our value lies in what we know as the Sensus Fidei, the sense of the faith. The secular world might know this as “common sense” but in the Church it means that the faith really is ultimately held corporately, that is, in the minds and bodies of all who profess the faith. It is, and I quote, “… a sort of spiritual instinct that enables the believer to judge spontaneously whether a particular teaching or practice is or is not in conformity with the Gospel and with apostolic faith.” (SF 49)
To be clear, this isn’t a theory of church democracy, but we can look to history and see that there have been times when the leadership of the Church lost their way while the laity kept the authentic faith. The great Arian heresy of the 4th century is one example where most bishops and the civil authorities bought into the idea that Christ was not equal with God, but subordinate, a rejection of the Nicene Creed. It took a century and more to correct this, and that was largely accomplished because the vast majority of everyday Christians wouldn’t adopt the heretical teaching – all us sheep, all us dumb cattle, poor fleshly creatures could still by faith through grace hang onto what is true, what is authentic; and so, be ennobled by our faithfulness. As we put faith in Christ, he put his faith in us, the Church.
Christ ascends in his human body, not out of convenience, but in full confidence that we can be redeemed in our flesh. That while our bodies make us subject to frailty, fear and pain, this is overcome in Christ who sanctifies them, and makes them perfect and acceptable, worthy of God who is holiness itself. We are not the problem, but a treasure of possibilities.
Amen.