Dear brothers and sisters, it is a joy to be with you as we gather together in our diocesan family for our annual Chrism Mass.
We gather to thank our Heavenly Father that He gave us His Beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, as our Great High Priest forever, anointing and consecrating Him to Sacred Ministry on our behalf. As His Church we will go on thanking Our Lord Jesus Christ till the end of time that He, the Eternal Priest by His own right, saw fit to ensure that the graces and blessing of His Priesthood would continue to be near at hand for us, His Beloved Flock, in every age down through the history of our world. He has done so by calling sons out of our midst, and setting them apart like Him as His brothers, consecrating them to share in His own Sacred Ministry. Today we gather to pray for our priests, my brothers and your dear fathers, and I know you will not mind if I dedicate my words personally to them on this evening that they hold so dear in their hearts.
Dear brothers, once again I feel I want my first words to you to be words of heartfelt thanks on this day of the birthday of our priesthood.
You are the men who stood faithfully by me in my trials, Jesus said, to those men who were His own brother priests. Thank God I have known very few trials as your Bishop, and serving our People has been a joy to me, but in every day of my ministry I have felt your strength always around me, as dear brothers close by my side in the service of our People.
This year especially you know how much I have depended on this collective strength of our brotherhood as, together, we have begun the task of discerning God’s will for our Diocese and planting good seeds which we trust the Holy Spirit will water and make fertile so as to
make all things new for our People, their children and grandchildren in the generation to come. In all this extra hard work you have been there, close at hand, guiding and directing, advising and encouraging me. I have watched on in admiration as you have come together, planned and, at the same time, reached deep into your common priesthood to muster up fresh courage for a new journey into the future, your eyes wide open to all the challenges that poses and opportunities it offers. You have laboured hard this past year to make
a straight way for the Lord to come afresh to our People. Gathered with you this evening I feel keenly the sentiments of Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo who said:
Where I had been terrified by the thought of what I was to be for you as your Bishop, I found myself more than comforted by how I have been able to be with you as your brother. Four years ago you welcomed me with open hearts into our diocesan Priesthood and now, dear brothers, you see how I never want to stand out alone without you, but am more certain than ever of God’s plan that we will lead our people together, as the Lord’s One Holy priesthood. I know in this hope you
stand by me and will not leave me.
Dear brothers, we never forget that,
in the very earthen vessels that we are, we nonetheless hold a treasure much more precious than gold. In the Holy Spirit God, Our Father, anointed His Beloved Son as High Priest of all Creation and Alpha and Omega of all Existence. By our priestly ordination we were made, each one of us and all of us together, full sharers in this very Consecration that took form and shape in the Inner Life of the Blessed Trinity Itself. The priesthood we bear was born out of the heart of the Paschal Mystery of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus and we do not forget that it lives in us still with that selfsame might that carried Our Lord into the very depths of Hell to save and raised Him up to the lofty heights of Heaven in glory to reign. The rock that was rolled away on Easter Sunday Morning uncovers on our faces, even this evening, the countenance of the Risen One Himself, the Truth that saves and the Love that frees, upon Whom we placed all our hopes on our ordination day.
As a Race of Priests, we are God’s most eloquent witnesses on earth, and His most powerful instruments down through history, of the Redemption His Pasqual Mystery offers to our poor and needy world. Where other men and women are given natural gifts of leadership in civic society our priesthood in Christ has conferred upon us supernatural powers on earth
to bind and loose, that very power upon which the existence and Salvation on our world depends. To us, as priests, is conferred that power Isaiah prophesied to bind up the multitudes of hearts that are broken and to loose the countless souls that are held in captivity to their sins. Because of this Satan tries to bring us down flat on our faces in the eyes of the crowd – and who is without sin! Yet, for all that, our world still watches out expectantly for our priestly feet to bring Good News of Salvation to its poor, and for our sacred ministry to bring it, in these mournful, despondent times, some sorely welcome hope of grace, mercy and peace, to gladden its heart and arouse in it a new song of praise.
In a few moments, dear brothers, in the midst of our People, we will together renew the Promises we made on the Day of our Priestly Ordinations. Let us end by reflecting upon them for a moment, to cherish and savour them together, as we share this precious hour of grace.
They are powerful promises that mirror the most merciful words which the Lord will utter in the days that lie ahead.
For on the night he was betrayed, He himself took bread, and, giving thanks, said the blessing, broke the bread and gave it to His disciples, saying: THIS IS MY BODY, WHICH WILL BE GIVEN UP FOR YOU (and)
THIS IS THE BLOOD OF THE NEW AND ETERNAL COVENANT, POURED OUT FOR YOU AND FOR MANY, FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS. DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME.
In our response to Jesus’ own Consecration our promises of shared communion in memory of Him and of faithful service to His People, dear brothers, are our own living continuation of the Lord’s Eucharistic Promise. By our promises we conform our priestly lives to Him and, just as He laid down His life, dying like a grain of wheat in order to be Bread for the hungry, so we lay down our lives for the salvation of our People gathered with us today. Our lives of faithfulness to God and of loving service to His People is a living sign, more precious to them than gold, that the Lord, even today, is in their midst tending to their daily needs and anxious about their eternal salvation.
Our promises express our very identity as Priests. We are men set apart to be holy, and chosen for special duties in the Church and witness in the world. We are our People’s Good Shepherds to guide them in love and keep them together in unity. We preach God’s saving Word to them as food for their journey through the ups and down of their lives. We lead them in the Liturgy, daring to stand at their forefront to offer praises to God, to intercede for them before the Father’s Throne of Mercy and to obtain for them God’s pardon and peace. We administer the Sacraments to them, healing and strengthening them with
wine to gladden them, oil to make their faces shine, and bread to strengthen their hearts so that, amid the trials and sorrows of their pilgrimage on earth, they can yet live their lives to the full in Christ.
As we listen together to how the Holy Spirit wills
to make all things new among us we know we need to free ourselves somehow from the burden of worldly administration that is falling increasingly upon us by default, even as we have decreased in number. We will look forward to finding ways of safeguarding our priesthood so that it remains essentially holy in the service of our Sacred Ministry in the Lord. There are many good lay faithful standing before us who are now ready to unburden us of responsibility for administration as part of their vocations to be missionary disciples and to be the world’s
salt, leaven and light.
Dear brothers and sisters, thank you for coming here to pray for our priests, and for me. Thank you for praying for the gift of our faithfulness to our Sacred duties so that we might lead you to Christ our Saviour. And thank you for praying for me as Bishop to be for our beloved priests, in the joys and sorrows of their selfless ministry among you, always their good and grateful servant, friend and brother; and to be for you, despite my great weakness, nonetheless your devoted Father and Shepherd.