Chrism Mass
by The Most Reverend
John C. Nienstedt
Our Lenten journey brings us tonight
to this sacred, solemn hour of the Chrism Mass.
Here in our
For five years now, it has been my
privilege to celebrate this night with you.
From my perspective, we have come a long way since our first celebration
together at St. Mary’s Church in
In each successive year, we have
gathered in faith to turn our gaze upon Jesus, our great High Priest, who, in
the words of our second reading, is
the faithful witness
the firstborn from the dead
the ruler of all the kings of the earth,
and the one to whom
all glory and power belong
forever and ever!
But, this same Jesus does not want to be
considered apart from his Body, the Church.
It was for her that he laid down his life and for her that he suffered
such an ignonimous death on the Cross.
In that context, we understand more
fully the words of Isaiah in describing the nobility of our call to be members
of that Body:
“You
yourselves shall be named priests of the Lord, ministers of our God you shall
be called.” (v. 6)
And again, in the Book of Revelation, we
hear that Jesus
“has
made us a royal nation of priests in service of his God and Father . . .” (v. 6)
Thus, we see even within the context of
these brief Scripture passages our simultaneous identification with Jesus as
High Priest as well as our identity as members of His Body, the Church. These two attributes bespeak both a harmony
of purpose as well as a differentiation in roles. For the
Two years ago, I introduced the notion
that this communio or “koinonia” is not meant to exist merely in and for
itself. It must be goal directed, which
is to say, it must have a mission.
Again, the late, beloved Pope John Paul II said so succinctly in his
Apostolic Exhortation, Christifideles Laici: “Communion gives rise to mission and mission
is accomplished in communion.” (n. 32)
Thus, our gathering here tonight is not
so much the coming together of like minded persons of good will as it is our
response as a community to God’s divine call
“to bring good tidings to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives,
to restore sight to the blind,
release to prisoners,
to announce a year of the Lord’s favor.”
In order to contextualize this call to
communion and mission within a more solid theological framework, we invited
Cardinal Avery Dulles to speak to us March 2nd on “Becoming a Community of
Disciples.”
Though the forces of nature did not
permit him to be with us in person, nevertheless his message made an important
contribution to our understanding of how we are called to be Church.
The Church as a “Mystical Communion” was
one of five “Models of the Church” that the Cardinal made so famous in
1974. In the
In the process of bestowing such gifts
upon those first disciples, Jesus also called them to priestly ordination,
entrusting them with the three-fold munera of teaching, sanctifying and
governing that constitutes a hierarchical order for the community. These munera are not given to be a
means for the ordained to lord their authority over the faithful, but rather a
means of serving the unity of the Church.
Lay ministry, on the other hand, is the
rightful participation of all the baptized in the mission of the Church
specifically by serving as a leaven in society, especially within the
family. Building up family cohesiveness
is one of the most important, if not urgent, tasks facing us as a Church
today.
Warning us against confusing those
ministries that pertain to the laity and those reserved to the ordained, the
Cardinal, nevertheless, reminded us that the term disciple includes the lay and
the ordained since both have one Master and share in one, common enterprise.
This thought was echoed in the Wednesday
Audience catechesis of Pope Benedict XVI last month, when he spoke of the essential
role of the Apostles in conveying the truth of Christ, the Master, to us. Yet, he reminded his listeners that the
Apostles did not have an isolated mission, but rather that their mission
“is part
of a mystery of communion, one that involves the entire People of God and takes
place in stages, from old to the new Covenant.”
The mission of Jesus, said the Pope, has
a “community goal” and, therefore, there can be no contrast, no opposition
between Christ and his Church. Bringing
his point into clear focus, the Holy Father stated:
“Between
the Son of God made flesh and His Church there exists a profound, unbreakable
and mysterious continuity, by virtue of which Christ is present today in His
people, and especially in those who are the successors of the Apostles.”
But, let’s return for a moment to
Cardinal Dulles’ basic insight that a disciple is one who is the recipient of
the Lord’s teaching as well as his mysteries.
Given that fundamental understanding, we may then reason that the
community of disciples realizes its most authentic purpose when it gathers
together for Sunday liturgy to receive, as a community, the teaching of Christ
and to participate in the greatest mystery of the Lord’s very Body and Blood.
These words are not just nice metaphors,
describing some symbolic representation that points to the real thing. No, the Eucharist is the real thing: the very
Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of the Master, himself.
But do Catholics believe this? If they did, why would they prefer a sports’
event to the Sunday liturgy? How could
they drop their kids at the church doors and then go off to do their shopping?
When I was in college seminary, the Dean
of Men used to tell the slackers among us:
“If we were giving out free ten dollar bills every morning, you would
all be there. But all we’re doing is
giving out the Body and Blood of your Lord and Savior.”
