April 16, 2019
St. Patrick’s Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas
Isaiah 61:1-3, 6a,8-9
Psalm 89:21-22, 25, 27
Revelation 1:5-8
Luke 4:16-21
El anuncio de Isaías es la anticipación de la misión salvadora de Cristo y también el fruto de la misión salvadora de Cristo. En cierto modo, el óleo de los catecúmenos transmite la buena nueva a los pobres que aún tienen que enriquecerse en el Bautismo y nos recuerda a cada uno de nosotros que Dios está activo en la salvación de las personas incluso antes de su bautismo, confirmación e iniciación en la Eucaristía. El óleo de los enfermos simboliza el fruto de la curación y la restauración de la salud y la integridad lograda por Cristo que implica la plena liberación del cautiverio al pecado y la liberación de sus amargos frutos de la enfermedad y la muerte. El Sagrado Crisma simboliza el reinado de Cristo marcado por un orden armonioso en el que compartimos, haber sido ungidos con el Crisma en el Bautismo, la Confirmación y las Órdenes Sagradas.
Con frecuencia consideramos los efectos del sacramento de las Órdenes Sagradas sobre la vida de la Iglesia: lo que Cristo hace a través de nosotros y nuestro ministerio ordenado para su pueblo. Sin embargo, la Misa del Crisma también es un recordatorio de la Iglesia sobre lo que Cristo hace especialmente por nosotros como sacerdotes a través del Sacramento de las Órdenes Sagradas, mientras ministramos a los fieles en el uso de los óleos de los catecúmenos, de los enfermos y del Crisma. La Misa del Crisma es una oportunidad para que podamos ser animados y renovados con gratitud por la generosidad de Jesús al llamarnos a seguirlo y por nuestra confiada respuesta a su llamado a nosotros. Es una alegría para nosotros considerar nuevamente, reunidos como hermanos alrededor del altar del sacrificio, el recordatorio de Cristo de que era Él quien nos eligió a nosotros y no nosotros quienes lo elegimos a Él. Las Órdenes Sagradas es una oportunidad inigualable para la unidad y la intimidad con Cristo, aprendiendo a amar como Él ama, sirviendo como Él sirve.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”
This proclamation by Isaiah is both the anticipation of the saving mission of Christ and the fruit of Christ's saving mission. Christ recapitulates Isaiah’s proclamation and fulfills it as true, just as He reveals His mission and identity to His family and friends who are most prone to take Him for granted. In a way, the Oil of the Catechumens conveys the glad tidings to the poor who have yet to be made rich in Baptism. The Oil of the Catechumens reminds each of us that God is active in the salvation of human beings even before their Baptism, Confirmation, and full initiation in the Eucharist. Christ prepares the catechumen to receive the Grace of Baptism and that preparation is itself a Grace. It is the fruit of baptismal grace even as it anticipates baptismal grace. The Chrism Mass is the Church’s way of reminding us so that we do not take this grace for granted.
The mission for which Christ, and by extension the prophet Isaiah, was anointed, offers God’s gift of liberty to captives and His release of prisoners. The Oil of the Sick symbolizes the fruit of healing and restoration to health and integrity accomplished by Christ that involves the full liberation from captivity to sin and release from its bitter fruits of sickness and death. This mission culminates in the establishment of His Kingdom and the defeat of the prince of this world.
The Sacred Chrism symbolizes the kingship of Christ as marked by a tranquil and harmonious order. We contribute to this order by our having been anointed with Chrism at Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders. The restoration to wholeness and the establishment of His Kingdom are proclaimed in our reading tonight from the Book of Revelation and accomplished by Christ in part through our priestly ministry: “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his Blood, who has made us into a Kingdom, priests for his God and Father, to him be glory and power forever and ever. Amen.” Together, as priests and bishop having been anointed with Chrism, you on your hands and me on my hands and head, share in the pastoral governance of the Church as servants of Christ’s right and kingly order—not as little princes of entitlement and chaos.
