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| Photo by Donna Ryckaert |
April 11, 2017
St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas
Isaiah 61:1-3a, 6a, 8b-9
Psalm 89:21-22, 25, 27
Revelation 1:5-8
Luke 22:14-23
Today, in this liturgy, we will bless and consecrate the holy oils that we shall use in the administration and celebration of the sacraments throughout the coming year: the Oil of the Catechumens, the Oil of the Sick, and the Sacred Chrism. As priests, and as your bishop, we each will renew publicly the promises that we made on the day of our ordination. How are these two actions united in this Liturgy, the blessing of oils and the renewal of our promises? The relationship between these actions cannot simply be functional or only ceremonial. The relationship between these two actions—the blessing of oils and the renewal of priestly promises—is centered on Jesus Christ—Priest, Head and Shepherd of the Church. It is Jesus Christ, the Word made Flesh, who calls each one of us and saves us from sin. It is Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, who is the fulfillment of the prophesy of Isaiah that we have read today. It is the prophesy that Jesus read in the midst of the synagogue as recorded in Luke’s Gospel. It is the prophesy that Jesus reads again sacramentally in the proclamation of this Gospel at this Chrism Mass.
The Oil of the Catechumens addresses the restlessness of the human heart. It is the restlessness that can be settled by God alone. The Oil of the Catechumens is applied over the heart of the one who is to be baptized. It makes manifest the mystery that God seeks us out even before we desire to seek Him. God comes to us before we are baptized and washed clean of sin. The Oil of Catechumens reminds us as priests that we are stewards of the Lord’s mysteries and not their masters. It is God who initiates our salvation and gradually prepares us for the fullness of the truth that we can only understand by the light of faith. Faith answers this restlessness. The Oil of Catechumens prepares us for the gift of faith that saves us from the darkness of restlessness and the confusion that corrupts our reason because of the effects of original sin.
The Oil of the Sick is the visible sacramental of the healing and merciful mission entrusted to the Church by Jesus. It is used in the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick in which God’s faithful people, wounded and suffering because of sin and its effects of violence and illness, receives the Grace of forgiveness and healing offered by God from within. The anointing manifests the healing first of the relationship between the person and God by His forgiveness of sin. It manifests secondly the healing of the ruptured relationship among persons because of the injury caused by sin. Finally, it manifests the healing and redemption of physical and spiritual suffering brought about because of the Devil’s assault on the originally created right order of the world brought about by our own sin and selfishness. This oil signifies the hope and fortitude of Christ’s healing compassion and the victory of His Cross over despair, presumption and fear.
The Sacred Chrism is a mixture of olive oil and sweet-smelling vegetable oils. The anointing with Chrism that takes place at Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders is the fulfillment of the promise spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, “You shall be called priests of the Lord, men shall speak of you as ministers of our God.” Each Christian receives the Holy Spirit and becomes one with God’s priestly people at Baptism. Each Christian is strengthened for this mission at Confirmation. Each Christian becomes a member of God’s priestly people through anointing with Chrism. Each priest and bishop shares particularly in Christ’s sacrificial mission through being anointed by Chrism on the hands—where Christ was pierced for our salvation—hands that healed others. Each bishop is also anointed with Chrism on the head—where Christ was pierced by a crown of thorns in mockery and rejection of the Truth. Priests and bishops are anointed with Chrism to teach, to govern, and to sanctify, as being ordained in the image of Christ, Head and Shepherd of the Church. In so doing they are ordained to foster the authentic unity found only in the Truth of Jesus Christ and not in passing consensus of opinion. This is the unity for which Jesus prayed.
Chrism sacramentally manifests God’s healing of the confusion of egotism. It manifests the Triune God’s conquest of the chaos of autonomy. It makes real the liberation of those caught in the self-absorption of sin. The anointing with Chrism brings about our belonging in communion with Christ and our neighbor as His people, the Church. This anointing unites us to Christ in the ministerial priesthood as brothers in service to this priestly people as we are configured to Jesus as Head and Shepherd of His Church. Chrism manifests the sense of belonging that comes with communion as opposed to the alienation and isolation wrought upon us by sin and selfishness.
As priests, each of us ministers sacramentally because of the anointing at our ordinations. It is Christ who ministers through us; it is our humanity that either clarifies or conceals that mystery to the benefit or detriment of God’s People. God chose to save us through Jesus’ humanity. Christ has invited us, His priests, to walk with Him more closely than other Christians only for the sake of revealing this mystery to God’s Priestly people through our lives and the earthen vessel of our humanity. We are anointed and ordained for that mission and none other.
