CHRISM MASS HOMILY
July 29, 2019 at 12:37 p.m.
Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption
Trenton, New Jersey
April 2, 2012
The Church is more than only its bishops and priests. We know that. We know that the Church is a community of believers, what the Second Vatican Council referred to as the “new People of God (Lumen Gentium, 9),” faithful pilgrims heading toward the Kingdom of God through the waters of baptism to new life in Jesus Christ. The Sacraments, instituted by Christ and shared by our Church with the pilgrim People of God on their journey, strengthen and sustain us in each and all of the significant moments of our lives.
Tonight, the whole people of God --- priests and deacons, religious and faithful --- gather around the bishop of their local Church, to focus our attention on oils that, as our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI has preached, are “a sign of God’s goodness reaching out to touch us … accompanying us throughout our lives. Oils,” the Pope has said, that are “part of the language of God’s creation… oil speaks in particular to us who are priests … of Christ whom God as anointed King and Priest; in Him who makes us sharers in His Priesthood (Homily, Chrism Mass, April 10, 2010).”
In a few moments here in the Cathedral Church of the Diocese of Trenton, as your bishop and shepherd, as a successor to the holy apostles ordained for you, I will consecrate and bless the oil of catechumens, used to initiate people into God’s Church. I will consecrate and bless the oil of the sick, used to comfort those who suffer on their path to God. I will consecrate and bless the sacred chrism from which this Mass takes its name, used to baptize, to confirm, to ordain and hand on the priesthood, and to make places of worship holy.
The oils that I will consecrate and bless belong to you. As your bishop and shepherd, as a successor to the holy apostles, I will give these oils to your priests to minister to you as we all respond in the Church to what the Second Vatican Council referred to as a “universal call to holiness (Lumen Gentium, 40, 41).” This is no insignificant moment. It is, rather, a doorway through which holiness enters into our lives.
My sisters and brothers, it is not the bishop or the priest who forms the Church or makes us holy within it. It is, rather, the Lord Jesus Christ who made us His Church, a community of believers, re-born in water, absolved of our sins, confirmed in the Holy Spirit, instructed in His Word, nourished by His Body and Blood, anointed to serve Him in one another, consecrating and blessing us in holiness and truth until our last days on earth. He does so at the hands of priests, by the hands of priests, with hearts full of His love. And, so, as your bishop, let me speak a special word to those here who have been ordained for you.
More than any other week of the year, Holy Week defines who you are and what you do. It gives you your identity and assigns you your mission: you have been called to be Christ for the world and to be and do this “in memory of Him.”
Yesterday, Palm Sunday, the Church entered the door of Holy Week with Jesus as He entered the door to Jerusalem. Remember this, my brother priests. As the prophets before him, Jesus entered the door to Jerusalem to die, to hand over His whole life to the Father. When you were ordained, you entered the priesthood in the midst of great joy and celebration, as Jesus entered the Holy City. In his book Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week, Pope Benedict noted that “while Matthew and Mark simply say Jesus sat upon the donkey, Luke writes “they set Jesus upon it (p. 5).” You did not mount and ride the priesthood on you own. Jesus set you upon it, the Church set you upon it. Never lose sight of the fact that your priesthood was and remains a path to Jerusalem. For this journey, you have “come to serve and not to be served and to give your life in ransom for the many (Mark 10:45).” That is your path to holiness and how you will lead others there.
Jesus did not stay on the donkey receiving the applause of the crowd. The time came for him to walk on his own two feet as the sun set on that first Palm Sunday. The apostles remained with him as the “hosanna crowds” dispersed. The following days took on an intensity all of their own, progressing like the beating of a drum, there in Jerusalem. Jesus must have thought about it all: never traveling too far from home and the familiar; teaching and preaching to so many different crowds; praying with others, praying alone; saying things that people heard before but in a different way, the Word putting His life into words and his words becoming deeds; comforting others, bringing healing and encouragement; ruffling a few feathers; being present at some critical moments in people’s lives; wondering if he really made a difference but all the while, deep down, knowing that he did … and why. My brothers, Jesus’ last few days are a pattern for all of our days, not for a holy week but for a priestly lifetime.
