Editor’s note: This is the full text of the homily delivered by Bishop DiMarzio at the annual Chrism Mass held Tuesday, April 15, at St. James Cathedral-Basilica.
My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,
Each year as we come to this wonderful celebration of the Mass of Chrism, we have an opportunity to reflect in our lives as bishops, priests, deacons, seminarians, religious and laity, because together we form the one body of Christ, the Church. We come tonight to consecrate and bless the elements we use in our sacramental ministry which unites us together in a unique relationship, different between each of us, yet strong because we are one in Christ.
Recently, I read a book by Father Stephen J. Rosetti, entitled “Letters to My Brothers, Words of Hope and Challenge for Priests.” I was particularly moved by the letter he writes to the “Bishop our Brother,” in which he make certain requests, or you might even say demands, that a bishop is a critical part of the life of a diocese and that he is responsible for the ultimate happiness, especially of his priests. He says, “My research found that the strong majority of priests like their bishop and report of having a good relationship with them. The data indicates that over three quarters of the priests say that their relationship to their bishop is good.” He goes on to say, however, “Priests and bishops ought to work regularly to make this critical bond a strong one.”
In our Diocese here in Brooklyn and Queens, we do this with our periodic convocations and our away convocation. The Chrism Mass, however, is the one time each year at which I can speak from my heart, especially to you my brother priests, explaining my efforts, and at times my sense of inadequacy, in making sure that you are happy and productive priests.
Father, Brother, Friend
As I mentioned in my homily for my tenth anniversary as your Bishop, I have come to understand better the variety of relationships that a bishop has with his priests; father, brother and friend. I believe that they are chronologically different. I am father to the young priests and seminarians. I am brother to those who are my peers. I am friend to those who are older than myself. We cannot be all things to all people at the same time. I have tried my best to fulfill these roles because they are critical to the life of a priest. Another exhaustive study entitled, “The Inner Life of Priests,” several psychologists have dealt with the recruitment and spiritual training of priests, especially sustaining them in ministry. The results of this study, based on extensive research, seem to come back to the basic foundations of what they have been told through the ages, that the inner life of priests, their spiritual life, is all that can sustain them in their ministry.
Whenever a priest who is in some type of difficulty comes to speak with me, I usually ask some simple questions: Who are your closest priest friends? Have you made a retreat this year? Have you spent any time in Eucharistic Adoration? In most cases, unfortunately, the answer is no. That is the cause, many times, of the difficulty. We need to have a foundational spirituality because this is what contributes to our happiness, it is what allows us to go beyond the mere day-to-day fulfillment of responsibilities and finding joy in the preaching of the Gospel.
Pope Francis, in his Apostolic Exhortation, “The Joy of the Gospel,” continues to make the Francis Factor something that inspires us in our Church today. He speaks constantly of joy. Perhaps nowhere in a papal document have we ever heard these words, “One of the more serious temptations which stifles boldness and zeal is a defeatism which turns us into querulous and disillusioned pessimists, “sourpusses.” Well, sourpusses usually are not happy people. As our new Pope seems to constantly put before us, simple yet deep meditations on our lives as Christians and especially as priests, zeal for the House of God, as Jesus tells us in the Gospel, is what those who would follow him would need to have in their lives. Zeal is not easy to come by. It must be sustained, but it is sustained in a special way by joy, by finding the joy preached in the Gospel and, as Pope Francis goes on to say, “sustained by a personal relationship to God.” He puts it like this, “One important challenge is to show that the solution will never be found in fleeing from a personal and committed relationship with God which at the same time commits us to serving others.” How important is this to sustaining our relationships with one another in the Church. Zeal for the House of God, for His Church, is what we need to rekindle today.
I hear and I feel many times that my brother priests, and I, myself, are burdened by administration. Administration can wear us down at times. But the fact is, we are not called to be administrators of diocese or parishes. Rather, we are called to be leaders, leaders who understand the balancing that is necessary in our lives.
Saint Gregory the Great wrote the first directory for Bishops in the history of the Church entitled, Regula Pastoralis. In it, he says and describes pastoral government as the “art of arts” and explains that the supreme rule “is ordered well when superiors….smite faults and acknowledge themselves to be on a par with others.” I believe that this goes not only for bishops, as we have a responsibility over priests, but also for priests and their responsibility over their flocks. We are shepherds in the midst of the sheep, as Pope Francis regularly reminds us. We have to be in touch with the flock and know where they are hurting and bind those wounds the best we can. How important it is that we recognize our own woundedness and tend to it so that we can be the pastoral leaders the Church so much needs today. To that end, I am reinstating regulations of the canonical requirement that each priest make an annual retreat. As you, my brother priests, leave the Church today, not only will there will be distributed a list of retreat possibilities, but also you will be sent a card to be returned, signed by your retreat master, stating that you have made your annual retreat. This is not really an item of administration. Rather, clearly it is a help to the inner life of priests, and, for that matter, for deacons as well, that can sustain us in the midst of many difficult responsibly.
