04/04/2007 Bishop Robert Vasa

In the Diocese of Baker the beginning of Holy Week is preceded by the annual celebration of the Chrism Mass.

While it is more proper to celebrate the Mass of the Blessing of the Oils at the beginning of Holy Week and ideally on the morning of Holy Thursday such a schedule is hardly manageable in many expansive, rural dioceses.

The Thursday before Palm Sunday anticipates the coming of Holy Week and the Thursday recalls, however nominally, a connection with the Thursday events of this week, Holy Week. The Chrism Mass, ever since I was ordained, has been a celebration of profound significance and importance.

There are two elements of this celebration which stand out. The first is that for which the Mass is named, the Mass of Chrism. It is at this Mass that the Sacred Chrism is consecrated and the other two oils used in Church rituals are blessed. The Sacred Chrism is used in Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders, the Oil of Catechumens is used prior to Baptism and the Oil of the Sick is used for the Anointing of the Sick.

Each year the Bishop gathers with his priests to bless all of the oils which will be used throughout the Diocese for the coming year. This public and ceremonial blessing manifests the wonderful unity of the Diocese, the unity of Priest to Bishop, the unity of all of the Parishes to the Mother Church of the Diocese, the Cathedral, and especially the unity of all of the Sacraments celebrated throughout the Diocese to that single grace-giving Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord.

As taught in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Jesus’ words and actions during his hidden life and public ministry were already salvific, for they anticipated the power of his Pascal mystery. They announced and prepared what he was going to give the Church when all was accomplished. The mysteries of Christ’s life are the foundations of what he would henceforth dispense in the sacraments, through the ministers of his Church, for ‘what was visible in our Savior has passed over into his mysteries.’ Sacraments are ‘powers that come forth’ from the Body of Christ, which is ever-living and ever-giving. They are actions of the Holy Spirit at work in his Body, the Church. They are ‘the masterworks of God’ in the new and everlasting covenant.” (CCC 1115-1116)

The Vatican II Document, Sacrosanctum Concilium, cited in the Catechism in paragraph 1070 reminds us: “The liturgy then is rightly seen as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ. It involves the presentation of man’s sanctification under the guise of signs perceptible by the senses and its accomplishment in ways appropriate to each of these signs. In it full public worship is performed by the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, that is, by the Head and his members. From this it follows that every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the priest and of his Body which is the Church, is a sacred action surpassing all others. No other action of the Church can equal its efficacy by the same title and to the same degree.”

The richness of the Catechism is further manifested in paragraph 1120 which discusses the necessity and significance of the ministerial priesthood. There we read: “The ordained ministry or ministerial priesthood is at the service of the baptismal priesthood. The ordained priesthood guarantees that it really is Christ who acts in the sacraments through the Holy Spirit for the Church. The saving mission entrusted by the Father to his incarnate Son was committed to the apostles and through them to their successors: they receive the Spirit of Jesus to act in his name and in his person. The ordained minister is the sacramental bond that ties the liturgical action to what the apostles said and did and, through them, to the words and actions of Christ, the source and foundation of the sacraments.” (CCC 1120)

This leads to the second constitutive element of the Chrism Mass; the celebration of the Priesthood. I had seen in some old movie that all thoroughbred race horses were treated as if they were born on January 1 of the year in which they were born. Thus a horse born on November 23, 2006 would have been considered one year old on January 1, 2007.

I have no idea if this was pure fantasy or if it had some basis in historical fact but I distinctly remember it from the movie. In that same fashion, I have always considered the Chrism Mass as the observed anniversary day of every priest’s ordination.

Since Holy Thursday, the day on which the Chrism Mass is most properly celebrated, is the anniversary of the Most Holy Eucharist, it is also the anniversary of the Priesthood. The gathering of priests at the Chrism Mass affords a wonderful opportunity for us, as priests, to recommit ourselves to our original response to the call to be priests. It also affords a unique opportunity for the People of God, as a body, to rejoice in the gift of the Priesthood and to manifest their global appreciation for the Priesthood as well as for individual priests.

This year’s celebration was very well attended by both priests and people and I believe, within the context of that mystery which is Sacred Liturgy, both a renewed reverence for the Sacraments and a renewed appreciation for the Priesthood was accomplished. We were reminded once again that “the ordained minister is the sacramental bond that ties the liturgical action to what the apostles said and did and, through them, to the words and actions of Christ, the source and foundation of the sacraments.”

We were reminded again of the beautiful efficacy of the Sacraments, of their essential connection to Christ and of the need for “other Christs” to assure that the liturgical action is tied to the words and actions of Christ, the source and foundation of the sacraments.

I am grateful that the priests of and serving in the Diocese made and continue to make the “sacrifice” of service for the sake of the People of God. I am grateful to the People of God of the Diocese who made and continue to make the “sacrifice” of gratitude for the sake of these priests of God.

I pray that the reverence of the priests in bringing the sacraments to the people is exceeded only by the reverence of the people of God who receive them.