Solemnity of the Ascension
50th Anniversary of the Priestly Ordination
Monsignor Steven P. Rohlfs
St. Paul Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota
May 17, 2026
A Fitting Feast
How fitting that we celebrate Msgr. Rohlfs’ Golden Anniversary of Priestly Ordination on the Feast of the Risen Lord’s Exaltation! It’s not that Msgr. Rohlfs deliberately planned his exaltation to coincide with the Lord’s exaltation. If he had his way, the Ascension would have been celebrated last Thursday.
But given the coincidence of the two exaltations, let me milk them for all they are worth. Being a devout Catholic, a humble priest, and a Thomist, Msgr. Rohlfs would manage only a shadowy analogy between the two exaltations – but you can be sure it would be an analogy of being. After all, Msgr. Rohlfs thinks ontologically and probably dreams ontologically. And, as you seminarians know better than anyone else, the analogy between the triumphant Christ & the triumphant Monsignor is real, very real — in ways upon which I shall expound by and by.
But first, a distinction must be made, a distinction probably not found in St. Thomas’ Summa Theologica. Every analogy is in some measure indirect and asymmetrical – especially when two orders of being are compared and contrasted, one infinitely higher than the other. But in the case of Msgr. Rohlfs, the theandric analogy is more complicated because it is overlaid with a metaphor, a metaphor which I maintain dominates his thinking. It is the metaphor of royalty, yes, crowned heads.
Here at St. Paul Seminary, Msgr. Rohlfs lives in a somewhat Spartan fashion. In his previous incarnations, however, his royal proclivities were on full display. Walking into his rooms – whether as Rector of Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary, or as Vicar General of the Diocese of Peoria, or any of the rectories where he reigned as pastor, you felt like you had entered the Museum of Victoria and Albert. You were surrounded with artifacts, letters, photographs, & other memorabilia of the House of Windor (formerly the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha). And as you, his directees, have discovered, Monsignor Rohlfs finds in the crowned heads of Europe (mostly the dead ones), lessons applicable to almost any dilemma, crisis, or doubt you may encounter. Indeed, if you were to ask me how many sacraments there are, I’d say seven. If you ask him, there are eight – including, of course, the quasi-sacrament of the anointing of monarchs!
The Ascension as a Royal Procession
The question is whether this royal metaphorical overlay obscures or sheds light on the actual mystery the Church today commemorates. Respondeo: hic illuminat – it sheds light. Indeed, Scripture describes the Ascension of the Lord as a royal procession. In today’s reading from Ephesians, St. Paul describes how the Risen Lord passed through the ranks of every principality, authority, power, and dominion, ascending to the Throne of his Father where everything was placed beneath his feet. It is the royal procession foretold in Psalm 68 where the Lord ascends the lofty heights of the New Jerusalem, defeating his enemies and bestowing upon Israel gifts beyond imagining. As Jean Cardinal Danielou remarked, “The heavenly liturgy is set in motion around Him… [He is] installed henceforth in His royal dignity, seated at the right hand of God.”
Here ordinary royal metaphor is strained to its breaking point. In his procession, the Christ the King did not ride in a gilded oak carriage. No, Jesus travelled from this vale of tears to the New and Eternal Jerusalem by way of our humanity, by way of the vagaries of human existence, and ultimately, by way of his Passion, Death, and Resurrection. Our great High Priest, robed in our flesh, entered ‘the sanctuary not made by human hands,’ not for his sake but ours. There in his glorified humanity he displays the wounds of his Passion, and with these wounds of love and glory pleads for us at the right hand of God. Indeed, this is the heart of the heavenly liturgy in which we share by foretaste, & this is the heart of the mystery the Church sets before us in all its wonder.
And it is precisely here, at the juncture of the divine and the human, that “Rohlfsian” royal imagery shines forth in blessed validity. For every priest stands at this juncture of the divine and human, day by day giving over his humanity as an instrument by which Christ carries forward his mysteries for all time. In the logic of God’s Kingdom, the more a priest entrusts himself to the Lord and to the Church, the more fully he resembles the triumphant Christ pleading for us at the Father’s right hand, the more surely is his name inscribed in the Book of Life as noble and regal. ‘For whoever loses his life gains it unto life everlasting. And whoever humbles himself is exalted.’
The Legacy of 50 Years
I have had the privilege of knowing Msgr. Rohlfs for more than 50 years. I swore I’d never say this to a group of seminarians, but I will: Both he and I once made the journey you are making. We sat, as it were, where you are sitting . . . but the times were different. The ecclesial weather of the mid-70’s was foggy and icebergs frequent. In God’s grace, we did not sink. Indeed, no one was more clear-sighted and more prescient than my friend. No one was more the born teacher than he. And no one knew how to express the truth more trenchantly! In the end, his affinity for earthly royalty amounts to self-deprecating humor
that sometimes masks his royal mastery of self and his royal self-giving love, that to this day expresses itself in his consistent desire to form Christ in others. Jesus’ command, “Go, teach…” is etched ontologically in the depth of his being.
I saw this when he was chaplain and a teacher at Bergan High School in Peoria. I saw it when he was a highly effective pastor of a large working class parish, where he greeted a newly ordained curate with, “Welcome to 5th Theology!” As Vicar General and Administrator of the Diocese of Peoria he bore the burdens of administration with strength, grace, and wisdom – while keeping his eyes fixed on the Church’s mission to proclaim the Gospel and to hand on the Catholic faith. He was a magnificent rector of Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary, and how proud I was to have my friend lead the seminary we both attended.
He formed generations of young priests who are themselves forming others after the mind and heart of Christ. And here at St. Paul’s, Msgr. Rohlfs has dedicated himself as a teacher, a confessor, and a spiritual director, and I don’t have to tell you how blest you are by his practical holiness and wisdom, tempered by experience and a merciful priestly heart.
For fifty years, Msgr. Rohlfs has exercised the ministerial priesthood in royal fashion by forming Christ in others. I was there, in Lincoln, Illinois that day when Bishop Edward O’Rourke imposed hands upon him. I had no way of knowing what the future would hold, but I was confident that this new priest and my good friend would be a priest after the mind and heart of Jesus Christ, crucified, risen, and exalted Time has borne out that hope, for me, for you, and for countless others. Thank you, Monsignor Rohlfs,
and may God continue to bless you in your priestly ministry, ad multos annos!