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!”
