April 16, 2025
Editor’s Note: The following is Bishop Terry R. LaValley’s homily from the Chrism Mass, celebrated April 10 at St. Mary’s Cathedral. May the power of this sacrifice, O Lord, we pray, mercifully wipe away what is old in us and increase in us grace of salvation and newness of life. Through Christ our Lord. It seems to me that this Prayer Over the Offerings that I will soon address to our Lord offers a helpful recipe for hope this Jubilee Year. Know and believe that through the power of this Mass, the Lord is going to do some pretty heavy lifting, if we let Him. For instance, we pray that God will mercifully wipe away what’s old in us. We know the things that we hang on to, the habit-forming behaviors that keep us somewhat comfortable and even unchallenged. Anything that makes me declare “my way not yours, Lord,” smacks of what’s old in us. Spiritual growth, a closer relationship with Jesus risks being stifled when the “old” in us goes unchallenged and always has its way. This can evolve into a stale spirituality where I turn to Jesus Christ to be a cheerleader for “my” concept of Church and my image of what God should look like. So, I can choose to live in a self-preservation mode of surviving, determined to protect my ego, my way of living, my philosophy of life. Or I may be haunted by past hurts that I have suffered and vowed never to suffer again. Such a self-centered way of going through life makes no room for vulnerability. If I am unwilling to be vulnerable, real hope is not reachable. A certain self-satisfaction can move me to the couch potato posture as I become a cynical naysayer without any real active engagement in the faith life of my parish. My pastoral leadership may be tailored to a rigid, take it or leave it mentality. So, at this Chrism Mass, let us ask the Lord to mercifully wipe away what is old in us. We pray that God increase in us the grace of salvation. My sisters and brothers, grace does not come cheaply. It comes by way of the Cross. I must make room for Christ: “He must increase. I must decrease.” Do I really believe that it is in giving–self-giving–that we receive? Today’s Second Reading from the Book of Revelation reminds us that “Jesus Christ who loves us has freed us from our sins by His Blood.” If I want to know the cost of the grace of everlasting life, the grace of salvation, I should spend some time gazing at the crucified Jesus hanging on the Cross. And so, I ask: How easy is it for me to give freely of myself to others? Thirdly, our prayer asks the Lord for newness of life Is it true that the heartlands of Christianity are tired of their faith, bored by their history and culture, and no longer wish to know faith in Jesus Christ? Is our Church a spent force today? My sisters and brothers, the love with which God has loved us is so great that it can always sustain us in finding new ways to touch the hearts of women and men today. For the times we let past hurts, paralyzing fear of what tomorrow may bring, or just plain hardened hearts prevent us from paying attention to others and being a sign of genuine hope for others, we seek forgiveness and an even closer relationship with Jesus. Jesus is the Way to the Father, who waits with open arms to welcome us home because He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Our hope is in the new heavens and new earth that the Lord has promised those who would be faithful. Through our baptism, we became a new creation, a child of God, adopted in Christ Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Baptism makes all the difference in the present world and in the world to come. With the blessings and consecration of the oils at this Chrism Mass, we are reminded that we are the aroma of Christ. This means that the stench of despair, of spiritual decay, of greed and hatred, all the powers that ultimately destroy life, are confronted by the new power of Jesus’ life, the Risen Christ, Who is the fragrance of new life. Resolve to give no time, give no space, give no attention to those naysayers whose cynicism, pessimism and faithlessness immobilizes and seeks to rob us of our hope. Hope never stands still but advances, in all humility, looking forward to a newness in life. We will walk the journey of life with our heads held high, focused on our Savior because we are Christ-led and Christ-fed and so hope-filled. We have hope because God walks with us. God does not leave us to fend for ourselves. God came into the world and gives us the strength to walk with Him in Jesus. For a Christian, to hope means the certainty of being on a journey with Christ moving toward the Father who awaits us. Again, hope never stands still. The fragrance of the sacred oils is a good reminder of our vocation to be a pleasing fragrance of Christ for all whom we encounter. We will not be a perpetrator of gloom and doom in our broken world, but a herald of what the Lord has done for us and our claim to the gift of heaven. As Isaiah proclaimed, the Lord gives oil of gladness, a glorious mantle instead of a listless spirit. And so, we’ll pray in our Prayer after Communion to “…become the pleasing fragrance of Christ.” “Dear Jesus, help me to spread your fragrance wherever I go. Flood my soul with your spirit and life. Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of yours. Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact may feel your presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me, but only You, Jesus. Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be a light to others; the light, O Jesus will be all from you; none of it will be mine; it will be you, shining on others through me.” May the power of this sacrifice, O Lord, we pray, mercifully wipe away what is old in us and increase in us grace of salvation and newness of life through Christ our Lord. Amen
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