What Happened to the Body of Jesus?
It says in the gospel account of the Ascension that Jesus was taken up Body and Soul into heaven. Why would Jesus need a body in heaven? It would seem to be useless there.

In the Old Testament, there was a great chasm between our bodies and heaven. We are told that no one could see the face of God and live, let alone live with God in heaven. Jesus came to bridge that gap through his body and blood. Jesus keeps his glorified body in heaven to show us that we, too, will be glorified like him, and to show that, as part of God’s creation, our bodies are inherently good and worthy of heavenly life. Jesus’ Ascension into heaven will be followed by our ascension into heaven. Christianity is a material, flesh-and-blood religion. We cannot bypass the physical to reach the spiritual. Jesus ascended into heaven body and soul. We d not reach higher, spiritual truths by rejecting the material world. Heaven will not contain disembodied spiritual beings, but will be full of glorified human bodies without the inadequacies we suffer now. Saint Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:35-40, tries to explain this truth to the people of Corinth. He tells them that the splendor of the heavenly bodies is of one kind and the splendor of the earthly body is of another kind.

Excerpted from Dear Padre, copyright (c) 2003, pg 177.
Used with permission of Liguori Publications, Liguori, MO 63057. 1-800-325-9521. www.liguori.org