The title of my homily for this feast of the Ascension - celebrated on Sunday here in this Archdiocese of Baltimore is, "Christ Ever Greater."
OPENING STORY
“Unless you become like little children, you shall not enter
the kingdom of God.”
Once upon a time there was a small boy who was fascinated
with iron: pieces of iron. With awe and amazement he would stare at an iron
lock-pin that was used on a plow, or a hexagonal head of a metal bolt that was
raised up a bit from his bedroom floor, or pieces of shells from bullets that
he collected from a nearby firing range. All these pieces of iron fascinated
him, that is, till the sad day came when he noticed that iron could be
scratched or pitted or turn to rust.
That experience led him to look for something harder than
iron, something more, something to take the place of scratched or pitted or
rusty iron. What about the blue flame flickering over the logs in the
fireplace? What about transparent or beautifully colored stones that he found
in the field or somebody brought back from the shore? Whatever it would be, it
had to be dense and it had to be harder than iron. This search, this groping,
kept moving him through gateway after gateway, through the vast structures of
our planet, till nothing would satisfy him but God.
The man’s name was Teilhard de Chardin (1881 - 1955): Jesuit
priest, scientist, geologist, writer, poet, and mystic. Looking back over the
20th century, he certainly will be one of people who had a great
influence on the Church, on Vatican II, and on the Church’s movement to look at
not just the hereafter, but the here and now.
Henri de Lubac, in his book,
Teilhard de Chardin: The Man and
his Meaning, tells us that the feast of the Ascension was a special feast
for Teilhard. Easter, Christmas, the Epiphany, the Transfiguration were big
feasts of the Church year for Teilhard, but it was especially the feast of the
Ascension that he loved.
And the reason for his deep feelings for this feast of
Christ’s Ascension is obvious. Teilhard’s lifetime prayer was, “Christ ever
Greater”. What more basic meaning for the feast of the Ascension is there, than
the prayer, “Christ ever greater”?
HOMILETIC
REFLECTIONS
In the three readings for today’s feast that theme and that
prayer, “Christ ever greater” stands out.
In today’s first reading from Acts 1: 1-11, we and any Lover of God
are told that the Christ, who suffered and died, also showed himself in many
convincing ways that he was alive after his death. The Resurrection: “Christ
ever greater.” And after the resurrection the disciples saw Jesus ascend to the
Father. The Ascension: “Christ ever greater.” And then today’s first reading
ends with the promise that Christ will return again “as you saw him go into the
heavens.” The Second Coming: “Christ ever greater.”
“Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again.” I hope we haven't forgotten that prayer.
In today’s second reading from Ephesians 1: 17-23, Paul prays for us: that the
spirit of God, the scope of his power, his wealth, his energy, the heritage of
God, that all these gifts will be given us. “Christ ever greater.” Today’s
second reading ends with a powerful
statement that puts into words what Teilhard de Chardin began to discover as a
child: “The fullness of him (Christ) fills the universe in all its parts.”
“Christ ever greater.”
In today’s gospel from Matthew 28: 16-20, we are told make disciples of all nations, baptizing them “in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” - teaching them to carry out
everything that Christ commands. And today’s gospel ends with the promise from
Christ that He will be “with us always, until the end of the age.” “Christ
ever greater.”
PRACTICAL
APPLICATIONS
Now to be practical, let’s look at three ways to make this
prayer, “Christ ever greater,” and this wish of Teilhard de Chardin real for us
in our day.
1) Contemplate Christ In Prayer: Make Christ your top
priority. Make that prayer, “Christ, ever greater,” your prayer. Be fascinated
with Christ like a little child looking at a piece of iron or a new toy or
visiting Disneyland or Disneyworld.
“Unless you become like little children, you shall not enter
the kingdom of God.” Unless you become like little children, you will not have
the gift of fascination.
Prayer and contemplation mean taking time out of busy
schedules or movement away from the television set. Make time for prayer to
Christ. Put Christ’s name in your appointment book. Prayer and contemplation
mean taking time to let Christ become flesh within you.
Teilhard would turn pieces of iron over and over again in
his hand. Well, like Mary, turn Jesus’ words over and over again in your mind,
till they become you, your flesh, till you become fascinated with Christ, till
you become his witness.
Let his words burn within you like the disciples on the road
to Emmaus. Schedule 15 minutes every day to read the Gospel of Luke as today’s
first reading tells us. Turn over your mind and heart to Christ’s parables
there. Make them your own. Own them. Chew on them as you chew on Eucharist.
Today is the feast of the Ascension of Christ. For most
people their goal in life is “ascension” - to be number one, to be top dog, top
banana. Christ’s life was a life of “descension”, a going down, a giving up of
power, a letting go of being God, becoming a baby, becoming our servant,
becoming a foot washer and a healer. Then Christ made the ultimate descension,
the ultimate hitting bottom, the ultimate letting go: dying on a cross as a
common criminal. He who was first became last and least, because he gave up all his power. And as a result of his
descension, the Father lifted him up, raised him up: Ascension. And the Father
will raise us up, if we take on that same pattern. Descension leads to
Ascension.
