Chrism Mass Homily
(Part 1)
Every year we go through the same readings. It is beautiful to see how much we are able to see in them as, year after year, we are able to identify something new.
The first reading opens with what I would call “powerful words”. It says: “the spirit of the Lord has been given to me”. These are also the first words quoted by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. As he is given the scroll of the prophet Isaiah Jesus began reading exactly for the same place: “the spirit of the Lord has been given to me”.
These words take a new dimension in Jesus as we had just witnessed the Spirit descending on him in a physical form, like a dove after his baptism. A Bible scholar said that it is like a dove going to her nest. In other words, Jesus is the place where the Holy Spirit is at home.
Each of the members of the clergy present here today – our deacon, the priests and the bishop – read these words and identify with them as, at our ordination, we have all experienced the laying on of hands calling for the gift of the Spirit upon us.
In the case of a deacon it is done by the bishop, in the case of the priests by the bishop and all the priests present at their ordination. In the case of the bishop by all the bishops present at his episcopal ordination.
At the same time, all of us members of the clergy, remember that it was not our ordination the first time that the gift of the Holy Spirit was called upon us. The first one was our baptism and our confirmation.
Therefore, we share these words we hear today with all the members of the Church all over the world. The Spirit of the Lord has descended upon all of us!
When you read the history of the Second Vatican council and, particularly, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church called “Lumen Gentium” (Light of the nations), we are told that the order of the chapters in the document became very important.
After Chapter 1 on the “Mystery of the Church”, some bishops wanted Chapter 2 to be about the “hierarchical structure of the church” but – I believe guided by the Spirit – it was decided that Chapter 2 would be “on the people of God”. The hierarchical structure would come after that. First, what is common to all of us. We are all “God’s people”. Then, the different calls we have received.
This is a document in 1964 (just a bit younger than me!) In the last 61 years there have been times when we have struggled with this. There have been times when - not in the document but in our daily lives and pastoral ministry - the order of the chapters was changed, underlying that being members of the clergy puts us above the people of God when, in fact, the Spirit of the Lord that we have received is being given to us to be placed at their service.
Sometimes it has been done by us placing ourselves above the laity, other times it has been the laity doing so.
Images help us understand more than words. Allow me to use a funny one. Some of my priests are very tall and being myself shortish (!) I tell them that they are a pain in the neck as they force me to look up when I talk with them.
We, members of the clergy, should never be “a pain in the neck” to others, in the sense that no one should be looking at us as if they are below us.
Think of what we read in the Gospels. I would like to reflect more on this but I believe there were very few times when people had to look up in order to see Jesus. One, of course, was at his ascension. Another one was when he was on the cross. The rest of the times, before and after his resurrection, Jesus was among them. Never above them. The most we could say is that, sometimes, he was even below them: like at his birth.
At the passage of the woman caught committing adultery one Gospel translation indicates that Jesus addresses her while still bent down.
As we stand in the person of Christ, we need to make sure we witness to him. We carry this gift in fragile vessels and we are all at risk of following our own ideas and not the Gospel that has been entrusted to us.
