It was not where I thought I had left it. A bright yellow legal-sized folder labeled “May 23” in black marker, I could see it in my mind's eye but not find it in my desk. It took an hour, but finally, I rooted under and behind some other folders and there it was, about five feet from where I was convinced I had put it.
Originally used to contain all the materials for planning the big weekend, the folder has for the quarter-century since then held all the most important documents from my ordination, including my canonical faculties, and the Official Certificate of Ordination -- just like we give for Baptism, Confirmation, and First Communion. It also had some keepsakes, like the Catholic Standard issues reporting the event, and a list of all the gifts I received and who gave them.
But what I was looking for was two pages of yellow legal paper with my very neatest handwriting on them: the final copy of the homily I preached before ordination.
That year, Cardinal Hickey took to himself the honor and the labor of leading the four of us candidates for priesthood on our canonically-required, five-day preparatory retreat, which was held at the Washington Retreat House on Harewood Road NE so he could be nearby in case he was needed to run the Archdiocese for a moment. No, that was not the usual practice for him, and I do not recall if he did it for many or even any other classes. Fond as I was of Cardinal Hickey, I could not have been more pleased.
He gave all the conferences and met with each of us individually, but while he was celebrant of all the Masses, he assigned each one of us deacons to preach one of them. The final day fell to me, Ascension Thursday, two days before our Saturday ordination.
Of course, we were all at least partly terrified at the thought of preaching not only to our classmates – always one of the stickiest tasks for a cleric – but also to our Archbishop. Funny, but I think it is the only time I have ever preached before a Cardinal or Archbishop, my own or anybody else’s. (Heaven knows I have done plenty of other things to and for them -- but that is another story entirely.)
What motivated my search for the yellow folder was that, even though I had not read it in decades, I thought it would be good to share this homily with you this weekend. Here it is, Ascension Thursday again, though the Gospel passage does not line up since 1998 was Year C, and now we are in Year A. Not only that, but the lectionary translation changed in 1999, which makes it even harder to recognize the quotations, but I present it transcribed as it stands, completely unedited and unamended. If you recall that I was preaching principally to my classmates, you should have little difficulty.
Upon review, it is a completely appropriate reflection for me, too, on this anniversary. So much is just as I found it, right where I left it, right where I received it.
Monsignor Smith
Ascension Thursday Homily, 21 May 1998
It is all about power, isn’t it?
Washington is a city of power. If you are into power politics, you can make your power plays at power lunches with other power brokers, all in the name of amassing power and using power to get more power.
The Ascension is about power. Each of the three readings today mentions the great power that is to be had. As Jesus took his leave, He instructed the Apostles to, “Remain here in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
We, too, are waiting for power. Two days from now we will be ordained into awesome power: power that is sacramental and ontological; power that is pastoral; and power that is social or situational. It all comes with being a priest.
Tantalizing, isn’t it? Divine power! Enough to make any power-player lick his chops. But that cannot be our response.
The Ascension of Christ was not a power vacuum that the Apostles rushed to fill. The power Jesus promised to them -- and to us – cannot be accumulated or amassed; it cannot be strategized or stockpiled. It is not ours.
It is the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit will make us, like the Apostles, witnesses of Christ, yes, even to the ends of the earth!
In this power of the Spirit we will decrease, that the presence of Christ may increase – in the sacraments, in the preaching of the Word, and in compassion for His least ones.
It is a gift received to be given.
Christ rose to heaven not so that the Apostles could be in charge, not so that we could be in charge, but so that His reign could be spread.
So we cannot respond like a Washington power broker, with business cards and press releases and updated curricula vitae– but like the Apostles. In all humility before the awesome power of God, let us
Fall down to do him reverence
be filled with joy
And be found in the Temple constantly
speaking the praises of God!
