Chrism Mass draws crowd

By Tanya Connor 
The Catholic Free Press

Emerging from coronavirus restrictions, people came in droves to this year’s Chrism Mass, where holy oils were blessed and priesthood was celebrated. For the Mass on Tuesday, clergy, religious and laity filled much of St. Paul Cathedral – most without masks or social distancing.

As the long line of clergy processed out at the end, the congregation spontaneously broke into applause. Earlier in the Mass, the priests and people had given a standing ovation to priests celebrating significant jubilees this year.

Bishop McManus used experiences from the pandemic to preach about Christ conquering evil and about the importance of attending Mass and anointing the sick.

The bishop said this annual Mass is very important in the liturgical life of the diocese because during it he blesses and consecrates holy oils that priests use for celebrating sacraments – to build up and sustain the pastoral life of the church and sanctify the Christian faithful. The oils are the oil of the sick, the oil of catechumens and the holy chrism.

“Two years ago this beautiful cathedral church was virtually empty, because of the dangerous outbreak of the COVID pandemic,” Bishop McManus recalled. His brother priests were not there in great numbers as they were this year.

“I felt a bit alone,” he said. “And yet we still celebrated the Chrism Mass, as a poignant reminder that, even in times of sickness and death caused by an insidious virus, Christ has not abandoned his bride, the Church. Yes, the crucified and risen Christ, who is our eternal high priest and head of the Church, is also the conqueror of evil of every sort, both moral and physical. Today, even as the pandemic is receding, the Lord exhorts us, ‘Do not be afraid; I have overcome the world.’”

The bishop noted that Christ is “really and substantially present” to the Church, particularly in the Eucharist.

“For months during the pandemic, Catholics throughout the world had to refrain from physical attendance at Mass and the very hard task of not being able to receive holy Communion,” Bishop McManus said.

Now he prays Catholics have “come to a deeper awareness of how profoundly important is our physical attendance at Mass, Mass celebrated … standing shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters in the household of faith.”

The bishop also talked about the importance of the sacrament of the anointing of the sick. During the height of the pandemic, Catholics sick with the coronavirus longed for a priest to anoint them, to receive Christ’s grace and the Holy Spirit’s consolation, he said.

He asked the priests present, who were about to renew their commitment to priestly service, to remember daily how essential the sacrament of the sick is and to anoint people with the same fervor they did as young priests.

“As more and more people are vaccinated and as we begin to emerge fully from this long period of social isolation, economic loss and the ever-present feeling of anxiety,” Bishop McManus concluded, may we echo with renewed faith and sincere thanksgiving the words of the responsorial Psalm from this Mass: “Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.”