Archbishop of Sydney

Chrism Mass

Holy Thursday, St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney
Is 61:1-3, 6, 8-9; Apoc 1:5-8; Lk 4:16-21

By + Cardinal George Pell
Archbishop of Sydney
5/4/2007

Today is Holy Thursday, the day before we commemorate Jesus’ death on a cross at Jerusalem nearly 2000 years ago.  Today we remember in a special way Our Lord’s celebration of the Last Supper, which we repeat in a certain real sense when we celebrate Mass, i.e. the Eucharist.

So I welcome in particular all those young Catholics from around Sydney present this morning for Mass and for the blessing of the oils, which are used at baptism and confirmation, for the ordination of priests and bishops and for the anointing of the sick.

Today is also a special feast for those of us who are priests, because Jesus ordained the apostles as priests during the Last Supper.  He did not lay his hands on them as the bishop now does, because that came later in the New Testament times with Paul, but he commanded his apostles to continue to celebrate the Eucharist in his memory.

Catholic adults generally are grateful for all the good work done by their priests, but sometimes when we are young, we might not notice these good deeds.  If you are tempted to take your priest for granted, today is your chance to remedy that by praying for your parish clergy and all priests and by greeting him when you meet him at school or around the parish.

I would now like to say a few words on this Holy Week feast especially for the priests; but everyone is invited to listen!

Our new Pope Benedict XVI has now led the Church for almost two years and his recent post-synodal exhortation on “the Sacrament of Love” i.e. the Eucharist follows his first encyclical “God is love”.  I will arrange for every parish and Catholic school to receive copies of the new letter.  The Holy Father is right to emphasise the centrality of love in the Christian understanding of life.  The first two commandments are the great commandments to love God and to love one another, while in the Eucharist we commemorate Divine love in action i.e. Jesus’ suffering, death and glorious resurrection.

God himself is love “a perfect communion of love between Father, Son and Holy Spirit” so that in the Eucharist Jesus does not give us something, but Himself through his body and blood; so that we his followers become ever more truly the Body of Christ.

It is not a coincidence that the phrase “Body of Christ”, following St. Paul again, is used for both the Eucharistic body, under the form of bread and wine and the community of Catholic believers.  As the Holy Father remarks Christ and his Church are inseparable.

Some years ago a few people spoke more frequently of the official church, often contrasting it with the “local” church community or the “real” church of parish believers or some other community.  This was a bad category mistake, because there is only one Church, primarily and substantially existing in the Catholic community.

There are officials within the Church such as priests, bishops, nuns and brothers, and the pope just as there are many different institutions or communities, such as parishes, schools, hospitals, service agencies within the one true Church, but the Spirit sent by Christ works first of all from within the communitarian framework instituted by Christ himself.  The Church is a mystery of communion founded on and nourished by the Eucharist.  There is only one Church.

This is why the Church twice uses that beautiful passage from Isaiah in the readings for this Mass because it is through the official anointings of the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and holy orders that all Christians, and especially priests are called to give new sight to those who are muddled or confused (or blinded by the bright lights of the world), to bring freedom to those enslaved by evil habits, to preach the good news of salvation, not just to the clever, but to the poor and unlearned and to free those who are oppressed or imprisoned.

In the gospel we have Jesus in his home town synagogue of Nazareth reading the passage from Isaiah, although Luke’s version is more like a paraphrase of Isaiah’s message than the exact Old Testament text as we now have it.

As priests we need to remind ourselves in faith, despite the vivid awareness of our personal sins and deficiencies, that the Spirit which comes to us in all the sacraments, and especially the Eucharist, still empowers us and our people to produce growth in the Spirit, to provide healing and forgiveness, to nourish genuine human development just as it did in the time of Isaiah ( and even more so) and in Jesus’ own time.

God is with us and the Spirit is in our hearts as we continue the vital work of the people of God in the challenging times through which we are passing.

In conclusion I ask that the one true God will bless our priestly efforts during this Holy Week to bring Christ to others.  This is the goal of all Christian mission.

In Pope Benedict’s first sermon in St. Peter’s Square he said: “There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ.  There is nothing more beautiful than to know him and to speak to others of our friendship with him”. (pa 84)

May we remember these words as we celebrate this Easter season.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.