The Mass that we are celebrating today is called The Chrism Mass. Chrism is a very special oil that the Church uses in the celebration of some of the sacraments. It is a very pure olive oil that is mixed with balsam, which is a noticeably fragrant perfume with a lovely, pleasant aroma. Chrism is used to anoint people and so consecrate them to God.

When you and I were baptized, we were anointed with the Oil of Chrism and we were consecrated to God. When we were Confirmed, we were again anointed with the Oil of Chrism and so were given by the Holy Spirit all the gifts we needed in order to do the things that God now calls us to do. We consecrate new Chrism at this Mass so that the Church will have fresh Chrism to anoint our new adult members who will be baptized at the Easter Vigil throughout the diocese.

Every time we come to church to celebrate the Eucharist, we come so that we may encounter the person of Jesus Christ and deepen our relationship with him. We come to deepen the love that we share with Jesus; we come so that we may make the communion, the bond of love, that exists between each of us and Jesus the Christ stronger. The word “Christ” is related to the word “Chrism” which means “an anointing”. For the name “Christ” means “the Anointed One.” And this Chrism Mass tells us much a lot about this Anointed One whom we love, and whom we have chosen to guide us through our life.

The Gospel in this Chrism Mass tells us that Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed One. The world had awaited his coming since Adam and Eve; since humanity fell from grace into the dark imprisonment of death and sin. In the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, as we heard today, there is an unnamed figure who said:“The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me…”

In the Gospel, Jesus read that passage from Isaiah in the Synagogue in his home town of Nazareth. And he said: That’s me that the Prophet Isaiah is talking about. “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”Jesus said: The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me.

To be anointed means that the person is consecrated to God for a reason, to fulfill some purpose, to carry out some work. Jesus was anointed, made “The Christ,” in order to “bring good news to the poor,” give blind people back their sight, free everyone from whatever it is that oppresses them. Jesus was anointed and sent to bring us good news in our lives. God is aware of all the bad news that exists in each of us and the worries and the fears that can fill our lives. He has anointed Jesus and sent him into our lives to bring us the good news that he saves us.

Sometimes we can feel really trapped by the bad news things. Jesus comes to release us; he comes to set us free. We know that. We have experienced that in our lives. We have all had times when our life seems little more than a pile of ashes and we have turned to Jesus the Christ, present with us and in us, and the ashes were gone and there were flowers instead. “The Lord has anointed me: he has sent me … to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning.”

Jesus has the power to do this, the Book of Revelation tells us, because he overcame death and rose to eternal life. He is “the firstborn of the dead,” the first human being to rise from the dead. He is the ruler of the kings of the earth. He comes with the clouds of heaven. He is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end of everything including you and me. He loves us and he frees us from our sins by his blood.

And he has done something more, even more than all of that. He has made us to be a kingdom. He has made us, all of us, priests to serve his God and Father. The spirit of the Lord God is upon every one of us in this Cathedral Church today because we have been baptized and anointed with the oil of gladness, the Oil of Chrism.

When we were baptized, the priest anointed us on the crown of our head and said:“God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ… anoints you with the chrism of salvation. As Christ was anointed Priest, Prophet, and King, so may you live always as a member of his body, sharing everlasting life.” We also have been sent to share in the Mission of Jesus, the Christ, the anointed one of God.

Our baptismal priesthood is carried out in the world, in the place where we live, in the place where we work. As Pope Francis tells us in his exhortation “The Joy of the Gospel”, we are a missionary church and we are sent into our world to give joyful witness of the good news of our faith to the world around us. Everyone of us, from the child making First Communion to the oldest among us, is sent to proclaim the joy of the Gospel, the good news of salvation to everyone around us, because the Spirit of the Lord has anointed us and sent us to bring good news to poor.

But we are not alone. In the Preface for this Chrism Mass, the Church proclaims what we believe about all of this. It says: “Christ not only adorns with a royal priesthood the people he has made his own but with a brother’s kindness he also chooses men to become sharers in his sacred ministry through the laying on of hands.” In other words, through ordination.

When you and I were baptized, God made us his own. God made us sharers in Christ’s mission as Priest, Prophet and King and sent us into the world to bring good news to all who suffer. Everybody here. But we are not left alone in this mission. God has given to the Church the ordained priesthood to serve all of us and to help all of us to do this.

The priest renews in the Mass the Sacrifice of Jesus which has redeemed us. Through the Mass the priest sets before all of us the banquet which nourishes and strengthens us. The ordained priest is anointed to lead the people and show them how to live in love, to nourish all the baptized with the word and strengthen us with the sacraments so that all of us can live out  the mission that God has given us when he anointed us and sent us out to proclaim the good news.

The ordained priests give up their lives for God and for the salvation of all of you, their brothers and sisters. This Chrism Mass is a special Mass for them. In a few moments they will renew their Priestly Promises and all will pray for them in a special way today, as we the Ordained Priesthood pray for you, the royal and prophetic priesthood of Jesus the Christ, the Anointed One of God.