Bishop praises priests for their fidelity

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press    

    The Chrism Mass, celebrated April 11 at St. Paul Cathedral, was an honor not only for priests, but for laity.
    Mary Guertin, there for the first time, raved about it.
    “The music was amazing – so spiritually moving!” she said. “It just takes your breath away. To see the jubilation in everyone’s faces ….”
    She and her husband, Dennis, and his cousin Bernie Guertin came with their pastor, Father Lawrence J. Esposito, to pick up holy oils for their parish, Good Shepherd in Linwood.
    “It is truly an honor to be asked to do that,” she said.
    At this annual Mass the bishop blesses the Oil of the Sick and the Oil of Catechumens and consecrates the Holy Chrism, to be used for the administration of the sacraments throughout the diocese in the coming year. Pastors delegate parishioners to pick up the oils for their parishes.
    Robert B. Vose, of St. Theresa Parish in Blackstone, carried the banners for the Oil of Catechumens in procession. He said he’d been to Chrism Masses before, but never in his “wildest dreams” did he think he’d be a participant in this way; it was an honor.
    “I’m still tingling,” he said after Mass. “It’s hard to be up there with all those blessed people (bishops and priests) and not feel closer to Jesus.”
    At this Mass, priests renew the promises they made at their ordination, and those celebrating significant jubilees are recognized.
    Speaking to priests in his homily, Bishop McManus said the promises they renew have serious implications, because what is at stake is the promise they made to Christ. He said fidelity to their vocation builds up the Church, but “every act of infidelity is a painful wound on the body of Christ.”
    He acknowledged that “we all know that our priestly commitment to Christ and the Church is often less than it should be,” and that priests sometimes feel overwhelmed, especially when they encounter resistance from those to whom they’ve given their lives.
    He encouraged them to ask Christ, who was obedient to his Father even unto death, to help them be faithful until death, for God’s glory and the building up of the Church.
    The bishop repeated some of Jesus’ words from the Gospel: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me … to announce a year of favor from the Lord." (Lk 4:16-21)
    “We can apply these words to us priests today,” he said, noting that at their ordination priests are anointed with the Holy Spirit and sent forth to continue Christ’s saving mission by preaching the Gospel and celebrating the sacraments.
    He said that, during the Chrism Mass, each priest should recall with joy and gratitude the path that led him to the priesthood, which finds its origin in the Last Supper, where Jesus washed his disciples’ feet and instituted the Eucharist.
    Bishop McManus urged priests to recall their ordination, when, “lying prostrate … we heard the entire Church praying for us,” and “when in awesome silence the bishop imposed his hands upon us, conferring that sacramental character which configured you and me to the Sacred Heart of Christ, our eternal High Priest.”
    Directing his attention to the congregation, Bishop McManus said the only directive Jesus gave for promoting priestly vocations was to pray, asking the Lord to send laborers into his harvest.
    “So today I ask all of you … to pray daily for vocations to the priesthood and religious life in the Diocese of Worcester,” and to pray for the priests, he said.
    He said any of the priests could tell them the joy they feel when a parishioner thanks them for their help and tells them it made a huge difference.