2) Contemplate Christ In Your Neighbor: Catholics
come up the aisle in Churches each Sunday to receive Christ in communion. The
bread is Christ. They walk back to their bench transcended for a moment, -
quiet, - contemplating Christ within them. This moment is a sacred moment,
often so different from all the other moments of the week, so different from
moments in traffic or at work or rushing home to make supper or getting to
meetings or finishing reports.
Catholics also have been realizing more and more the gospel
message that our neighbor also is Christ. “This is my body.... This is my
blood.” “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, you do to
me.” In our time, people like Mother Teresa and others, have been stressing
over and over again this connection between the presence of Christ in the
Eucharist and the presence of Christ in our neighbor. For those who hear this
word, this message, and put it into practice, the result is experiencing family, neighbors, strangers like toll
collectors or checkout people in the supermarket as being more personal, more
sacred, more transcendent.
Recently, while picketing during a strike, a single woman
went for a coffee break with 5 other people. When it came time to pay for the
coffee and donuts, she noticed that one of the men had only one dollar in his
wallet. It hit her that she still had some money in the bank, while he had a
wife and 8 kids at home. Behind his back she went to union officials and other
people on strike and she was able to round up $250 in cash and lots of
groceries. Anonymously they put it all on his front porch. “I was hungry and
you gave me to eat.” “I was stuck and you came to the rescue.”
3) Contemplate Christ In Creation: We Catholics
believe that Christ is present in the bread and in the wine and in our neighbor
in some mysterious way. If Mother Teresa was famous for her stress in her time
of connecting Christ’s presence in the Eucharist with his presence in our
neighbor, Teilhard de Chardin is famous in our time for his connecting Christ’s
presence in the Eucharist and his presence in all creation.
As a child he was fascinated by iron and fire and quartz and
somehow these material things led him to God. As a priest there is the famous
moment when he was on an expedition in the desert and couldn’t say Mass, so he said his famous “Mass on the World”,
lifting the rising sun up over the world, asking the radiating energy of Christ to fill all
people and all creation that day - blessing mothers, fathers, children, workers
everywhere.
Was Teilhard over optimistic? Yes, mystics often are. Yet,
he gives us the dream of God, that all of creation be seen as good and treated
as good. Teilhard gives us glimpses of what St. Paul seemed to see, the risen
Christ in all people and in all things.
Such a revelation - such an enlightement - (Cf. today’s Second Reading)
could lead us to work towards making this world the beautiful place God created
it to be - all of us working towards making this world a garden, allowing each
person to have his or her own tree to sit under in the cool of the evening and
be visited by God, that each bush be a burning bush, that each child be allowed
to be a child of the universe, breathing fresh air and living to see his or
her’s children to the third and fourth generation.
Obviously, much needs to be done in this area of helping
make Christ’s dream for the world to come true. We get glimpses of it now and
then in the midst of so much pollution and dumping on our earth. Wouldn’t it be
great if the reverence we had for the Eucharist was the reverence we had for
the world?
CONCLUSION
As today’s second reading from Ephesians ends, “the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way." Let’s pray to Christ that we too
can ascend to that vision. “Christ ever greater!”
The title of my homily for this Mass on the morning of
your graduation from St. Mary’s High School is, “Salt and Light.”
If Father John Tizio were preaching this morning, he
would obviously have in one hand a salt shaker and in the other hand a flash
light.
If Father Bob Wojtek were here, he would have this gospel memorized with ease
and read it without looking at the book.
“You are the salt of the earth…. You are the light of the
world.”
LISTEN TO THIS
GOSPEL: MATTHEW 5: 13-16
“You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its
taste, there is no way to make it salty again. It has become worthless, so it
is thrown out and people trample it under foot.
“You are the light of the
world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a
bowl; instead they put it on a
lampstand, where it gives light for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine before
all, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in
heaven.”
METAPHORS AND
IMAGES
The other night at the Awards ceremony in Marian Hall,
Mr. Paul Ahern - one of our teachers - described 2 of you with images. One of
you was described as a redwood tree. The other of you was described as a shark.
What would be a good image - that describes the real you? … the best
you?
Today - in this gospel Jesus is calling us to be salt and
light.
Salt and light: both make a difference.
Making a difference is the theme our parish and our
school have chosen for last year and again this year - with a slight variation
of the wording. Whatever words are used, the hope is that you will go forth
from St. Mary’s and make a difference in
this world - better that you make a better world.
I was impressed with this year’s distinguished alumni -
whom we celebrated, honored and toasted last month. They certainly have made a
difference in our world.
