Ascension (Year B)

Readings: Acts 1.1-11; Psalm 46; Ephesians 4.1-13; Mark 16.15-20

In the second reading Paul speaks about the cosmic dimension of the mission of Jesus Christ. He descended to the lower regions of the earth and ascended higher than all the heavens. In this way he fills all things. So he is in all things and all things are in him.

The cosmos is an ordered body, a unity made up of many parts. The entire cosmos is transfigured now by the presence of Christ and yet remains an ordered body. But it is articulated in a new way. There are apostles and prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers - all working together to make a unity in the service of Christ.

But what is really new is not these tasks serving the relationship of God with human beings. What is really new is the Spirit that now informs this entire body, the Son whose body it is become, and the Father whose children we have become in the universe transfigured through the work of the Son and the Spirit sent by the Father. God the Father of all is over all, the Son is through all, and the Spirit is within all.

The strange gospel reading also speaks of a renewed cosmos. The preachers of the gospel, agents of the transfigured universe, are left unharmed by the dangers of the old universe - devils, snakes, poison - and will manifest the power of the new creation - languages not spoken before, sicknesses healed.

So after the sadness of his departure from them, his return to the heights to sit at the right hand of the Father, there is the joy of their preaching everywhere. Their word is confirmed by the signs that accompanied it. The most convincing sign that we are indeed living in a world renewed is the Christian community that truly lives up to its name. Where there is faith and hope, prayer in praise and thanksgiving, people living together in charity and in the bond of peace, remembering always the poor - there the universe is already transfigured, growing into the maturity that comes with the fulness of Christ.