Before long, Jesus’ week drew to a close. He found himself in the Upper Room. There were prayers and readings, songs and memories, bread and wine, a liturgy with people the Father had given him. But first, he dropped to his knees to wash their feet, even the feet of some who would betray or deny or abandon him in his moment of need. No mere symbol but a command. Their weakness did not change his love. There was no turning back. “This is my body. Take it. This is my blood. Drink it. Do this in memory of me.” Serving others means being consumed.
Then the garden. Then the prayer. Then their sleeping. Then His loneliness. Then the kiss of Judas. Then the arrest. Then the cock crowed. We know the story well because, if we truly follow Him, it is our story, too.
The walk to Calvary was humiliating. Jesus was stripped of the few things He had left in the world, only to be replaced with thorns and a heavy wooden cross. He stumbled and fell three times on the way, we are told. Undeterred, he got up again. Therein lies a powerful lesson for us. Through tear-filled, bloody eyes, He glanced around only to see those for whom this day had come. The nails ripped open his hands and feet. A lance pierced his side, blood and water flowed. Criminals hung to his left and to his right, his Mother with him to the end.. Was there anything good about that Friday in Jerusalem?
Yes. Yes there was. Yes there is. “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53: 5). Yes. Yes there was. Yes there is. “Father, forgive them (Luke 23: 24).”
Yes, my brother priests, yes. Write yourself anew into this narrative tonight as your recommit yourself to the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Holy Week is our life and our work as priests, our identity and our mission as priests, who we are and what we do as priests. It is why we were ordained, why we have been given the responsibilities we have, what we must teach and preach and offer to the pilgrim People of God as priests. Make the words of St. Paul your own; pray them over and over again: “With Christ I am nailed to the cross. The life I live is not my own; it is Christ living within me. I live by my faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2: 20).” Do this and more in memory of Him. The people of God deserve no less than everything we have to give them.
Most Reverend David M. O’Connell, C.M.
Bishop of Trenton
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Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption
Trenton, New Jersey
April 2, 2012
The Church is more than only its bishops and priests. We know that. We know that the Church is a community of believers, what the Second Vatican Council referred to as the “new People of God (Lumen Gentium, 9),” faithful pilgrims heading toward the Kingdom of God through the waters of baptism to new life in Jesus Christ. The Sacraments, instituted by Christ and shared by our Church with the pilgrim People of God on their journey, strengthen and sustain us in each and all of the significant moments of our lives.
Tonight, the whole people of God --- priests and deacons, religious and faithful --- gather around the bishop of their local Church, to focus our attention on oils that, as our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI has preached, are “a sign of God’s goodness reaching out to touch us … accompanying us throughout our lives. Oils,” the Pope has said, that are “part of the language of God’s creation… oil speaks in particular to us who are priests … of Christ whom God as anointed King and Priest; in Him who makes us sharers in His Priesthood (Homily, Chrism Mass, April 10, 2010).”
In a few moments here in the Cathedral Church of the Diocese of Trenton, as your bishop and shepherd, as a successor to the holy apostles ordained for you, I will consecrate and bless the oil of catechumens, used to initiate people into God’s Church. I will consecrate and bless the oil of the sick, used to comfort those who suffer on their path to God. I will consecrate and bless the sacred chrism from which this Mass takes its name, used to baptize, to confirm, to ordain and hand on the priesthood, and to make places of worship holy.
The oils that I will consecrate and bless belong to you. As your bishop and shepherd, as a successor to the holy apostles, I will give these oils to your priests to minister to you as we all respond in the Church to what the Second Vatican Council referred to as a “universal call to holiness (Lumen Gentium, 40, 41).” This is no insignificant moment. It is, rather, a doorway through which holiness enters into our lives.