We frequently consider the effects of the sacrament of Holy Orders upon the life of the Church: that is to say, what Christ does through us and our ordained ministry for His people. Yet, the Chrism Mass is also the Church’s reminder for what Christ does especially for us as priests through the Sacrament of Holy Orders as we minister to the faithful in using the Oil of Catechumens, the Oil of the Sick, and Sacred Chrism. The Chrism Mass is an opportunity for us to be encouraged and renewed with gratitude for the generosity of Jesus in calling us to follow Him and for our trusting response to His call to us. It is a joy for us to consider again, gathered together as brothers around the altar of sacrifice, Christ’s reminder that it was He who chose us and not we who chose Him. Holy Orders is a matchless opportunity for unity and intimacy with Christ, learning to love as He loves, and serving as He serves.
Through Holy Orders we become recipients of the Grace of the Sacraments that we administer to the faithful members of Christ’s flock entrusted to our pastoral care. We are not simply bystanders or functionaries. As the ordinary ministers of the sacraments in our bound freedom we become more aware of who Christ is and what He does for us in part by what He does through our ministry. Christ is not stingy with His love or with His Grace.
When we shepherd the catechumens through election to new life in Baptism, we too are renewed in the waters of new life. When we anoint a sick person with the sacrament of the sick, we in part receive healing from Christ, the Divine Physician. When we offer the unbloodied sacrifice of the Eucharist and preach the Gospel, we are nourished and evangelized in His love. When we absolve sinners, the Lord reconciles us more deeply in the surpassing power of God in our own lives as His earthen vessels—earthen vessels but truly His chosen and called vessels.
In my own experience of twenty-five years of priesthood, this glorious paradox is most preciously experienced in the celebration of the Sacrament of Penance. I know that so many of you also enjoy the intimate presence of Christ in listening to the unburdening of sin from contrite hearts and in articulating the Lord’s limitless forgiveness and mercy far beyond the limits of our own human empathy. We each are privileged to receive, to offer and to participate in the Mercy of Christ in this Sacrament that releases the captive sinner and binds the prince of darkness showing him to be the liar that he is.
The Sacrament of Penance and its seal ensures that the confession of the penitent is not simply a conversation between two individuals but is a conversation through the priest between the penitent and Christ with His Church. We, as priests, offer our voice to the agency of Christ when we speak with a penitent in the Sacrament of Penance. Thus, we must always treat what we say to a penitent with the utmost of reverence and compassion. When we leave the Sacrament of Penance, we entrust the conversation and what the penitent has shared to the merciful heart of Christ. We listen to the sins of the penitent with the ears of Christ, we counsel, instruct, and absolve them with the mouth of Christ, and we entrust the sins of the penitent to the heart of Christ. Just as the Sacrament of Penance leaves no stain of sin behind on the soul of a contrite penitent, so the Sacrament of Penance should leave no remembrance of such sin upon our minds as confessors. The seriousness with which we guard the seal of the confessional protects the transparency of the sinner with Christ who can neither deceive nor be deceived. The seal of the confessional is not collusive but liberates the sinner as we as confessors are bound by it.
The liberty to captives and the release to prisoners that priests experience involves the paradox of the Cross. In our promise of obedience, we are limited by the unlimited love of Christ. Obedience places strict limitations on our freedom that liberates us for a full and direct experience of Christ who is our Good Shepherd, and, in whose image, we are configured in our anointing at ordination. In our promises of obedience and celibacy we are bound to limitations in order to be freer to focus directly on Christ in love and service. Obedience and celibacy structure our lives that we might point clearly towards Christ's accomplishments in us and through our ministry that transforms each of us as He transforms His people.
The promises that we renew today in this Liturgy are merciful, because they are the means by which we each are reminded of what Jesus has done for us and through our priestly ministry. These promises prevent us from easily taking for granted what we have been given as very precious gifts. Just as the people of Nazareth failed to receive Jesus gratefully and overlooked His true identity, so we can take so much of our priestly vocation for granted because we can become overly familiar with the “busyness” of priesthood and we can soon neglect the presence of Christ that is so beautifully made known to us and through us. The Lord continues to bestow His grace through us, and at times sadly despite us. So, the Church offers us the liturgical moment of the Chrism Mass for us to renew intentionally and consciously the promises that each of us made at our respective ordinations in light of the Lord’s unconditional love for each of us in calling us to the priesthood.
How much does the Lord give us as His priests! How much He shares with us! We cannot help but be humbled and even dumbstruck when we witness what the Lord does in the People's lives and in which we are present and attentive—not as bystanders but as receptive participants.
