My dear brothers and sisters in the Lord,

This is the text of Bishop DiMarzio’s homily at the annual Chrism Mass celebrated on Tuesday, April 3, at St. James Cathedral-Basilica, Downtown Brooklyn.

Last October, Pope Benedict XVI issued an Apostolic Letter entitled “Porta Fidei” or “The Door of Faith” which quotes the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 14, Verse 27.  “The ‘door of faith’ is always open to us, ushering us into the life of communion with God and offering entry into his Church.”
The Apostolic Letter proclaims the Year of Faith to begin on Oct. 11, 2012 and will continue until Nov. 23, 2013.  The occasion for the issuance of this letter in the Year of Faith is both the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, called by Blessed John XXIII, and the 20th anniversary of the issuing of the Catechism of the Catholic Church by Blessed John Paul II.  These two pivotal events in the history of the Church have, in a remarkable way, contributed not only to the content of our faith, but also how we live our faith.
The focus of the Year of Faith, indeed, is the living out of our faith in a culture not particularly open to our faith in Jesus Christ risen from the dead.  It is not so much, at times, our proclamation of Jesus Christ that our culture today will not accept, but the moral consequences of that profession of faith that has been the tradition of the Church from its very beginning.
Our own diocese here in Brooklyn and Queens has been planning some events to mark the Year of Faith.  However, it cannot be merely a series of events or programs that motivate us to consider our faith in a new way.  Obviously, this applies to all people in the Church – priests, deacons, religious and laity.  Each in their own way must reaffirm their faith during this year.  In a special way, all are called to renew their faith by the recitation of the Creed.  This will mark our opening event this coming October when we will celebrate here in this Cathedral Basilica, Vespers, during which time all will be asked to reaffirm the faith that has been transmitted to us from the Apostles.  This will be followed by parish celebrations.  At the end of October, our bi-annual pilgrimage to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. will be celebrated, followed in July of 2013 by World Youth Day in Brazil.  These are some of the major events that will mark our celebration.
As we look to the programs that may assist us in celebrating the Year of Faith, we must look to the opportunities here in Brooklyn and Queens to share our faith with others.  The Second Vatican Council taught us great lessons regarding: the way we must engage the world, a renewed understanding of the laity in the Church; ecumenism, inter-religious dialogue and renewal of the Liturgy so that it can be a means of transmitting and supporting the faith.  These lessons we take seriously.  After 50 years, hopefully, they are part and parcel of how we live our faith.  The renewal of faith is a constant call to conversion.  This is precisely what is meant by the New Evangelization; it is the conversion of the converted.  The upcoming Synod in October will give the Church a clearer vision of what the New Evangelization means and how it must permeate in our lives.  Sometimes I sound like a broken record as I continually speak about the New Evangelization in The Tablet in my weekly column “Put Out Into the Deep.”  You and I must continually make the leap of faith and risk our hopes and dreams for the sake of the Gospel, if we are to fulfill the mandate to evangelize the world.
Again, as I look to our own Diocese, a new concept which comes from the draft document for the Synod on the “New Evangelization for the Transmission of the Christian Faith;”  namely, the “Court Yard of the Gentiles,” is something that can guide us as we plan our celebration.  The “Court Yard of the Gentiles” refers to the court yard in the Temple of Jerusalem – the same Temple where Jesus, Himself, worshiped – reserved for the Gentiles who would come to the Temple of Jerusalem to pray.  As they could not enter the temple proper, a place was reserved for the Gentiles so that they too could pray to the one true God who in some way they sought, or perhaps even worshiped.
Today, here in Brooklyn and Queens, we must make room in our churches and in our hearts as we prepare to evangelize those who are the modern-day Gentiles, those who profess no faith or who have stopped professing the faith.
Who are these people in our midst?  One of the themes of the upcoming Synod will be the issue of migration and the movement of peoples that now has presented new challenges and opportunities for the Church.  For example, the recent 2010 Census revealed that there are just over 400,000 Chinese-born immigrants in Brooklyn and Queens.  This population is largely un-evangelized.  Although in several parishes efforts are being made to evangelize, evidenced by the fact that in four parishes over 120 new Chinese converts will be either baptized or received into full communion with the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil.  I commend the parishes of St. Rosalia/Regina Pacis, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica, St. Agatha and St. John Vianney for their great efforts.  This is just the beginning.  We must launch a program of evangelization that will meet the great challenge before us.  This is not to exclude the many other immigrant groups we have right here in Brooklyn and Queens: the Spanish-speaking, our Black-American and Caribbean peoples, and the list goes one.  All must be the object of our attention this year.
