Readings (Year C):
Acts 1:1 – 11
Psalm 47:2 – 3, 6 – 7, 8 – 9
Ephesians 1:17 – 23
Luke 24:46 – 53
Reflection: The intrinsic goodness of human bodies
I’ve long said that Catholic theology offers endless possibilities for a healing, helpful, affirming theology of bodies. Between embodied ritual and liturgy in the Mass, divine embodiment via the incarnation, and the literal embodiment of God in the Eucharist, bodies are central to our faith tradition. So it is fitting that today, on the Feast of the Ascension, our readings are all about bodies.
In the Feast of the Ascension, we commemorate the miracle of Jesus’ particular human body being taken up physically into heaven. Our first reading from the Acts of the Apostles depicts Jesus’ followers watching their teacher rise bodily into heaven and disappear behind a cloud. Our responsorial psalm announces: “God mounts [their] throne to shouts of joy,” offering a glimpse into what this bodily-movement-filled ascension scene could have sounded like from a heavenly perspective. Our second reading from Hebrews tells us that Jesus, now in heaven, appears embodied before God to petition on behalf of all humanity. And, lastly, in our gospel reading from Luke, Jesus leads his friends out of the city, blesses them, and his physical body is subsequently “taken up into heaven.”
But Jesus’ body isn’t the only one mentioned in this reading. We are reminded of the body of John, baptizing with water. Then there are the bodies of Jesus’ friends, staring into the sky after he disappears, and the bodies of the two men dressed in white, who prophesy of Jesus’ return. We have the bodies of the disciples, who walked to Bethany following their teacher, ultimately returning to the temple in Jerusalem to praise God. We, as “brothers and sisters,” are told that our bodies can confidently enter the sanctuary now that Jesus has opened a way for us “through the veil.” As rapper Megan Thee Stallion might say, that’s some serious “body-ody-ody” happening!
Why does it matter if these texts, on a most high feast day—a holy day of obligation, even, when celebrated on a Thursday—focus on bodies so much? Because if the fully human body of Jesus can enter heaven, the holiest of holy places, surely there is an intrinsic goodness in human bodies. And not just in flawless, gorgeous, fit bodies, but in disabled bodies, like Jesus’, who was disabled by crucifixion. In bodies of those killed by state violence, as Jesus was by the Roman Empire. In the bodies of those who, like Jesus, are tortured, traumatized, and publicly humiliated by people with power to prove a point.
Sometimes, Catholic theology is interpreted in ways that degrade certain human bodies, especially those of people on the margins: those of LGBTQ+ people, or people who experience sexual violence, or people who have had abortions. But today, on the Feast of the Ascension, the body of God physically enters heaven, and every time we take communion, the body of God physically enters us. Surely, if our bodies are as capable a host to the divine as are the heights and depths of life eternal, they can’t be all that bad.
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