Homily for the Ascension, Year A

Today’s second reading is perhaps a typical example of St Paul’s writings, with

his rather long sentences. But at the end it refers to Christ being “all in all”.

What does that mean? It means Christ being everything, and in everything. I

remember going to an evening meeting some years ago for clergy who were

going to become, or who already were, school governors. The priest leading

the session quoted Cardinal Basil Hume, who said that Catholic education is

not just National Curriculum plus Mass. Instead, Christ is supposed to

permeate everything we do. Christ is to be everything to us and that then

influences how we act. And the same should be true in our lives, too.

But what does that look like in practice? And what would it look like if the

whole of our country, and our world, were to allow Christ to be “all in all”? C

H Benson, writing in the 1920s, I think, wrote a novel called “The Dawn of

All”, which tries to answer this question. It begins in a hospital. A man is

dying and is informed that he hasn’t got very long left. Would you like us to

call a priest? He refuses. Then, suddenly the room spins round and he finds

himself transported forwards into the 1970s. He is listening to a Franscican

friar preaching outdoors in somewhere like Hyde Park to a great crowd, and the

main character himself is one of the priests working for the Cardinal

Archbishop of Westminster. What is going on? He calls one of the other

priests over to him. I don’t feel well. Can you tell me what is happening? He

encourages him to wait until everything is finished, so as not to create a

disturbance by leaving in the middle of things, in full view of the large crowd.

Then he is taken back to Westminster Cathedral, and has to gradually make

sense of what is happening to England, and the world. A lot has changed since

the 1920s. England is now, de facto, a Catholic country. Even though it is not

officially yet so, the majority of the citizens are Catholic. All the Anglican

cathedrals have been returned to the Catholic Church. The monks have

returned to Westminster Abbey. They have removed from there anything they

consider to be unbecoming, and installed altars once again and it has become a

monastic church. The Government now consults the Church on important

matters of legislation. At one point, there is a scene where the Cardinal speaks

with the Government. Legislation has been put together, to go before

Parliament, to make England officially Catholic once again. The Cardinal is

saying to them, yes, England is de facto already a Catholic country, but I would

like in my lifetime, before I go to the Lord, to see it officially made so. As

things move on in the book, we see there are still pockets of opposition in

England and abroad against it happening. Christ is not completely all in all just

yet.

There are also a few details in the book that might seem a bit strange, and also

one or two details that show how a fledgling Catholic state might, in its

enthusiasm and zeal, take a wrong turn or two. In France, the French

Revolution is undone and the monarchy returns. People are proud to be who

they are in their individuality and proud of their vocations and occupations. So

a cook won’t just wear his work clothes to work, but will wear them around the

street as well. It is explained that the French had grown tired of the egalitarian

stew, where every vegetable tasted the same. But, then, like I say, there are the

wrong turns. The Catholic state now sees heresy as a threat, and has made it a

capital offence, and at one point, a monk is executed for claimed heresy. The

issue is spectacularly resolved at the end of the book, but I won’t spoil the

surprise.

We are living in the time between the Ascension and the return of Christ in

glory. We, too, have been given the missionary mandate, to go, make disciples,

baptise and teach. But how do we put that into practice? There are bound to be

wrong twists and turns too, as well as successes. Recently some research was

done which seemed to point to a “quiet revolution” in this country in terms of

growth in both Christianity in general and Catholic Christianity in particular.

The survey results have been withdrawn, and it was thought that it was possible

for people from abroad to take place on-line, and also to answer the

questionnaire more than once, so the exercise is being repeated with extra

safeguards. But anecdotally, there seem to be indications of a true “quiet

revolution”. Definitely the numbers of converts have increased, and not just by

one or two percent. I mentioned previously about this diocese having to have

overflow capacity for the Rite of Election for converts at the Cathedral this

year, and they are planning to run two separate services next year. Other

dioceses have also reported substantial increases. The diocesan youth service is

saying that more teenagers are expressing an interest in Bible study. They are

reading things on-line, but they don’t know if they are true or not. What does

the Catholic Church say? There are signs of growth and hope, and those seeds

need to be watered by prayer and action.

Christ said to the disciples, and He says to us: Go ... make disciples ... baptise

... teach. We live in interesting times. How do we make our contribution, so

that Christ will be all in all?

Curious about exploring things further?  If you would like to ask further questions about the topics raised in these homilies (or maybe think it wasn’t explained too well!), please feel free to e-mail Fr Michael at stjoseph.thame@rcaob.org.uk