There is another group, however, that has appeared in our diocese in the past five years in great numbers.  These people are young professionals from all over this country and the world who have come to Brooklyn and Queens seeking housing and work.  Many are dislocated and alienated, while others seem to be largely un-churched.  Some among them are same-sex attracted.  These are people now living within the borders of our diocese in Brooklyn and Queens, and we cannot ignore them.  We have a “Court Yard of the Gentiles” yet to be constructed.  It must be the place for them to encounter the Lord.
In order to accomplish this, we must use the new social media as the place of encounter.  We are challenging our DeSales Media Group, consisting of The NET and The Tablet, to explore the modern-day Areopagus.  It was St. Paul, the great communicator of the Church, who stood in Athens at the Areopagus and proclaimed the faith to those who found it difficult to accept.  He tried to use concepts familiar to them, and pointed to the altar of the un-known god. St. Paul was not immediately successful, however.  And so too our lack of human success must not discourage us, because we accomplish the work of the Lord and His will whose fulfillment is known only to the Lord, Himself.  And so, from Jerusalem and the Court Yard of the Gentiles to Athens and the Areopagus to here in Brooklyn and Queens, the Year of Faith will capture our attention in this coming year.
In his Apostolic letter, “Porta Fidei,” Pope Benedict XVI reminds us, however, that faith must be lived by works when he says, “The year of Faith will also be a good opportunity to intensify the witness of charity.  As St. Paul reminds us: ‘So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.’” (1Cor 13:13)
To this end, I am also calling for a manifestation of charity by all members of the diocese seeking to serve those most in need – to participate in blood drives, sheltering the homeless, and giving comfort to the undocumented and those marginalized in any way.  Hopefully, we can clock thousands of hours of service which will be a testament to our faith made real by works of charity and sacrifice.
Today, we come to celebrate the Mass of Chrism during which we will bless the oils which are use in the mission of the Church.  First is the oil of the Sick, that will bring those unable to participate in the life of the Church back to health and participation in the community.  Next, the oil of Catechumens, the oil that prepares for Baptism, the oil that signifies the Court Year of the Gentiles and the Areopagus.  And finally, the Chrism, the oil used in Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders.  It is the oil that confirms faith, the oil of gladness that Jesus predicted would cover us with the coming of the Spirit as He preached in the Synagogue of Nazareth.  Tonight, we bless these oils for you who serve the Church as priests, deacons, religious and laity.
In order to serve the New Evangelization, we are called to conversion and renewal.  In a particular way, we who are priests must pursue a life of holiness.  Attentiveness to praying the Office, reverent celebration of the Mass, personal prayer, spiritual reading, all assist us to live a life renewed in our faith and recommitted to its practice
To this end, I am calling for a special program of renewal for our priests and deacons.  Allow me to take this opportunity to express my personal thanks to all the priests and deacons of our Diocese, whose tireless work in service of God’s people is an inspiration to me and a blessing for the faithful.  In order to help sustain and nurture you in your priestly and diaconal ministries, this program of renewal will partly be fulfilled with the new continuing education program to be conducted by the Sacred Heart Institute newly formed by the Archdiocese of New York, the Diocese of Rockville Centre and the Diocese of Brooklyn.  This program of on-going spiritual renewal and education will be part and parcel of our conversion process.  Also, our Presbyteral Council will be working on distributing a program of priestly renewal to take place in our rectories, clusters and whenever two or three priests are gathered together.   The program offers a structure in which we can dialogue with one another to mutually support our faith.
Our renewal for our deacons, religious and laity will take the form of revisiting the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and also the “YOUCAT,” or Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church, the new abridged version meant for our young people.   Various programs based on this will be made available to you, some live and others through The NET.
A special emphasis must be made on the renewal of family life if the Church is to meet the future.  As Blessed John Paul II once said, “The Family is the way of the Church.”   We must support our families and family life in any way possible.  In this year of faith, we will be given opportunities to learn how that can be better done.  This is critical when so many of our Christian families are experiencing the turmoil of divorce, having children out of wedlock, cohabitating or entering merely into civil marriages.
There is a haunting line in Scripture from the Gospel of Luke, which tells us, “When the Son of Man returns, will He find faith on the earth?” (Lk: 18-8)  The exegesis of this saying of Jesus, I will leave to the Scripture scholars.  But, clearly, it is a challenge for each and everyone of us to live the faith that we have received, to put it into practice and to share it with others.  The first work of faith is prayer, and pray we must as we begin this Year of Faith.
And so, my brothers and sisters, as we prepare to celebrate the Year of Faith, live your faith so that when the Lord returns and comes for each one of us we can say, “I have fought the good fight to the end; I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith.” (2 Tim 4:7)