The symbolism of Chrism
Monday, April 6, 2009
Brother Richard DeMaria
On Tuesday, April 7, at 10:30 a.m., Archbishop John C. Favalora will celebrate the Chrism Mass at St. Mary Cathedral. At this Mass, he will honor the priests of the archdiocese and bless the oils that are used in the parishes during the year. It is his custom to invite the children in the Catholic schools to attend the Mass, which means that there is usually “standing room only.” In past years, the archbishop has asked me to address the students before the Mass begins.
I like to begin by reminding them of the Spanish saying that is used to welcome visitors to a house: Mi casa es tu casa. When a homeowner says that to an arriving guest, it means, “I want you to use my home as if it were your own home. Feel free to go into any part of the house. You should act in this house as you would act in your own home.”
I use this phrase to welcome the students because “this house really is your house.
This church, the Cathedral of St. Mary, is your church. It doesn’t matter in what part of Dade, Broward or Monroe County you live, or what parish you attend on Sundays. As a member of the Archdiocese of Miami, this is your church. This is the official church of all the Catholics in the Archdiocese of Miami. Because it is not possible for all the Catholics of the diocese to gather here every Sunday, we gather in local parishes to celebrate the Eucharist. But this is still your parish.”
There are two things that make the Chrism Mass special and that is the reason why students are invited to come: first, during the liturgy, we witness the priests renewing their promises to the priesthood.
God gives every baptized person a vocation to spread his Church. Most lay people spread his Church by passing on the faith to their children. Some will be called to work more directly to spread the Church as lay ecclesial ministers or as religious. Some may be called to ordination. There are three different stages of ordination: bishop, priest and deacon. The second order is the priesthood. Without the priesthood, we would not be able to participate in the Eucharist, which for us Catholics is our greatest treasure.
A few weeks ago, some 1500 adults came to the cathedral and asked to become members of the Church of Miami. Last year, Catholic Church membership in the United States grew by 12 million persons. While this growth is something of which we can be happy, it creates a shortage of priests: In the United States, there are 2000 parishes without even one resident priest. That is a serious problem. That is why we need to pray for vocations.
As the students watch their priests renew their promises to God during the Chrism Mass, we ask them to pray for their own parish priests, asking God to give them the strength to be men of prayer and wisdom. Also at that time, we ask the students to ask themselves whether Jesus is calling them to serve the Church as a priest or as a religious.
I tell the students that the second reason the Chrism liturgy is special is because during the Mass the bishop blesses the holy oils that will be used during the coming year to confer the sacraments. Each priest takes back with him to his parish some of these blessed oils. They will use them in the parish during the coming year for the celebration of the sacrament of baptism, the sacrament of confirmation and the sacrament of the sick.
A priest cannot celebrate these sacraments without the oils which are consecrated at the Chrism Mass. This practice reminds the priest and us that the parish is an extension of the cathedral parish and that each priest acts as a representative of the bishop.
The alcove to the left of the cathedral altar is empty during the Chrism Mass. After the Mass, some of the blessed oils are placed there. In your own parish, look for a similar alcove with bottles of oil in it.
The symbolism of the Chrism Mass helps us understand that we are part of a Church which is much larger than our parish, members of a diocese that has 667,500 members and is growing each year. This diocese also is part of a Church which has been in existence for 2000 years and which has one billion members around the globe!
Brother Richard DeMaria, CFC
Executive Director, Ministry of Christian Formation
