Chrism Mass Homily
"Lord, it is good for us to be here!" Just four weeks ago, on the second Sunday in Lent, we heard St. Peter say those words to Jesus on the mountain of the Transfiguration. It's also true for us here today. We who belong to the Catholic Church in San Francisco, and seek to serve her life, gather here in our Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption to celebrate our Chrism Mass.
We give thanks for Christ's saving action in the Church through all the generations who have gone before us and who have handed on to us the faith and worship we celebrate and prize. We commit ourselves to continue to proclaim, to celebrate and to share with all peoples this good news and kingdom life. We pray that we, in imitation of Jesus Christ, may ourselves become witnesses for others to faith and life in him. That is the most powerful and genuine evangelization of all, and it is what we pray for as we go on pilgrimage this holy year to this church and the other churches as well.
In a special way tonight in this Chrism Mass we celebrate Jesus Christ as our High Priest, as well as our own priestliness, for Christ has made us a "royal nation of priests." We Catholics believe that Jesus continues to teach us and make us holy and shepherd us in his Church, through the service of his ministers and the power of his sacraments. All the baptized have been given the gift of sharing in the priestly identity of Jesus who offered himself for us on the Cross. Some from among the baptized have been called to share also in his ministerial priesthood through the Sacrament of Holy Orders, as deacons and priests and bishops.
The oils we bless and consecrate this evening will be used during the coming year to celebrate the sacraments, the life-giving and life-sustaining signs of Christ the Priest within us and among us, making us holy, precious and sacred to him as his Church. The Oil of Chrism we will use to anoint all the baptized, to seal those who are confirmed, to anoint a priest's hands and a bishop's head, to anoint altars and churches when they are consecrated or dedicated. All those preparing for baptism are anointed with the oil of catechumens. The Catholic Church seeks the healing of all her daughters and sons who are sick with the oil specially blessed for that purpose.
In the gospel passage this evening from Luke, Jesus, reading from Isaiah in the synagogue, claims that his Father anointed him, and for a purpose: "The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, to comfort all who mourn..." When Jesus anoints us sacramentally in his Church, it is for this mission of salvation and service. On the first Easter Sunday night, he told the earliest disciples, "As the Father has sent me, so also I send you."
The sacraments commit us, and equip us, to spend our lives in loving service to God and to one another, in particular to those in greatest need. We are strengthened most of all through this sacrifice and sacrament at this altar, the Body and Blood of Christ, so that we can share his life with all we meet. There are so many ways to comfort, to heal, and to free the captives, just as there are so many kinds of captivity which don't involve iron bars or barbed wire. Men and women can imprison themselves in anger, resentment, prejudice, depression, addiction and despair; they can imprison others in racism, bigotry, rejection and contempt. Our faith in Christ can free us, and help us to free others, from such captivity. The proper rhythm of Catholic life leads us from prayer and worship and celebration to the relationships of our lives and the needs of the marketplace, and back again to prayer and worship and celebration.At this time, in this city, this state, this nation and this world, the bleak and frightening specter of having no job, no home, no food, no security and no dignity, haunts many of our sisters and brothers, many of us. In our schools, our homes and our parishes, and across the Archdiocese in the many programs of Catholic Charities/CYO, the need for services increases even as the resources for serving decrease. Jesus calls us together as Church to stretch ourselves in faith, hope and love, to reach out as generously as we can, to find and serve him in the ones who need us most. We look at the dismaying statistics and we feel like saying, "What can one person do?" The answer, of course, is "Whatever one person can do!" Remember the Lord praised the poor widow who donated "two small coins worth a few cents," and he declared, "Whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple . . . will surely not lose his reward."
In each generation since Christ, and now in our own time, the Spirit of Jesus Christ calls forth candidates for service to the Church by the laying on of hands. You all know of the great need we have for priests and religious in this diocese. We did not invent the vocation crisis, though we do experience it. The first words about the need for vocations were spoken by the greatest authority, Jesus himself. In Matthew's Gospel, just before choosing the Twelve, Jesus said to his followers: "The harvest is good but laborers are scarce. Beg the harvest master to send out laborers to gather his harvest."
In the Jerome Biblical Commentary a scholar makes three insightful remarks about these words of Christ: 1) Jesus turns the problem into an opportunity; 2) the scarcity is likely to be permanent, not a phase, because of the challenging difficulty of the work to be done; 3) without prayer and yearning for harvest hands, none are likely to respond. It is not enough for us to prepare and bless this oil of Chrism for anointing; we must also pray for, call forth and support candidates to be anointed with the Chrism at ordination.
Thanks be to God, we will use this Chrism to ordain three men to priesthood for the Archdiocese of San Francisco, and in the same ceremony we will ordain two young men to diaconate, in preparation for ordination to the priesthood next year. We still have too few men preparing for ordination to priesthood. A good number express an interest, but in this culture it is a strong challenge to make a decision to enter the seminary. That is why the prayerful support and encouragement of all of us is so important. Calling forth church vocations is the task of each of us in the Catholic Church in this Archdiocese. I ask you to take that task to heart in a moment, when you stand to rededicate yourself to the life of the Catholic Church in this diocese. Take it to heart all year long, and in the years to come.
"It is good for us to be here," but, like the three disciples on the mountain top, we now must follow Jesus back down to the crowds who wait for our ministry, who wait for Christ ministering through us. If this is the intent and direction of our prayer and of our lives, then Christ will continue to make us a "royal nation of priests in the service of his God and Father."
San Francisco Archbishop George H. Niederauer delivered this homily at the Chrism Mass, April 7, at St. Mary's Cathedral.
From April 10, 2009 issue of Catholic San Francisco.