And he was right. It is not just a matter of priority; it is a
matter of faith. Catholics who for no
good reason excuse themselves regularly from Sunday Mass must be told that they
do not have the faith, the faith of a true disciple of the Master. The dwindling number of Sunday Mass
participants in our Diocese is a serious source of pastoral concern for all of
us. I highly recommend that this be
addressed as part of our emphasis on evangelization during our 50th anniversary
celebration.
It also seems to me that the basic
posture of a disciple as the recipient of the Lord’s teaching and mysteries has
two other important dimensions:
First of all, the faithful disciple is
open to the diversity of vocations within the Body of Christ. Here
“Just as
each of us has one body with many members, and not all the members have the
same function, so too we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually
members of one of another. We have gifts
that differ according to the favor bestowed on each of us.” (Rom 5: 4-6)
Five years later the first priority for
this Diocese continues to be our prayer for and encouragement of young men to
the priesthood as well as young women to the religious life. This is not to take anything away from other
noble and ennobling forms of service in the Church, such as the diaconate and
lay ministry programs that we are preparing to institute. But it is to re-echo the words of Father
Stephen Rossetti in his recent book, The Joy of Priesthood, that priesthood
“ . . . is different and carries a unique and
powerful grace for the good of the People of God. Priesthood has its own identity that shapes
the priest and offers a unique and necessary gift to the Church. At the same time, we must quickly add that
this does not make the person of the priest better than others; but it does
make us different.” (page 53)
Tonight as you, my brother priests,
recommit yourselves before the faithful gathered here to the promises of your
priestly ordination, I implore you to dedicate yourselves to live that priestly
identity in such a way that young men and perhaps not so young men will hear
within themselves the call of God to follow.
And may each disciple, here present, lend support by prayer and example
to that same end.
Secondly, the receptivity of a disciple
must also be open to accepting a share in the mystery of suffering which
affects the Body of Christ. First and
foremost that means concern for the sick, the hungry, the outcast, the
stranger, the imprisoned, the abandoned, the victim in our midst. But it also means sharing in the suffering of
those who cannot accept changes within the Church. Here I especially call to mind those who are
struggling with the implementation of our Plan for Parishes, faced with
a decision to become an oratory or to close.
Such a determination brings with it the grief caused by a real dying of
what had been near and dear to the heart.
As disciples of the Master, we cannot stand by immune to this suffering,
but must reach out with the concern of our prayer and our support in compassion
and understanding. Welcoming those who
have suffered such a loss into our own parish communities must be demonstrated
in obvious, even overt, gestures.
Spanish:
La Misa del Santo Crisma nos
une como una Iglesia local, como el Cuerpo de Cristo. Nos reunimos en comunión,
unidos con la persona que es Jesucristo, para compartir en su misión de servir
a nuestros hermanos y hermanas. Como comunidad de discípulos estamos listos
para recibir la enseñanza de Cristo así como sus misterios en los Sacramentos.
En lo diverso estamos dispuestos a ayudarnos el uno al otro, aún complementando
la vocación de los ministros laicos y los ordenados. Estamos dispuestos a
recibir lo que otros padecen. Y
sobretodo, estamos dispuestos a recibir toda orden de Cristo de celebrar la
Santa Eucaristía “en conmemoración mía.” Cuando demostramos tal receptividad
podemos decir que somos sus discípulos.
[The Chrism Mass
brings us together as a local Church, as the Body of Christ. We gather in communio, united with the person
of Jesus Christ, to share in his mission of service to our brothers and
sisters. As a community of disciples we
stand ready to receive Christ’s teaching as well as his mysteries in the
Sacraments. We are open to receiving one
another in the diverse, yet complimentary vocations of ordained and lay
ministries. We are open to receiving the suffering that each other bears. And most of all, we are open to receiving
Christ’s command to celebrate the Holy Eucharist “in memory of me.” Only when we have shown such receptivity can
we say we are his disciples.]
In summary, what we have been saying
here is merely an amplification of our Lord’s words:
“In
this will all know that you are my disciples, if you have love for each
other.” (John 13:35)
Receptivity to the Lord’s teaching and to
his mysteries can only come about when we have fallen in love with the Master
to such a degree that we take up his passionate love to redeem every human
person.
As Pope Benedict XVI says in his first
encyclical, Deus Caritas Est:
“ . .
. those who draw near to God do not
withdraw from men, but rather become truly close to them.” (no. 42)
The Blessed Virgin Mary is the prime
example of this truth as she became Christ’s dying gift to his community of
disciples as their own Mother. Her life
of discipleship was radically and inseparably joined with his. She can teach us what love truly is, because
she experienced firsthand the origin of all love in the person of her Son, the
God-Man.
As Bishop Schladweiler did at the very
beginning of our Diocese so do I tonight consecrate the entire Diocese as a
Community of Disciples to the maternal care of Mary, Mother of the Church and
Patroness of New Ulm. May she guide us
in following the Master as receptive disciples, faithful to his teaching, reverent
of his mysteries and always drawing sustenance from the fountain of his love.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us
sinners now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.