My sisters and brothers, it is not the bishop or the priest who forms the Church or makes us holy within it. It is, rather, the Lord Jesus Christ who made us His Church, a community of believers, re-born in water, absolved of our sins, confirmed in the Holy Spirit, instructed in His Word, nourished by His Body and Blood, anointed to serve Him in one another, consecrating and blessing us in holiness and truth until our last days on earth. He does so at the hands of priests, by the hands of priests, with hearts full of His love. And, so, as your bishop, let me speak a special word to those here who have been ordained for you.
More than any other week of the year, Holy Week defines who you are and what you do. It gives you your identity and assigns you your mission: you have been called to be Christ for the world and to be and do this “in memory of Him.”
Yesterday, Palm Sunday, the Church entered the door of Holy Week with Jesus as He entered the door to Jerusalem. Remember this, my brother priests. As the prophets before him, Jesus entered the door to Jerusalem to die, to hand over His whole life to the Father. When you were ordained, you entered the priesthood in the midst of great joy and celebration, as Jesus entered the Holy City. In his book Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week, Pope Benedict noted that “while Matthew and Mark simply say Jesus sat upon the donkey, Luke writes “they set Jesus upon it (p. 5).” You did not mount and ride the priesthood on you own. Jesus set you upon it, the Church set you upon it. Never lose sight of the fact that your priesthood was and remains a path to Jerusalem. For this journey, you have “come to serve and not to be served and to give your life in ransom for the many (Mark 10:45).” That is your path to holiness and how you will lead others there.
Jesus did not stay on the donkey receiving the applause of the crowd. The time came for him to walk on his own two feet as the sun set on that first Palm Sunday. The apostles remained with him as the “hosanna crowds” dispersed. The following days took on an intensity all of their own, progressing like the beating of a drum, there in Jerusalem. Jesus must have thought about it all: never traveling too far from home and the familiar; teaching and preaching to so many different crowds; praying with others, praying alone; saying things that people heard before but in a different way, the Word putting His life into words and his words becoming deeds; comforting others, bringing healing and encouragement; ruffling a few feathers; being present at some critical moments in people’s lives; wondering if he really made a difference but all the while, deep down, knowing that he did … and why. My brothers, Jesus’ last few days are a pattern for all of our days, not for a holy week but for a priestly lifetime.
Before long, Jesus’ week drew to a close. He found himself in the Upper Room. There were prayers and readings, songs and memories, bread and wine, a liturgy with people the Father had given him. But first, he dropped to his knees to wash their feet, even the feet of some who would betray or deny or abandon him in his moment of need. No mere symbol but a command. Their weakness did not change his love. There was no turning back. “This is my body. Take it. This is my blood. Drink it. Do this in memory of me.” Serving others means being consumed.
Then the garden. Then the prayer. Then their sleeping. Then His loneliness. Then the kiss of Judas. Then the arrest. Then the cock crowed. We know the story well because, if we truly follow Him, it is our story, too.
The walk to Calvary was humiliating. Jesus was stripped of the few things He had left in the world, only to be replaced with thorns and a heavy wooden cross. He stumbled and fell three times on the way, we are told. Undeterred, he got up again. Therein lies a powerful lesson for us. Through tear-filled, bloody eyes, He glanced around only to see those for whom this day had come. The nails ripped open his hands and feet. A lance pierced his side, blood and water flowed. Criminals hung to his left and to his right, his Mother with him to the end.. Was there anything good about that Friday in Jerusalem?
Yes. Yes there was. Yes there is. “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed (Isaiah 53: 5). Yes. Yes there was. Yes there is. “Father, forgive them (Luke 23: 24).”
Yes, my brother priests, yes. Write yourself anew into this narrative tonight as your recommit yourself to the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Holy Week is our life and our work as priests, our identity and our mission as priests, who we are and what we do as priests. It is why we were ordained, why we have been given the responsibilities we have, what we must teach and preach and offer to the pilgrim People of God as priests. Make the words of St. Paul your own; pray them over and over again: “With Christ I am nailed to the cross. The life I live is not my own; it is Christ living within me. I live by my faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2: 20).” Do this and more in memory of Him. The people of God deserve no less than everything we have to give them.
Most Reverend David M. O’Connell, C.M.
Bishop of Trenton