Chrism Mass Homily
(second part)
This becomes very important in our times as Pope Francis is asking the Church to concentrate our efforts – for the next three years – in becoming a synodal church. This is much deeper than a jubilee for priests, a jubilee of mercy or a jubilee of hope. It is about becoming what the Spirit wants from the Church in this particular time and place.
The Spirit of the Lord that is upon us, the Spirit of the Lord that we have received makes us “bottle openers” and never “bottlenecks”. We are the ones who lead this journey and never become the ones who obstruct it:
- The Spirit of the Lord consecrates us – priests – fully to the service of our brothers and sisters, that is why our priests underlined a year and a half ago that the priest is always among his people in the parish. He resides in the parish so that he is always available to the people he is called to serve;
- The Spirit of the Lord upon us, help us recognize the same Spirit speaking through our brothers and sisters and not only through us;
- The Spirit of the Lord upon us opens our ears and gives us the gift of “listening” to others;
- The Spirit of the Lord opens our own eyes to recognize the presence of the Spirit of the Lord in the laity and religious around us. We celebrate their gifts and call;
- The Spirit of the Lord helps us open spaces for the laity and religious to take their place in the Church;
- The Spirit of the Lord helps us find new ways of serving the people entrusted to us. At the last presbyteral council our priests spoke about finding new of formation of the laity and even to consider the new path of opening doors to the permanent diaconate in our diocese. It shows that the Spirit of the Lord makes us fearless in proclaiming the Gospel together with others.
Our synodal journey will allow us to bring good news to the poor, bind up hearts that are broken, proclaim liberty to captives and free from prison, to comfort those who mourn...
Allowing the Spirit of the Lord to lead us, will make us full pilgrims of hope in this special Jubilee year.