JEREMIAH
Our first reading is from Jeremiah 29: 11-14 - a preacher
and prophet - who certainly has made a difference in our world. Our first
reading by James Cardillo began by God
saying to Jeremiah I have plans for you.
I don’t know about you, but whenever I hear that, I ask, “Okay, God, but how specific are these plans You have for
me?”
In the next 5 years you’ll be asked the same question you
heard when you were a little kid, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
“What do you want to do with your life?”
And at 100 graduation commencement addresses around our
nation, this week, this month, speakers will quote Mary Oliver’s question. I
know I did a few years ago when I spoke at this Mass - and then our
valedictorian did the same. Mary Oliver in her poem, The Summer Day, asked, “What is it you plan to do with your one
wild and precious life?”
Let me read her poem. It is autobiographical for you as
graduates - except today - this rainy today - is certainly not a summer’s day.
THE
SUMMER DAY
Who
made the world?
Who
made the swan, and the black bear?
Who
made the grasshopper?
This
grasshopper, I mean-
the
one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the
one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who
is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who
is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now
she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now
she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I
don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I
do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into
the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how
to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which
is what I have been doing all day.
Tell
me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't
everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell
me, what is it you plan to do
with
your one wild and precious life?
In time, in time I hope, you’ll slowly come up with some
basic life choices: mom, dad, husband, wife, accountant, lawyer, research
assistant, engineer, doctor, teacher, environmental advocate or scientist, military, diplomats, government employee, etc.
etc. etc. I say, “etc., etc., etc.,”
because there are jobs out there that you’ll have that don’t even exist yet.
Obviously we priests - and St. Mary’s being a Catholic
School - we hope some of you think of becoming religious leaders.
When Pope Francis spoke to a Joint Session of our U.S.
Congress on September 24, 2015, year he mentioned 4 United States leaders who
made a difference: Abraham Lincoln, Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day
and Thomas Merton.
If there is anything I keep hearing about Pope Francis,
it’s the saying, “He makes me want to go to church.”
He has certainly made a difference.
So what are your plans, your hopes, for our world? How
and where are you going to make a difference?
Your parents want you to be happy, do what you want to do, with the talents you
have, get your own place when your finish college, and what have you.
God called Jeremiah - as the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah
begins - from the womb - to be his speaker, his mouth piece, his prophet, his
voice - to speak words of peace - not disaster as today’s first reading puts
it.
I challenge all of you to find your voice - find your
passion - find your life message - and proclaim it.
MAKE A FIST
Let me be very specific for a short moment - with a very
basic suggestion - that you can use for the rest of your life.
I heard someone say the following in a talk a long time
ago and I have been aware of it ever since.
Along with the ending of Mary Oliver’s poem, this might
be the only thing you’ll remember from this homily: where to put your mouth
when you are face to face with a microphone.
Could everyone make a fist. Could you hold your fist
up? Now thumbs up? Next move your thumb
finger nail to your lips or your mouth. Thank you. Now holding your fist in the
same place - about 2 or 3 fingers from your mouth - lower your thumb - but your
fist is in the same place.
For the rest of your life - when you come to a pulpit or
a podium to read at Mass - at a wedding or a funeral - that’s how close you are
to be to the microphone. When you have
to toast your brother or best friend as best man or maid of honor at a wedding
and you have a microphone in hand, that’s how close you are to be to the
microphone.
For the rest of your life, a lot of people will thank you
for letting them here what you are saying.
For the rest of your life, it’s going to bother -
like ugggghhhh! - you at weddings and
funerals or wherever, when someone is 15 inches or more from the microphone and
nobody hears them.
Sorry, but now you know how to use a microphone - use it well.
PHILIPPIANS
In today’s second reading - from Paul’s letter to the
Philippians 4: 13-19- Rebecca Osborn read Paul saying what we heard in today’s
Psalm response - from Psalm 139 - we don’t have to go it alone. We can have God
with us - at our side. We can have good
people with us.
As Ginny tells young people on every retreat, hang with
good people. Find good people for your life.
MOVING TOWARDS
A CONCLUSION: HAVING A PLAN
I noticed that two of the biggest world leaders pushed
plans on the other yesterday. President Trump gave the Pope a first edition set
of the works of Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. - 5 books. The Pope gave our President 3 of his books, Amoris Laetitia, Evangeliium Gaudium and
Laudato, Si.
Will all these words make a difference? They are longer than the tweet limit of 140
characters. They can, they could, if the words become flesh - and dwell amongst
us.
A person can read one book - be challenged by it - and make big differences
in our world. Another person can go into
a library or Barnes and Noble - take out or buy 5 books - and do nothing as a
result - if they don’t read them - and be challenged by them.
So too our education - Words, Advice, Questions, a homily
or a talk on a graduation day. - unless
they become us - it’s all water off a ducks back on a rainy day.
So too salt and light - if we don’t use them - we remain
tasteless and in the dark.
