“Spiritual Conditioning for the Harvest of Souls”
Homily for Chrism Mass
April 10, 2025; St. Mary’s Cathedral
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Introduction
Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, when I was pursuing my theology studies in Rome as a seminarian, I used to visit relatives who live in the countryside outside of the city of Rome. They owned a good deal of land and took good advantage of that, growing their own vegetables and the like, and of course, cultivating vines for making their own wine. I remember distinctly one visit in the month of November. It was the season for harvesting olives, and I accompanied the parents of the family – probably in their 60s – to assist them with the harvest. That was quite a revelation to this city boy.
We brought with us burlap sacks and the other implements necessary, and walked across a rather large field to finally arrive at the olive grove. They laid down a tarp under the olive trees, then each grabbed a limb from a tree, and then they began striking the olive tree with it. They handed me a limb to assist them. But while they with one strike would bring down dozens of olives, I was hitting the tree furiously and at most getting one or two to fall off! They then each filled up a large burlap sack which they hoisted on their shoulder and then walked back across the large field, carrying the heavy burden all the way back to their house. I limped along behind them. It was hard work but, I must admit, after all of their repeated experience with it, they made it look effortless. Not quite the same for me (to say the least).
Anointed
Yes, it was hard work, but there was the payoff at the end: they made their own olive oil, and it was delightfully delicious. It makes me think of this cycle of Lent and Easter; we are right now in the midst of this liturgical cycle, when we renew ourselves in the hard work of Lent every year with extra prayer, very intentional fasting, and greater attention given to almsgiving and other works of charity, to prepare ourselves for the joys of the Easter feasts – and feasting! We repeat this every year to, hopefully, become continuously better at it. But there is more to it than that for us; there are other lessons we can learn from the harvesting of olives, for olives have a significance for us far greater than their natural usages (which, admittedly, are already truly wonderful!).
In the familiar scene we heard in our Gospel reading for Mass this evening, that of Jesus entering the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth, he applies the words of the prophet Isaiah to himself: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me.” Anointed, that is, set aside for a sacred purpose – blessed or consecrated – by means of a ritual involving an application of oil (oil made from olives).
We know that those so anointed in the Old Covenant were priests, kings and prophets (the last of which were considered to have a spiritual anointing). In Jesus of Nazareth we have the fulfillment and perfection of all three: his is our Priest – he sanctifies us by forgiving us our sins through his death on the Cross and giving us access to sanctifying grace through the sacramental life of the Church; he is our King – he shepherds us to the ever-greener pastures of his healing, wholeness and peace; and he is our prophet – he guides us in the way of all truth, so that we can be truly free.
Christian Jubilee
The words he uses here in his hometown’s synagogue are reminiscent of the Jubilee year as instituted in the Old Testament: a “year acceptable to the Lord” in which glad tidings are brought to the poor, liberty proclaimed to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, and the oppressed are set free. The year of Jubilee in the Old Testament, celebrated every fifty years (a sabbath of sabbath years, 7 x 7), returned everything to the condition it was before, the status quo ante: debts were forgiven, slaves set free, land and possessions seized returned to the original owners.
The Church has inherited this institution from our Jewish ancestors in the faith, and now the Church celebrates a Jubilee year every twenty-five years (and sometimes extraordinary Jubilees in off years) as a time of special grace and favor from the Lord, a time of pilgrimage and pious practices, such as we are celebrating this year. We are now living, though, in an age of Jubilee.
The Old Testament Jubilee year was really a type and figure of the Jubilee that Christ would bring to fulfillment, and so we can say now that the entire reign of Christ is a year of Jubilee for those who obey him and accept the abundance of the grace, mercy, peace, forgiveness and salvation which he offers us when we regulate our lives accordingly. St. Paul tells us in his Second Letter to the Corinthians: “Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor 6:2). We can say that we live now in the dispensation of Jubilee because Christ gives his people a share in his anointing.
Anointing of a Priestly People
Which brings us to the Mass we celebrate tonight, in which the oils will be blessed and consecrated for the anointing of Christ’s people. Our Lord does not cease to use material things as instruments of his grace, and through the oil of the sick and the oil of catechumens he affords us the grace of healing and strength of body and soul, so that in both body and soul we may be strong and pure, resistant to the wiles of the evil one.