Sustain, Encourage, Forgive
First and foremost, we have a responsibility to one another, to sustain one another, to encourage one another, to forgive one another. All of this we cannot do without the grace of the Lord Jesus, Himself. In a homily Pope Benedict XVI gave on the occasion of an Episcopal Ordination, quoting Pastores Gregis of Blessed John Paul II, he “pointed out that the action of the priest who places his hands in the hands of the bishop on the day of his priestly ordination commits them both: the priest and the bishop. The new priest chooses to entrust himself to the bishop, and the bishop for his part obliges himself to look after those hands.” As you know, it is my custom, after I receive the first priestly blessing of those I have just Ordained, to kiss their hands, the hands anointed with Chrism. It is a custom which I learned from my mother who each year always tried to attend the Priesthood Ordination and kissed the hands of the newly ordained priest after she received his blessing, those hands which are used to administer the sacraments, the hands which take the place of Jesus Christ in the world today. We hold each others hands, bishops, priests, deacons, seminarians and religious, because we travel together as pilgrims in this world to experience the joy of preaching the Gospel with all of the challenges of the New Evangelization.
Our specific purpose of coming here this evening to the Cathedral Basilica of St. James is to bless the oils that will be brought in solemn procession by those who are involved in ministries that use these oils. Pope Francis said it much better than I could say it myself. In a retreat he gave as Cardinal Bergoglio to Spanish bishops, he explains that in effect anointing brings us to perfection, “The Lord calls us to anoint what needs to be perfected and cured: the dead are anointed (Mk 16:1); the sick are anointed (Mk 6:13; Jas 5:14); wounds are anointed (Lk 10:34); penitents are anointed (Mt 6:17). The anointing also carries the sense of reparation: (Lk 7:38, 46, 10:34; Jn 11:3; 12:3). All these senses hold validity for us; we are resurrected, cured, reformed, and repaired by the anointed of the Holy One. The yoke of slavery is destroyed by means of the anointing (cf. Is 10:37). The first to be anointed is the Lord (Lk 2:26; 4:18; Acts 4:26; 10:38). He was anointed with the ‘oil of gladness’ (Heb 1:9). Gladness evokes glory. To be anointed means to participate in the glory of Christ, which is his Cross. “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified…Father, glorify your name!” (Jn 12:23, 28). Conversely, those who seek peace or contradiction apart from the anointed, do not seek the glory of God on the Cross of Christ: “How can you believe, who receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” (Jn 5:44 RSV).
Glory and Joy
Yes, our anointing calls us to glory and joy. The Oil of the Sick that we will bless today will anoint almost 18,000 people who will be anointed in our Diocese here in Brooklyn and Queens during the next year. The Oil of Catechumens used in the baptism of children and adults will anoint over 17,000 people. And this year, the Oil of Chrism, which bears the name of Christ Himself, please God will anoint 13 new priests for Brooklyn and Queens. At this time, I would ask them to please stand. This oil will also be used for two completely renovated churches with altars and walls to be anointed with the Chrism. I ask Father James Cunningham and Msgr. Kieran Harrington to please stand. And then we will baptize children and adults. I would ask all who are involved in this rite of anointing and baptism to please stand. Also, I ask the Bishops who use this Oil of Chrism in Confirmation to please stand because this year we will anoint over 10,000 young men and woman. How important we all are, and how much we are joined together, by the anointing which brings to perfection. This solemn blessing today is no mere traditional ceremony. Rather, it is the very glue that binds us together as the Body of Jesus Christ.
Tonight, we come also to anticipate the Eucharistic anniversary of Holy Thursday when we recognize that we as the Church make present Jesus Christ through the actions and words of the priest who acts in the person of Jesus Christ to make Him present to ourselves. In this Mass of Chrism, we are grateful to all those who assist in the celebration of the Eucharist, who make it so beautiful by making our Churches presentable, our music uplifting, and our celebrations majestic. This is how we express the glory of God and will obtain the joy of the Gospel.
Thank you for being present tonight. This night and this celebration give us the needed sense of solidarity that will sustain us in our work in the year to come to bring us the joy of the Gospel.
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