Chrism Mass homily, the Bishop calls us to spread the Good News

By Matt Weafer
Western Kentucky Catholic

Hundreds of people slowly filed into the Sports Center for the Chrism Mass on March 18.

As the procession of clergy ambled toward the altar, I noticed something missing in the congregation, youth.

With the exception of a swath of grade-schoolers sitting in the benches, a dozen or so babies and a handful of kids, the congregation was populated by older generations.

The church sang “One in Christ” as the gathering song, symbolic of the parishes uniting under one roof for an evening of prayer and consecration. I sang along quietly, reminding myself and the people around me that I can’t sing.

Vases of what looked like olive oil stood on the altar as the church signed the cross in unison.

The ceremony started out as any average Sunday morning mass — only with twenty times the amount of people and forty extra priests.

The biggest difference, though — at least for me — was how powerful some of the readings were; the one’s spoken in English that is. The second reading in Spanish demonstrated the growing diversity of our diocese.

The gospel and Bishop John McRaith’s homily were packed with insight. The words were nothing I hadn’t heard before, nor was the message. But something struck as a little more meaningful.

I’ve been attending Catholic masses since I wore diapers 24 years ago and for some reason this mass spoke to me, stood out from the hundreds of others masses I’ve attended.

Perhaps I got more out of this mass because I jotted notes in my notepad, preparing for this story. I don’t know. Either way, this was no ordinary mass, at least for me.

The carafes of oil stood waiting to be blessed and the congregation sat relatively peacefully listening to the first reading from Isaiah, which read like poetry and set the stage for the Bishop’s homily.

“The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners.” (Isaiah 61:1)

The Bishop started off the homily with, “What a great night. What a great sight.” He then segued into a sermon sighting the significance of our gathering, thanking anyone associated with the church and imploring us to live up to God’s call, our mission, the mission Jesus gave to his disciples.

“To proclaim the Good News wherever they go,” Bishop McRaith said. “Proclaim the love of God, the risen Lord. Can you imagine how the world would change if that were taken seriously?”

I tried to imagine it, a world of peace, a world of plenty in which we share wealth, we feed the poor until they need to buy bigger pants, we forgive neighbors and offer assistance rather than threaten war, and we love one another because part of proclaiming the Good News is living it.

Then I realized how far from reality that world really is, though many of us try.
“Each of us in the building and diocese — rich, poor, young, old — everyone has a job,” he said. “No one is too young, uneducated or too old to have a call.”

Then he reflected on the state of our status quo: “While the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, we have a lot to think about tonight.”

The Bishop then spoke of deeds we should all strive to achieve, and they reminded me of a growing trend in America, the push for social responsibility. Similar to Americans’ fight for a greener world, a cleaner world, a more loving world, the Bishop implored us to reach out through our stewardship, time and talent to spread God’s love, provide liberty to captives and sight to the blind — proverbially, of course.

“Captives of material things, pleasure,” he said. “The stronger our relationship with Jesus, the less we are apt to become captives to anyone or anything.”

One of the toughest things to adjust to is dependence, he said. “People have to admit we are dependent upon God before he will heal them.”

And all this, which on paper looks like common sense, words we’ve read a thousand times, weighed heavy in my mind that night as I thought of our society: war, greed, poverty and indulgence in excesses.

He spoke a few other gems in the homily such as: “The will of the world would have us under its thumb.” And: “Oppression is a disrespect for life — abortion, murder, capital punishment.”

And then he challenged us: “Look at our lives and see where we show disrespect then set out to change how we treat one another. Free the oppressed. Love one another as Jesus loved us.”

His final words settled on the congregation like a refreshing mist: “Jesus came to save the world from sin and death. United with one another and him and each other we can have a better world from here to eternity. Pray we’ll take that seriously for a better world for all of us to travel on our pilgrimage. God bless you all.”

He plodded back to his seat and the congregation sat in silence. Perhaps awe struck them into contemplation, perhaps his words provided a glimpse at how they may disrespect life, perhaps they weren’t paying attention at all and were falling asleep, or perhaps it was a little of all three. But then a baby started to cry, someone coughed, the air conditioner hummed, programs flapped as make-shift fans and a chair scooted before mass continued.

And even though the Chrism Mass was a celebration of the anointing of oils and the priests’ renewal of their commitment to service, the Bishop’s words stood out like neon at night in a world where common sense and love seem lost in the amalgamation of media hype, political disturbance and greed that seems to dominate our society.

But perhaps, in God’s blessing, as the Bishop said, we may learn to love and spread the Good News.