Our Mass tonight, though, derives its name from the third oil, which is not only blessed but consecrated, and solemnly so, the Oil of Chrism. The Sacred Chrism anoints Christ’s people to be his priestly people; it is used in the celebration of those sacraments which leave an indelible mark on the soul. Chrism is used to anoint children in their Baptism on the top of their head, and those of mature age in Confirmation on the forehead. The sacraments of initiation incorporate all of the faithful into the priestly people of God, the people whom, St. John tells us in his vision in the Book of Revelation, Christ has made into a kingdom of priests for his God and Father.
As a priestly people we have the vocation to sanctify the world, above all by being sanctified ourselves so that we can draw others into the saving encounter with Jesus Christ. This is the work of the entire Church, all members of the Body of Christ, each in accordance with their own proper vocation and state in life. In addition to these two sacraments of anointing for the entire people of God there is the indelible mark left on the soul of those ordained priests and bishops: thus, priests are anointed with the oil of Chrism on their hands in their Mass of ordination, and bishops are anointed with it on their head.
Anointing of Priests of Jesus Christ
These are the ones whom Christ calls to share in his three gifts of sanctifying, governing and teaching specifically for the sake of God’s people, to act in his place in providing this anointed service for all of the members of the Body of Christ for the building up of the Body. This is also a work of harvesting, a harvest of souls. And it is likewise hard work, such that at times the priest can feel like he is expending all of the energy he has but with little results – not unlike a young seminarian inexperienced at how to strike an olive tree so as to yield a plentiful harvest of olives. As a farmer conditions himself physically for the hard work of reaping a physical harvest, so the man of God must condition himself spiritually for the hard work of reaping a spiritual harvest, always recognizing that the work of harvesting is ultimately the work of God.
We whom Christ calls to be his coworkers in the harvest must recognize this, and condition ourselves through prayer, fasting, study, and the daily recommitment to our priestly service of sanctifying, serving and teaching God’s people for the sake of leading them in the way of holiness of life. This is foundational to the life of the priest in any age, but all the more so in our own when priests are popularly portrayed in a negative way. This should not surprise us, because it is for good reason that our people address their priests as “father.”
That is the vocation of a priest, to be a father to God’s people, and we live in an age in which the father figure, if known at all, is often disparaged in the popular culture. The father has the responsibility of calling his children to accountability but with self-sacrificial love, giving his all for his family and not holding back. In an age of self-indulgence and narcissism such as our own, that sense of being held accountable is detested, people instinctually want to reject it. But you, our people, know better, and you do not see your priests this way. I see this in your interactions with them: it is with affection that you address them as father, not with disdain but with appreciation and love.
Conclusion
The association of the Chrism Mass with Holy Thursday (the morning of Holy Thursday being the traditional time for the celebration of this Mass, although we in our Archdiocese, as in many other places, celebrate it at another time close to this day in which it is more convenient for priests and people to gather together) gives yet another dimension to its multifaceted meaning, and this is the institution of the Priesthood as Christ’s gift to his Church, so that the Church may obey his commandment at the Last Supper to “do this in memory of” him until he returns to bring all history to its consummation. Thanks to this gift of the Priesthood, the Eucharist will continue throughout history in this world of time until the Lord returns at the end of time as Judge of the living and the dead.
Given this emphasis on the gift of the Priesthood, it is customary at this Mass for priests to renew their priestly promises, and for you, their people, to affirm them in this. I would like, then, to take this opportunity to thank the priests of our Archdiocese, who continue to persevere in reaping the harvest of souls despite the hard work, the sometimes disappointing results, and the negative stereotypes so common in our popular culture. With this sense of gratitude, I now invite the priests here present to stand and renew their promises of priestly ordination.
