Theme: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me
EVERY celebration of the Eucharist is an act of Thanksgiving. Today’s Mass – the Chrism Mass – is especially so. I thank my brother priests for joining me in this celebration. I thank all the faithful for supporting and sharing in this Mass with your prayers, wherever you may be – present here or in the live-streaming. I thank all for giving your mutual support, help and encouragement in this difficult time of the pandemic, that through your dedication we are able to come together to celebrate this Chrism Mass.
The annual Chrism Mass is a moment when the fraternity of the priesthood is visibly expressed by a great gathering of priests in this Cathedral, accompanied by the love and prayers given to and for our priests/bishops by so many of the faithful disciples of Jesus in support of His priests.
Today, no matter where we are, we are bound together in Christ Jesus, by the power of His Holy Spirit. This is an unshakeable and unbreakable bond, one that gives enduring life to all who embrace it. For this, above all, we give thanks to God in this Eucharist. This bond gives us, through Him, access to the very life of God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and to the mercy and forgiveness of God when we repent – something that the world cannot give. This bond with Jesus gives us a purpose and a mission, a share in His mission which the world cannot find of itself and yet so evidently needs.
What is our Purpose and Mission as we share in this bond with/of Christ? Today in the Liturgy of the WORD, God says something twice to us. One in the first Reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah and again from the lips of Jesus in the Gospel: The Spirit of the Lord has been given to me, for He has anointed me. He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to captives and to the blind new sight, to set the downtrodden free, to proclaim the Lord’s year of favor.’
Jesus has come to His home town of Nazareth. He had just been baptized by John the Baptist. The Holy Spirit had descended on Him and God the Father spoke from heaven saying that Jesus was indeed His only Son, the Beloved, and God’s favor was upon Him. And then after spending 40 days in the desert to prepare for the work the Father had given Him, Jesus came to the synagogue in His home town to begin that work. He speaks those words which describe what He sets out to do. It is clearly a Mission of Healing, of Freedom and of Liberation/Deliverance.
This is what the world is searching and looking for – the world was soon to be saved, that salvation would come in the person of Jesus, the Beloved Son of God. In the person of Jesus, that salvation has come to us, to you and to me. As St Paul wrote to the Colossians: ‘…God has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His Beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.’ Jesus came to heal our brokenness, fill our lives with good news and free us from the fears, weakness and failures that oppress us.
So here we are in this Cathedral Church, into the celebration of our salvation from darkness and sin, to remember how we have journeyed from darkness to light, from death to life, from sin to union with God in Jesus Christ who has conquered darkness, oppression and death itself.
Yet we are more than aware that darkness creeps in on us still. We are not fully delivered from fear and worry, nor from pain and sickness, and we face death which waits for us. So, it is comforting to hear again; ‘The Spirit of the Lord is ………”
This Chrism Mass reassures us and reminds us of the constant comfort that Jesus the Saviour gives. Jesus is close to us. Jesus is present and continues to carry out His saving work in a wonderful way through the Sacraments of this Church to which we belong.
The Sacraments are an inexhaustible treasure which comes from God’s presence in our lives. In the Sacraments, Jesus gives us strength, guidance, encouragement. In the Sacraments, Jesus Christ, the head of the Church and our One High Priest is present for us. In the Sacraments, Jesus touches us. This Chrism Mass is about that gentle and loving touch of Jesus.
In this Mass, we will witness the Consecration of the Oil of Chrism which is used in the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and the Priesthood. Every person receiving these Sacraments is touched by the hand of the Bishop or by his hand through the touch of the priest who carries out these Sacraments. In this way, Jesus touched them.
The Oil of Catechumens will be put on the chest of our catechumens. In that Oil and through the hands of the priest, Christ touches our catechumens and strengthens them to renounce sin and devil.
Through the touch of the priest, the sick is anointed with the Oil and receives from Christ a remedy for the illness of mind and body through the healing of the soul. Christ touches us through these Sacraments. To be touched by Christ is to be healed and made whole.
This is our day of rejoicing in these great gifts of the Sacraments. It is a day to remind us all to return to these well-springs of true life, despite our current anxieties and fears, and the practical difficulties we face.
It is a special day of joy for all of us privileged to share in this presbyteral ministry of the Lord, one in which, as we shall shortly proclaim, in the Preface, we are called ‘…. to renew in His name the sacrifice of human redemption, to set before your children the Paschal Banquet, to lead your holy people in charity and to strengthen them with the Sacraments.’
May the Lord preserve us all in our unity in Him. May He sustain us in our weariness. May He inspire in us priests, each day, a renewed generosity in the privilege of our lives – our ministry to all God’s holy people. Amen.
