On Holy Thursday, more than 1,880 priests, bishops and cardinals renewed the promises made at their ordinations during the Chrism Mass inside St. Peter’s Basilica.
Pope Francis delegated Cardinal Domenico Calcagno, a retired Vatican official who oversaw the Holy See’s management of real estate and investments until 2018, to preside over the Mass on April 17.
Calcagno read a homily written by Pope Francis, who did not attend the Mass due to his ongoing convalescence following a prior hospitalization for double pneumonia.
“On Holy Thursday, when we renew the promises made at our ordination, we confess that we can read that history only in the light of Jesus of Nazareth,” Pope Francis wrote in the homily.
“Jesus, ‘who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood’ (Rev 1:5) opens the scroll of our own lives and teaches us to find the passages that reveal its meaning and mission. If only we let him teach us, our ministry becomes one of hope, because in each of our stories God opens a jubilee: a time and an oasis of grace.”
Forty-two cardinals, 42 bishops and 1,800 priests living in Rome concelebrated the Mass. Holy Thursday marks the institution of the Eucharist and the sacrament of the priesthood at the Last Supper.
During the Vatican’s Chrism Mass, Calcagno blessed the oil of the sick, the oil of catechumens, and the chrism oil, which will be used in the diocese throughout the coming year.
The oils were processed up the main altar of St. Peter’s in large silver urns as hymns from the Sistine Chapel Choir filled the basilica.
The cardinal prayed over the oil for the sick: “O God, Father of all consolation, who through your Son have willed to heal the infirmities of the sick, listen favorably to this prayer of faith: Send down from heaven, we pray, your Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, upon the rich substance of this oil, which you were pleased to bring forth from vigorous green trees to restore our bodies, so that by your holy blessing this oil may be for anyone who is anointed with it a safeguard for body, mind and spirit, to take away every pain, every infirmity and every sickness.”
The blessed oil will be used for the anointing of the sick in Rome throughout the year.
Chrism oil is used in the sacraments of confirmation, baptism and holy orders, as well as in the consecration of churches. Anointing with chrism signifies the full diffusion of grace.
“The sacred chrism that we consecrate today seals this mystery of transformation at work in the different stages of Christian life. Take care, then, never to grow discouraged, for it is all God’s work. So believe,” Pope Francis wrote.
“It is God’s work, not ours: to bring good news to the poor, freedom to prisoners, sight to the blind and freedom to the oppressed. If Jesus once found this passage in the scroll, today he continues to read it in the life story of each one of us,” he added.
In his homily, Pope Francis also encouraged Catholics to pray especially for priests on Holy Thursday.
“Dear members of the faithful, people of hope, pray today for the joy of priests. May all of you experience the liberation promised by the Scriptures and nourished by the sacraments.
“Many fears can dwell within us and terrible injustices surround us, but a new world has already been born. God so loved the world that he gave us his Son, Jesus. He pours balm upon our wounds and wipes away our tears. ‘Look! He is coming with the clouds’ (Rev 1:7). His is the Kingdom and the glory forever and ever.”
The Vatican has announced that Pope Francis has personally delegated cardinals to preside over all of the Holy Week events.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, will preside at the Easter Vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica. The Easter morning Mass in St. Peter’s Square will be presided over by Cardinal Angelo Comastri, vicar general emeritus of Vatican City.
On Good Friday, the celebration of the Passion will be led by Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches, and the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum will be led by Cardinal Baldassare Reina, vicar general of the Diocese of Rome.
The texts for the Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum on Good Friday were prepared personally by Pope Francis.
“The passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, which we are about to relive, are the soil that solidly sustains the Church and, within her, our priestly ministry,” Pope Francis wrote in his Holy Thursday homily.
This article was originally published on Catholic News Agency.
