Chrism Mass

On Tuesday of Holy Week the diocese to which I belong celebrates the Chrism Mass. It is a wonderful occasion as people from around the Palmerston North Diocese gather, around their bishop, to celebrate God's presence in our midst through the sacraments. With the blessing of the oils for the coming year we celebrate, in advance, how God is at work in the lives of those who will receive those sacraments. In many ways, however, the most important sacramental sign is the Church itself. Lumen Gentium, from Vatican II, states: " the Church is in Christ like a sacrament or as a sign and instrument both of a very closely knit union with God and of the unity of the whole human race" (LG, 1) We will be, in microcosm, the wider reality of the Universal Church linked with all the other dioceses around the world including Pope Francis and the diocese of Rome. This gives us courage in continuing to live out the mission of the Church even as we face the contrary currents of secularism and persecutions of different sorts. Many people, especially in the mass media, strive to silence the voice of the Church through mockery, blasphemy or, as in the Middle East, martyrdom. In New Zealand the greatest threats to the Church are relativism, indifference and materialism. These insidious toxins threaten the living faith we have received and our commissioned to pass on to others. By gathering as one we are edified and strengthened to stay true to what we have have been given: "Do not, therefore, abandon that confidence of yours; it brings a great reward. For you need endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised ... But we are not among those who shrink back and so are lost, but among those who have faith and so are saved." (Heb 10: 36, 39)