Homily
[Genesis 1:26-2:3; Psalm 90; Colossians 3:14-15, 17, 23-24; Matthew 13:54-58]
The story is told of a priest who loved to preach about the importance of going to confession. So determined was he to speak on this topic that he would find a way in every homily, regardless of the liturgical season or the actual message of the Scriptures, to justify speaking about confession. A case in point was the celebration one year of the Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker. Gathered with his people for that mass, as we are this evening, he began his homily this way: “Tonight, we celebrate the special feast day of Saint Joseph the Worker. Saint Joseph, as we all know, was a carpenter. Confessionals are made of wood, so I am going to speak about confession!”
Although I will not be following that priest’s lead tonight, nevertheless I would like to confess my profound thanksgiving to Almighty God for the great privilege of having served in this Archdiocese of Edmonton for the past eighteen years. It has been for me a source of great blessing to have worked alongside you all in the service of the Gospel of our Crucified and Risen Lord. So, while I am not inspired by the labour of Saint Joseph to speak about the sacrament of Penance, I am moved to reflect upon the work God has allowed us to share along our brief pilgrimage together.
At the outset, I would like to say that I have sensed, from the time of my arrival here, a great zeal among you all for the work of the Gospel. The earliest intimation of that came when I first beheld the beauty of this Basilica Cathedral, whose anniversary of dedication is today. I can still remember my jaw dropping as the interior was illuminated for me. The splendour of this edifice led me to wonder about the people who planned and built it. I knew then that this local Church of Edmonton is home to a people who love their faith and are ready to undertake whatever task is necessary to proclaim it to others. That conviction grew and deepened as I worked with you over the years to face many difficult challenges. I saw how you seized them as opportunities to be strengthened in the faith and renewed in zeal for the work entrusted to us by our Baptism.
Saint Joseph’s own example reminds us that this work we share is never our own doing. As was his, our work can only arise from, be aligned with, and ordered to the work of God. The text of Genesis teaches us once again that the divine activity is, first, to create us in God’s image and likeness. In the liturgies of this Easter season, we celebrate the work of Jesus, the Crucified and Risen Lord, to re-create us as God’s adopted children, as well as the working of the Holy Spirit to transform us in Christ and gather us as God’s Holy People, the Church. This is the marvellous divine work to which our humble human efforts must be aligned under grace. In this light, we can see emerge from the text of St. Matthew’s Gospel the very heart of the task that is ours. To put it simply, our work is to announce with clarity the truth of who Jesus is and what he has accomplished for us.
Notice in the passage the confusion of the people. They are debating among themselves the question of Jesus’s identity, and cannot get beyond the idea that he is no more than the “son of a carpenter”. Such a misunderstanding is understandable prior to the death and resurrection of our Lord, yet confusion about the identity of Jesus has challenged the Church throughout her subsequent history. An example is the mistake of a priest named Arius, who lived in the fourth century. He taught that Jesus is not divine but merely a created being. This led, as we know, to the formulation of the Creed at the Council of Nicaea, whose seventeen hundredth anniversary falls this year. I just wish that Arius, and anyone else who has not understood correctly the full truth of Jesus Christ, could have met the little girl I encountered recently in the course of a parish visit.
I was asked to visit the Sunday catechism classes, including one for pre-kindergarten children, which is where I met the little girl. When I stepped into the room, she made a bee-line for me, and our conversation went something along these lines: “Do you know Jesus?” she asked. “Well, yes,” I replied, “a little. Do you want to tell me something about him?” Almost breathless with excitement, she said, “Yeah. You know, he … he … he got dead on a cross! Then, … and then, … he got up! And … and … then he goed to heaven!” Impressive, really. Not only did the little girl get it right about Jesus, but also she perceived immediately the need to adapt her speech to the level of my intelligence.
There we have in a nutshell the work that is ours. That little girl teaches us all that, in the midst of widespread confusion about our Lord, our task is to announce with zeal and conviction the full truth of Jesus Christ, and to render the message intelligible to those who hear it. The stakes are very high. Only when we get Jesus right do we understand ourselves rightly. Only when we grasp, and are grasped by, what Jesus has done for us do we begin to appreciate the depths of God’s love and the necessity of our existence in His eyes. Only when we see clearly the true identity of Jesus Christ do we discover the reason for real and unshakeable hope, as we are proclaiming in this Jubilee Year. Into this task we are called to invest ourselves fully, as we hear St. Paul encourage us to do. I am immensely grateful to God for your witness of being a people fully invested, and hence for the great and steady source of encouragement you have been to me throughout our time together.
God’s greatest of works, the paschal mystery centered upon His Son, reaches us anew in this celebration of the Eucharist and strengthens us for the mission on which He sends us. May the grace of this wondrous sacrament unite our hearts in thanksgiving to God for His saving work, and renew us in zeal for making known to our world the full truth of Jesus Christ, Crucified and Risen for our salvation. Although we soon part from one another, we remain always united in both faith and mission. I ask for your prayers, upon which I shall rely greatly, and assure you all of my own.
Most Reverend Richard W. Smith
Saint Joseph Basilica, Edmonton
May 1st, 2025