A superficial sceptic might dismiss our faith in Jesus by asking a deceptively simple question: where is he? Thursday's feast gives us the building blocks for a coherent and convincing answer. The Ascension is not a celebration of the absence of Jesus but of his continued presence with his people. At the end of the gospel we are assured, 'I am with you always, yes to the end of time'.

The more interesting question is not where is Jesus? but how is he now present? He has gone beyond our sight to be sure, but he is still present in and through the actions of his Church. Pope Leo the Great summed the matter up well when preaching to his people over 1500 years ago: 'After the Ascension. The visible presence of our Redeemer passed over into sacraments'. By sacraments Leo meant far more than the seven actions defined by the Council of Trent. For Leo sacrament was a term that referred to the whole panorama of signs and symbol that speak to us about the presence of Jesus.

When we gather for Mass on Thursday we will see many of those symbols - the bread and wine, the word, the priest, but also ourselves. And through the mystery we celebrate we are being transformed continually into the living presence of Christ in our world today.

P.D.