Chrism Mass 2020

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
April 6, 2020

My brothers and sisters in Christ,¹

Even in these extraordinary times we continue our beautiful tradition of celebrating the Chrism Mass on this Monday night of Holy Week. 

And in this Chrism Mass, we ask for the grace to renew our identity and commitment as Christians, as God’s priestly people. 

We hear in tonight’s second reading that Jesus Christ “loves us and has freed us from our sins by his Blood” and he has “made us into a Kingdom, priests for his God and Father.” 

This is who we are. We are God’s Kingdom, his family. And God’s love for us is so personal, so tender. He loves you and he loves me. And his love for each of us is everlasting.²

In this Holy Week we should make time every day to look at a crucifix in our home and reflect on this — on God’s love for each one of us. Jesus on the cross is what God’s love for us looks like. This is how much we are worth to him, the price of his Blood.³

Jesus dio su vida por amor a cada uno de nosotros. Estos días de la Semana Santa deberíamos buscar tiempo para contemplar un crucifijo y meditar en el amor tan grande que Dios tiene por nosotros.  

Jesus dies for us, in order to make us “priests” for God. This is the reality, as we know. We all participate in the common priesthood of Jesus Christ. 

These holy oils that we bless tonight, this holy chrism — these are the signs of the anointing that seals us in our priestly identity as Christians. The word “Christian,” as we know, means “anointed one.” 

Jesus says today, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me.” In baptism, my dear brothers and sisters, we are all anointed with that same Spirit, and we are all anointed for that same priestly service as Jesus. 

But we also know that on the night before he died, Jesus established the ordained priesthood. He set apart certain men to be more closely conformed to him in his priestly service. 

Tonight in this Chrism Mass, our priests will once more renew the vows they made at their ordination. 

And I think we all understand that these are hard days for our people, and these are hard days for us as priests, too. We hear the cries of the faithful; we know they are hurting without the consolation of the sacraments. 

And I am sure our people understand how much we are hurting, too. Our hearts are breaking that we cannot serve as we want to. My dear brother priests, I know what you are going through. I am, as I’m sure you are, very frustrated that we cannot be with our people. 

I’ve been a priest for more than 40 years, and I have never experienced anything like this. We are not ordained for ourselves. The priest is a “man for others.” We are ordained to bring our brothers and sisters into community with one another and into communion with the living God. 

Estamos viendo estos días de confusión y tristeza. Días de cuarentena y separación social, en los que no podemos hacer nuestro ministerio en servicio de nuestros hermanos y hermanas. Es un tiempo muy difícil para nosotros como sacerdotes. 

No podemos tener la Celebración Eucarística con la presencia de los fieles, tampoco podemos celebrar los sacramentos, el bautizo de los niños, la confesión, la unción de los enfermos. Esta es nuestra alegría y el sentido de nuestro sacerdocio, servir a nuestro pueblo y todo esto está suspendido por ahora. 

Dios Nuestro Señor nos está pidiendo en este tiempo y en especial en estos días de la Semana Santa que nos unamos a su sacrificio de manera especial. 

But, my brothers, we are servants. And our Lord teaches that no servant is above his Master. In this time, I believe Christ is calling us to go deeper in our identification with him —  as the One who emptied himself to come among us as a servant to others.⁴

So my brothers, we need to open our arms to Christ in this moment. We need to embrace the cross that he is sending to us and our people. We need to find new ways to serve and sacrifice in this challenging time. 

And obviously this is true for all of us, my dear brothers and sisters. Our Lord, in this time of the coronavirus, is removing all the things that we rely on — our securities and routines, our expected ways of doing things, our priorities. 

In some cases, he is taking away our jobs and livelihoods, even our physical connections with our loved ones.  These are the crosses he is calling us to carry. We are all hurting, we are all mourning. So, we need to carry our crosses together, with Jesus. 

Jesus nos amó hasta el final, se entregó completamente en la cruz. Este es la misión ‘sacerdotal’ que Dios nos está pidiendo a todos en este momento. Que sepamos amarnos los unos a los otros, que nos unamos en el servicio y sufrimiento de unos con otros.

Jesus loved us until the end, he emptied himself completely on the cross. This is the “priestly” service that God is asking of his people in this time. 

And he is asking this of all of us, ordained or not ordained. He is asking us to love one another, to serve one another. And he is asking us to suffer for one another. 

In a special way, I think he is asking us to bring to one another, “the oil of gladness in place of mourning,” as the prophet tells us tonight. 

And as Pope Francis said yesterday in his homily for Palm Sunday, “We were put in this world to love him and our neighbors. Everything else passes away, only this remains. … For life is measured by love.”  

So tonight, let us ask for that grace. Let us ask our Blessed Mother Mary to intercede for us as we accompany her in carrying our cross with Jesus. 

May she obtain for us the grace to love as Jesus loves, and to serve as Jesus serves. 

1. Readings: Isa. 61:1-3a, 6a, 8b-9; Ps. 89:21-22, 25, 27; Rev. 1:5-8; Luke 4:16-21.

2. Jer. 31:3.

3. 1 Pet. 1:19

4. Matt. 10:24; Phil. 2:7.