Our priestly ministry uses the oils that we will bless and consecrate—the Oil of the Catechumens, the Oil of the Sick, and the Sacred Chrism—not just functionally or in a minimalist celebration of a rite or liturgy—but in the mystery of our priestly lives and friendship with Jesus and with each other. We use the Oil of the Catechumens at Baptism, but this oil also affects our ministry when we recognize humbly that the people whom we baptize are first brought to us by God. God has been very much at work in their lives before we ever encounter them or they encounter us. As priests, we listen to our people in their restlessness and we pastorally indicate where God is present to them and where he is leading them—to the bath of Baptism—to the light of faith—where they find true rest in the presence of God. This is an especially important aspect of our ministry today where so many voices in our society attempt to trick us into living as if God does not exist; or, if He were to exist, that He really does not care about us.
We use the Oil of the Sick not just when we go to the hospital (and we should do so frequently) to administer the sacrament of the sick; or when we celebrate this sacrament communally in the context of Mass on select Sundays or Feasts. This oil also affects our priestly ministry when we articulate the hope and confidence that God provides to people who suffer from illnesses. It affects our priestly ministry when we preach the truth that death does not have the final word. It affects our ministry when we courageously do not succumb to the cynicism of our times that sees life as nothing more than a selfish and brutish existence with the weak and the vulnerable being cast aside like failures of nature’s lottery.
We use the Chrism not just simply at the administration of the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation or the ordination of priests and bishops. Chrism imbues our priestly ministry as we heal the alienation of people who have mistakenly decided not to belong to God or to anyone else. Sacred Chrism affects our ministry when we heal those who passively accept estrangement from God, from their neighbor, and from themselves. The Sacred Chrism with which we were anointed at all of these indelible sacraments in our lives unites us intimately to Jesus Christ and converts us to be men of communion—at one with God and at one with our brothers and sisters for the salvation of all—including ourselves. Chrism makes us one with Christ who came to serve and not to be served; who preached the truth, who healed the sick, who welcomed the stranger, who freely gave His life in the unconditional love of His Passion and crucifixion. In our share in Jesus’ ministry we foster the identity of the baptized as the People of God who otherwise might be seduced by the lie of individualism to not belong—to become a non-people.
The initial reading by Jesus of this prophesy of Isaiah (in Chapter 61) was fulfilled in the hearing of its proclamation by those gathered. Yet, we must remember that in its fulfillment Jesus was rejected and scorned by the people because of the shock of His obedience and love for the will of the Father over all other things. This people did not want to acknowledge its fulfillment of salvation in the here and the now of Jesus’ reading, preferring to treat it as some abstract ideal. The fulfillment was accomplished by His Cross, the sacrifice of love.
As priests, the anointing with Chrism at our ordination enables us intimately to be one with Christ—this also includes oneness with His rejection and the rejection of His Gospel—by a seemingly religious people enamored with and made complacent by the status quo. This day, on which we renew our promises and on which our faithful people pray for us, can offer us an opportunity for an examen of our priestly ministry and of the effectiveness of our preaching of the Gospel. Do we make clear Christ’s fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophesy by our lives, ministry and preaching? Do we preach more than the status quo of complacency and cynicism? Do we preach communion and belonging in the face of individualism and autonomy? Do we preach the dignity of matrimony in the face of selfish and utilitarian relationships? Do we preach mercy in the face of illness? Do we preach compassion in the face of abandonment? Do we preach the peace of God in the face of restlessness? Do we share intimately in Christ’s rejection because of our fidelity to His Gospel and Mission that is fulfilled in our hearing?
As Pope Benedict XVI preached several years ago at the celebration of the Chrism Mass, "The bath in which the Lord immerses us priests is Himself—the Truth in person. Priestly ordination means: being immersed in Jesus Christ, immersed in the Truth. I belong to Jesus in a new way and thus, I belong also to others, that His Kingdom may come. Dear Brothers, in this hour of renewal of promises, we want to pray to the Lord to make us men of truth, men of love, and men of God. Let us implore Him to draw us ever anew into Himself, so that we may become truly priests of the New Covenant."
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| Photo by Donna Ryckaert |
