Homily for the Feast of the Ascension
6/4/00
Fr. James Schmitmeyer

[Preparation Notes: This homily is for a rural community in a predominantly German Catholic area of west-central Ohio.  The people of this area take great pride in their numerous and ornately decorated churches.  And, as in most rural areas, the liturgy tends to be more transcendent than immanent in its focus.  These elements are part of the cultural context of the following homily.

In terms of its pastoral context, the homily attempts to highlight the interplay between the cosmic Christ presented in the second reading from Ephesians and the way in which our experience of the liturgy and local community life are colored and transformed by the hope of sharing in the glory of the Risen Christ.

In rhetorical terms, the homily has the shape of the letter A  Its primarily strategy is the use of contrast beginning with the rural roots of the jubilee year.  A conclusion to the first section is a recapitulation of the central theme (A Life in the church is a different world).  This conclusion is an amalgam of images drawn from the gospel narratives: the last become first, a prostitute becomes a disciple, etc.  My goal at this point is to move the listener down the slope of the A from modern life into a biblical perspective.

The next section attempts to add the liturgical experience of the Eucharist to this A different world  perspective The other-worldly aspects of our worship are used as references for developing the notions of glory and power found in the passage from Ephesians.

The homily's weakest point, as I see it at this time, is the identification of this glory and power as the defining difference between a religious and a secular life.  Before delivering this homily, further focusing needs to occur here at the bottom of the A.

From this point, the homily moves begins to move up from images of intimate communion in the presence of the glorified Christ to the traces of that experience found in our routine lives and daily challenges.

The final result for which I am striving in this homily, then, is to illumine for my listeners the transforming effect that the hope of heaven=s glory has on our lives both spiritually and socially.   J.S.]

 It's a different world.

Here in this little church of ours,

it is a very different world.

Let's consider the Year 2000 for instance.

Last January some people greeted the turn of  the century

with nervous apprehension.

There was a worrisome new word in our vocabulary: Y2K

Yet, here in church, we heard ---and continue to hear---

a different word...and that word is Jubilee.

It's a different sort of word from a different sort of world...

the world of ancient Israel

where jubilees were held every fifty years.

All the fields would lie fallow.

All debts forgiven.

And any land that had been sold in the previous fifty years

would be returned to the family who originally owned it.

From the biblical perspective,

there was to be no concentration of wealth in Israel.

Every family would be given a chance to succeed

and, every fifty years,

each family would be given a second chance to succeed.

Prisoners would be freed.

All debts would be canceled.

The land would be renewed.

And everyone would have a fresh start!

This is not the world view of the Wall Street Journal or venture capitalism.

Rather, here in church, an alternate view of economics is proposed

along with an alternate view

of human status, rank and honor.

Once inside the doors of the church

the last become first,

the greatest is the one who serves the rest.

A run-away teenager receives no reprimand.

A prostitute becomes a disciple.

The lame dance.  The blind see. 

The power of evil is eradicated.

And the sting of death gives way to eternal life!

No wonder this little church

looks so different from any other building in town.

This is no grain elevator

or welding shop

or neighborhood tavern.

This is our church.

And within these walls of rich color,

beneath arches hazy with the smoke of incense,

surrounded by windows of noble saints

we chant our prayers

and listen to ancient words...

words with the power to bandage the wounds

incurred in a world of empty promises.

Here we refresh ourselves

and find our names, as it were,

on engraved paper behind plates of fine china

as we take our place at a banquet table

set for daughters and sons of a King;

the golden vessels of the table

bearing the mystical food of redemption.

Here in this church

our souls are transformed

with the great hope of the banquet of  heaven;

and in the sacred words we hear our spirits are renewed

with a vision of the world as God would have it be.

 For the God of our Lord Jesus Christ is the Father of glory...

and the immeasurable scope of God's power resides in us who believe.

These words of the Apostle ensure us that here,

in the Church of Christ,

we are indeed in a different world,

a spiritual realm ---touched by glory---

the glory radiating from the victorious Christ!

This does not mean, of course, that our religion

is removed from the world of struggle and pain,

no more than the apostles who witnessed the

ascension of Christ

were removed from the memory an imperial regime

and its instruments of oppression, torture and death.

Rather, their Savior ---and our Savior---

has demonstrated a power and a strength

that the world alone can never contain!

Yet it is discovered here, in a country church,

in a community striving to live as fully as possible

the Christian faith.

And it is in this Alternate world of faith

we find an indescribable hope, a resilient trust in God

distributed among us.

For what family gathered in prayer and anguish

at a time of crisis

has not experienced this strength

when Viaticum is brought to the dying

or holy oil is smoothed in the fevered brow of a child?

What marriage has not gleaned strength

from Jesus' example of love?

What worry has not diminished

in the light of Mary's courage?

What problem at work cannot be addressed

from the perspective of the Gospel?

Yes, we come into a beautiful place we call our church

with unsettling memories from a flawed world...

a world of arguments,

moral failures, family stress

and financial difficulties, to name but a few.

And here are mingled all kinds of striving and struggles:

the youthful search for meaning and purpose,

the hectic schedules of busy families,

the disquieting concerns of retirement.

And, like the disciples,

we may find ourselves gazing for a moment into the heavens

and praying for a time of fulfillment

only to realize anew that our mission on earth

is to live in hope of heaven.

This very hope...the exact sort of strength described today

in the Letter to the Ephesians...

the experience of hope and courage

that pulses at the heart of the liturgy

and the life of the Church

here in this village and throughout the world.

For what brutality would overwhelm our society

if there were no hymns of love to sing;

no candles to light when darkness closes in?

What deep despair would engulf us

if there were no bells calling us to prayer;

no friends to shore us up in times of distress?

Oh, we would still be alive

and we might have a lot of things to distract us

---for awhile anyway.

But inner peace, what St. Paul calls Aa spirit of wisdom and insight@

is found only here...with one another...in God!

Yes, it's a different world

that we encounter here at the sacred mysteries;

a world of hope,

a promise of victory,

a time of justice,

a hall of glory...

this vision of a new world ---God's world---

that descends on the Church

as Christ ascends to heaven!