SUMMARY IN SPANISH
En la escena familiar que escuchamos en el Evangelio de la Misa de esta tarde, la historia de Jesús entrando en la sinagoga de su ciudad natal, Nazaret, Jesús se aplica a sí mismo las palabras del profeta Isaías: «El Espíritu del Señor está sobre mí, porque me ha ungido». Ungido quiere decir apartado para un propósito sagrado —bendecido o consagrado— mediante un ritual que implica la aplicación de aceite (aceite de oliva). Sabemos que aquellos ungidos en la Antigua Alianza eran sacerdotes, reyes y profetas (a estos últimos se les consideraba haber recibido una unción espiritual). En Jesús de Nazaret tenemos la plenitud y la perfección de los tres: es nuestro Sacerdote – nos santifica perdonándonos nuestros pecados mediante su muerte en la cruz y dándonos acceso a la gracia santificante a través de la vida sacramental de la Iglesia; es nuestro Rey – nos pastorea hacia los pastos cada vez más verdes de su sanación, su perdón y su paz; y es nuestro profeta – él nos guía en el camino de toda verdad, para que podamos ser verdaderamente libres.
Pero para que esta obra salvadora continúe en este mundo a lo largo de la historia, nuestro Señor da a su pueblo la oportunidad de participar en esta unción suya. Así es que en esta Misa bendecimos y consagramos los óleos que se van a usar para la unción del pueblo de Cristo. Nuestro Señor no cesa de usar las cosas materiales como instrumentos de su gracia, y mediante el óleo de los enfermos y el óleo de los catecúmenos nos concede la gracia de la sanación y la fortaleza del cuerpo y del alma, para que tanto en cuerpo como en alma seamos fuertes y puros, resistentes a las asechanzas del maligno.
Nuestra Misa de esta noche, sin embargo, toma su nombre del tercer óleo, que no solo es bendecido sino consagrado, y de modo solemne. El Santo Crisma unge al pueblo de Cristo para ser su pueblo sacerdotal; se usa en la celebración de los sacramentos que dejan una huella indeleble en el alma. El Crisma se usa para ungir a los niños en el Bautismo (en la coronilla) y a los adultos en la Confirmación (en la frente). Los sacramentos de iniciación incorporan a todos los fieles al pueblo sacerdotal de Dios, el pueblo que, nos dice San Juan en su visión del Apocalipsis, Cristo ha hecho un reino de sacerdotes para su Dios y Padre.
El Santo Crisma, sin embargo, también se utiliza para la ordenación de sacerdotes y obispos, lo cual deja una huella indeleble en sus almas: los sacerdotes son ungidos con el Óleo Crismal en sus manos durante la Misa de ordenación, y los obispos en su cabeza. Cristo llama a los sacerdotes y obispos a compartir sus tres dones: santificar, gobernar y enseñar específicamente por el bien del pueblo de Dios. Nosotros, a quienes Cristo llama a ser sus colaboradores en la cosecha de almas, debemos reconocer, sin embargo, que esta es, en última instancia, la obra de Dios, pero como colaboradores suyos, debemos prepararnos para esta obra espiritual por medios espirituales: mediante la oración, el ayuno, el estudio y la renovación diaria del compromiso con nuestro servicio sacerdotal de santificar, servir y enseñar al pueblo de Dios para guiarlo en el camino de la santidad de vida.
Tradicionalmente, la Misa Crismal se celebra la mañana del Jueves Santo, aunque en nuestra Arquidiócesis, como en muchos otros lugares, la celebramos en otro momento cercano a ese día, cuando resulta más conveniente que sacerdotes y fieles se reúnan. Sin embargo, esta asociación de la Misa Crismal con el Jueves Santo da aun una otra dimensión a su significado multifacético: la institución del Sacerdocio como don de Cristo a su Iglesia, para que ésta obedezca su mandato en la Última Cena de «hacer esto en memoria» suya hasta que regrese para llevar toda la historia a su consumación. Gracias a este don del Sacerdocio, la Eucaristía perdurará a lo largo de la historia en este mundo confinado por el tiempo hasta que el Señor regrese al final de los tiempos como Juez de vivos y muertos.
Quisiera, pues, aprovechar esta oportunidad para agradecer a los sacerdotes de nuestra Arquidiócesis, quienes perseveran en la cosecha de almas como colaboradores de nuestro Señor Jesucristo, a pesar del arduo trabajo, los resultados a veces decepcionantes, e incluso los estereotipos negativos de sacerdotes tan comunes en nuestra cultura popular. Les pido que oren por sus sacerdotes, pues sé que los aprecian como sus padres espirituales en todo el cuidado pastoral que les brindan.