Homily by Most Rev Dr Philip Boyce, OCD, Bishop of Raphoe

Holy Thursday 24th March 2005

            Dear Brother Priests, we meet in this Year of the Eucharist for the celebration of the Chrism Mass of Holy Thursday.  In spirit we enter into the Upper Room with Christ our Master and with his Apostles.  In this solemn gathering in the Cathedral, we commemorate the Day of our priesthood and the Day of the Eucharist.  During this Mass, the holy Oils that we shall use in the Administration of the Sacraments, will be blessed.  This is surely for us a central day in the year, particularly in this eucharistic Year.  

            The great events of the institution of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist and of Christ’s Sacrifice of Calvary, re-enacted in each Mass, took place two millennia ago.  They are with us still, and we re-live them in our liturgical celebrations.  The Church never ceases to proclaim that the Eucharist is “the most precious possession which she can have in her journey through history” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia No.9), and that this “Divine Sacrament has continued to mark the passing of her days, filling them with confident hope” (No.1).  We know how much that buoyant Eucharistic hope is needed at the present time when numbers are low, the prevailing attitude is often indifferent to things sacred and morale is shaken.

             Yet, as we pause on a day like this, we begin to realise that what we have received far outweighs the tribulations of the present age. We have been called, anointed, conformed to Christ and given special authority in the things that lead to God.  From his hospital room, ‘as a patient alongside other patients’, the Pope said to us:  “We have our crosses to bear - and we are certainly not the only ones! - but the gifts we have received [as priests] are so great that we cannot fail to sing from the depths of our hearts our own Magnificat” (Letter for Holy Thursday 2005, No.2).  

            In these declining years of his life, when he has lost the power to walk and to speak freely, Pope John Paul II calls on us not to forget what we have received, not to underestimate what is ours as the result of the laying on of hands on our ordination day.  We are given power over the Body and Blood of Christ, and at each Consecration we act in persona Christi as we say over bread “This is my Body”, and over wine: “This is my Blood, shed for you” and over repentant sinners:  “I absolve you...”  “If the whole Church draws life from the Eucharist, all the more then must the life of a priest be “shaped” by the Eucharist”.  

            Therefore, the Pope says that “for us the words of institution must be more than a formula of consecration: they must be a formula of life” (No.8).  

            Can this happen if we do not appreciate what takes place at Mass?  Two years ago, the Holy Father issued an Encyclical Letter on the Eucharist with the intention of rekindling our ‘amazement’ and gratitude for the Mass.  It often does fill the heart of devout believers with a deep sense of reverence and worship. “But in a special way it should fill the minister of the Eucharist” that is, the priest himself (Eccl. de Euch., No.6)  For without him, there can be no Mass, no consecration, no Real Presence, no Blessed Sacrament.  On this Maundy Thursday, dear brothers, let us promise again to be what we are, to realise it and to live it wholeheartedly as did Christ the High Priest.  

            This will mean that we shall celebrate the Mass and administer the other Sacraments in a manner that makes them a prayer and an encounter with Christ for ourselves and for all who are present.  There is no more effective way than that to build up the parish community and lead all to holiness.  It will also mean that we observe liturgical norms intended to safeguard the sanctity of the Sacraments, since we are simply the servants of the Church and of Christ.  

            This sense of amazement and gratitude will also mean that we do not allow routine to dull our realisation and appreciation of what takes place on our altars and at our anointed hands.  Of course, we do repeat day by day, and sometimes more than once a day, the same gestures and the identical words.  That brings its own risk.  If we do not approach with a spirit of faith and love, familiarity can easily weaken our respect.  It would be sad indeed if we allowed ourselves to become victims of carelessness arising from a routine repetition.  The things we do and the formulas we use in the exercise of our priesthood are sacred actions and sacred words.  As such they should be done with faith, reverence and dignity.  

            In fact, Pope John Paul II reminds us in the Letter he wrote to Priests for Holy Thursday this year, that we are not only “the celebrants but also the guardians of this most sacred mystery” of the Eucharist.  “it is our relationship to the Eucharist that most clearly challenges us to lead a holy life.  This must shine forth (he says) from our whole way of being, but above all from the way we celebrate” (No.6)  

            Yes, let your life speak of Christ, not only your words from the pulpit.  What you say in your Sunday sermon every week comes to your congregation filtered through the life you lead, coloured by the person you are.  We know how the Pope, despite his frailty, still wants to go to Cologne next August for World Youth Day.  Perhaps he was thinking of that when he wrote to us in his Letter:  “The priest is someone who, despite the passing of years, continues to radiate youthfulness, spreading it almost “contagiously” among those he meets along the way.  His secret lies in his “passion” for Christ.  St Paul said:  “For me, to live is Christ” (Phil 1:21)” (No.7).  

            This will also attract others to follow our example and answer the call of Christ.  The Lord does not stop calling:  “Come, follow me.”  There will always be young hearts ready to meet the challenge.  “Vocations will certainly not be lacking if our manner of life is truly priestly, if we become more holy, more joyful, more impassioned in the exercise of our ministry.  A priest “won” by Christ (cf. Phil 3:12) more easily “wins” others, so that they too decide to set out on the same adventure” (No.7).  

            The Year of the Eucharist that we are celebrating calls you to place the Eucharist at the centre of your lives, and at the centre of the lives of the parishioners whom you serve.  With so many interests and pleasures to take up their time and to appeal to people, especially to our youth, it is a more demanding task to make the Mass attractive to them.  

            Cardinal Basil Hume remarked that we do not make our liturgical celebration more attractive “by making it consciously cheerful.  We will not do it by eccentric celebrations. But the secret is to go deeper into its meaning”  (Light in the Lord, p.105).  It is a matter of understanding better what happens, of becoming involved in the mystery of Christ, of approaching it with greater faith.  “But when we try to make it superficially interesting and exciting, we bore people” (Ibid., p.106).  

            Let us always prepare our Mass with care, with prayer, with attention even to detail.  Let the liturgical decor of sanctuary and altar, the care given to sacred music and to the church building, invite people to prayer and symbolize invisible realities.  Altar linen, vestments and sacred vessels should always be dignified and spotlessly clean.  Then the liturgy, celebrated properly, and as occasion demands, solemnly, proclaims its own message, gives the congregation an experience of faith and unity, builds up the parish community, while it leads priest and people nearer to the goal of their baptismal holiness.  

            I thank all of you, priests of the Diocese and Religious priests, for having come here today to celebrate with your Bishop this Chrism Mass.  May the Lord reward you for your untiring and faithful service of the people of the Diocese and of your respective parish.  May this celebration bring you back in spirit to the beginning of your own priesthood, fill your heart with a new passion for Christ and make fruitful with abundant grace your priestly life and apostolic endeavours.  

            And to you, dear brothers and sisters, religious and lay faithful, you who share with us a common priesthood in the kingly race of the baptized, I offer my sincere gratitude for being present at this Chrism Mass, as a sign of support for your priests.  I urge you to continue to pray for them and to support them.  Love them as brothers in the Lord.  By the goodness and fidelity of your lives make their task easier and more fruitful.  And in our mutual communion of love, may that word of St Augustine which he spoke of himself be true for every priest:  “I am sustained by those whom I sustain”.