Pope Francis Holy Thursday Homily
2013
Dear
Brothers and Sisters, This morning I have the joy of celebrating my first
Chrism Mass as the Bishop of Rome. I greet all of you with affection,
especially you, dear priests, who, like myself, today recall the day of your
ordination.
The
readings of our Mass speak of God’s “anointed ones”: the suffering Servant of
Isaiah, King David and Jesus our Lord. All three have this in common: the
anointing that they receive is meant in turn to anoint God’s faithful people,
whose servants they are; they are anointed for the poor, for prisoners, for the
oppressed… A fine image of this “being for” others can be found in the Psalm:
“It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down upon the beard, on the
beard of Aaron, running down upon the collar of his robe” (Ps 133:2). The image
of spreading oil, flowing down from the beard of Aaron upon the collar of his
sacred robe, is an image of the priestly anointing which, through Christ, the
Anointed One, reaches the ends of the earth, represented by the robe.
The
sacred robes of the High Priest are rich in symbolism. One such symbol is that
the names of the children of Israel were engraved on the onyx stones mounted on
the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, the ancestor of our present-day chasuble: six
on the stone of the right shoulder-piece and six on that of the left (cf. Ex
28:6-14). The names of the twelve tribes of Israel were also engraved on the
breastplate (cf. Es 28:21). This means that the priest celebrates by carrying
on his shoulders the people entrusted to his care and bearing their names
written in his heart. When we put on our simple chasuble, it might well make us
feel, upon our shoulders and in our hearts, the burdens and the faces of our
faithful people, our saints and martyrs of whom there are many in these times…
From
the beauty of all these liturgical things, which is not so much about trappings
and fine fabrics than about the glory of our God resplendent in his people,
alive and strengthened, we turn to a consideration of activity, action. The
precious oil which anoints the head of Aaron does more than simply lend
fragrance to his person; it overflows down to “the edges”. The Lord will say
this clearly: his anointing is meant for the poor, prisoners and the sick, for
those who are sorrowing and alone. The ointment is not intended just to make us
fragrant, much less to be kept in a jar, for then it would become rancid … and
the heart bitter.
A
good priest can be recognized by the way his people are anointed. This is a
clear test. When our people are anointed with the oil of gladness, it is
obvious: for example, when they leave Mass looking as if they have heard good
news. Our people like to hear the Gospel preached with “unction”, they like it
when the Gospel we preach touches their daily lives, when it runs down like the
oil of Aaron to the edges of reality, when it brings light to moments of
extreme darkness, to the “outskirts” where people of faith are most exposed to
the onslaught of those who want to tear down their faith. People thank us
because they feel that we have prayed over the realities of their everyday
lives, their troubles, their joys, their burdens and their hopes. And when they
feel that the fragrance of the Anointed One, of Christ, has come to them
through us, they feel encouraged to entrust to us everything they want to bring
before the Lord: “Pray for me, Father, because I have this problem”, “Bless
me”, “Pray for me” – these words are the sign that the anointing has flowed
down to the edges of the robe, for it has turned into prayer. The prayers of
the people of God. When we have this relationship with God and with his people,
and grace passes through us, then we are priests, mediators between God and
men. What I want to emphasize is that we need constantly to stir up God’s grace
and perceive in every request, even those requests that are inconvenient and at
times purely material or downright banal – but only apparently so – the desire
of our people to be anointed with fragrant oil, since they know that we have
it. To perceive and to sense, even as the Lord sensed the hope-filled anguish
of the woman suffering from hemorrhages when she touched the hem of his
garment. At that moment, Jesus, surrounded by people on every side, embodies
all the beauty of Aaron vested in priestly raiment, with the oil running down
upon his robes. It is a hidden beauty, one which shines forth only for those
faith-filled eyes of the woman troubled with an issue of blood. But not even
the disciples – future priests – see or understand: on the “existential
outskirts”, they see only what is on the surface: the crowd pressing in on
Jesus from all sides (cf. Lk 8:42). The Lord, on the other hand, feels the
power of the divine anointing which runs down to the edge of his cloak.
We
need to “go out”, then, in order to experience our own anointing, its power and
its redemptive efficacy: to the “outskirts” where there is suffering,
bloodshed, blindness that longs for sight, and prisoners in thrall to many evil
masters. It is not in soul-searching or constant introspection that we
encounter the Lord: self-help courses can be useful in life, but to live by
going from one course to another, from one method to another, leads us to
become pelagians and to minimize the power of grace, which comes alive and
flourishes to the extent that we, in faith, go out and give ourselves and the
Gospel to others, giving what little ointment we have to those who have
nothing, nothing at all.
A
priest who seldom goes out of himself, who anoints little – I won’t say “not at
all” because, thank God, our people take our oil from us anyway – misses out on
the best of our people, on what can stir the depths of his priestly heart.
Those who do not go out of themselves, instead of being mediators, gradually
become intermediaries, managers. We know the difference: the intermediary, the
manager, “has already received his reward”, and since he doesn’t put his own
skin and his own heart on the line, he never hears a warm, heartfelt word of
thanks. This is precisely the reason why some priests grow dissatisfied, become
sad priests, lose heart and become in some sense collectors of antiques or
novelties – instead of being shepherds living with “the smell of the sheep”,
shepherds in the midst of their flock, fishers of men. True enough, the
so-called crisis of priestly identity threatens us all and adds to the broader
cultural crisis; but if we can resist its onslaught, we will be able to put out
in the name of the Lord and cast our nets. It is not a bad thing that reality
itself forces us to “put out into the deep”, where what we are by grace is
clearly seen as pure grace, out into the deep of the contemporary world, where
the only thing that counts is “unction” – not function – and the nets which
overflow with fish are those cast solely in the name of the One in whom we have
put our trust: Jesus.
Dear
lay faithful, be close to your priests with affection and with your prayers,
that they may always be shepherds according to God’s heart.
Dear
priests, may God the Father renew in us the Spirit of holiness with whom we have
been anointed. May he renew his Spirit in our hearts, that this anointing may
spread to everyone, even to those “outskirts” where our faithful people most
look for it and most appreciate it. May our people sense that we are the Lord’s
disciples; may they feel that their names are written upon our priestly
vestments and that we seek no other identity; and may they receive through our
words and deeds the oil of gladness which Jesus, the Anointed One, came to
bring us. Amen.
Labels: Holy Thursday, pope francis, priesthood, priestly service
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