When a reporter is sent out on an assignment to interview a celebrity who has enjoyed a long career, one of the questions they will ask at some point in the interview is, "How would you like to be remembered?" Another way that that comes out sometimes is, "What would you like on your tombstone?" (And they're not asking about pepperoni or cheese.) I don't know if Monsignor Wade was ever asked how he wanted to be remembered, but, after missing him for a whole year now, we try, in this liturgy, to see how we remember him, and to reflect on his presence among us for so long. We want to read the epitaph that is inscribed on that portion of our memories marked, "Monsignor James J. Wade."

As I was preparing this homily, I thought to myself, "How presumptious it is of me to try to summarize and capsulize a life of 94 years in a few words." Then I thought, "I've never shied away from being presumptious before, so why stop now?" And so I thought about Monsignor's life and I came up with four words that, to me anyhow, put his life in some kind of a capsule. And those four words are, "Always faithful. Never perfect."......"Always faithful. Never perfect." Monsignor Wade was a faith-filled man. You know, as we listen to his homilies and talks, especially I always used to like the morning masses during the week, when he would come over to the ambo here and give a short reflection on the Scripture. You had that feeling that Monsignor Wade was a man who believed absolutely everything he ever said to us. He had that conviction, that passion about his thoughts and ideas and his concept of God that he shared with us, and you truly believed that he believed what he was saying. He lived the Scripture that we just had read to us in the Book of Deuteronomy and then repeated in the Gospel. Msgr. lived by the two great commandments: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind and all your strength," and "Love your neighbor as yourself." That was the way he lived.

During the past year, the parish collected anecdotes and memories from people who wanted to submit them and we collected them and put them in a little book called, "Little Man Dressed in Black." It's a wonderful tribute to the memory of Monsignor Wade. And, as I read this book, and worked on it and edited it, two qualities of the man came through to me very strongly. The first was that he never, ever regretted his call to the priesthood and his 66 year ministry as a priest. He never looked back on that with any doubt at all. It was always his pride and joy to serve the Lord as a priest of God. And the second quality that comes through is that Monsignor Wade was a man who performed most of his good deeds out of the public eye. And those good deeds will never be forgotten by the people whose hands he held and whose hearts he consoled.

Always faithful. Never perfect. And no one knew better than Monsignor Wade how imperfect he was. I was touched a year ago, when Father Brian Joyce, the other Brian, said (It was either in his eulogy at the funeral or at the homily that Sunday.) that a couple of days before Monsignor Wade died, he said to Brian, "I ask forgiveness of everyone I ever offended." And so, even at the age of 94, Monsignor Wade looked into the mirror of his life and what he saw was an incomplete puzzle. And he looked into that life and saw the missing pieces. I do that too and I don't want to project this on you, but I imagine that most of you do the same thing. When we look into the mirror of our own souls, what do we see? Well, I see the missing pieces, the parts that aren't complete yet. But Monsignor Wade believed in a God, as I do and I hope you do, a God Who sees not the missing pieces, but the beautiful picture that is coming together, piece by piece every day that we live.

There's a saying that the good that we do lives after us. And that is certainly the testimony of "Little Man Dressed in Black." Every story related here, and there are about 60, 60 to 70 anecdotes, that people sent in, for every one of those (Imagine! Monsignor was a priest for 66 years.) there must be hundreds of stories for every story that is in here, about how he touched people's lives. I'm going to tell you my favorite that is in the book. It's about a man named "Adam Newcomer." How many here this morning know who "Adam Newcomer" is? One...two... Oh! We got a few. You're the first ones since 5 o'clock and 7 o'clock who knew anything about Adam Newcomer. Well, now everybody is going to know..... You're grandparents, all right! That's great! This is a great story.

Adam Newcomer went to Christ the King School. He sat in those classrooms. And, of course, Monsignor Wade would visit the classrooms. And Monsignor would always, or at least frequently talk about vocations to the priesthood, the sisterhood, the brotherhood. And Adam would listen to these stories and it inspired him. And, of course, Monsignor would always challenge the kids in school: "You know, maybe it's you. Maybe God's calling you to be a priest or a sister or a brother." Now, Adam Newcomer is an adult, a grown-up today, isn't he? And Adam Newcomer, inspired by Monsignor Wade, is now pastor of Elwood Baptist Church in Midland, Texas. And he wanted us to know that it was Monsignor Wade's inspiration that led him to give his life to God. Life plays some funny tricks on us, doesn't it? Always faithful. Never perfect.

Monsignor Wade left us a legacy that will live forever, a legacy of faith in the God he loved and served, a legacy of fidelity to the Christian values he lived by, a legacy of fidelity to us, the community with which he shared his life. And this legacy did not go to the grave with him. Monsignor Wade's legacy is alive. It's in us. It's living in us individually as people and as a congregation of Christ the King Parish. And, for generations, that legacy that Monsignor left us will live down in the lives of ourselves and our children and perhaps even, their children.

So, my prayer for Monsignor today is "Monsignor, may you rest comfortably in the peace of your accomplishments."