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At the Chrism liturgy we celebrate this week, our focus is on oil: not the oil pumped from recesses of the earth or sea to fuel our houses, factories, planes, cars and machines, but that oil which is the fruit of the olive branch. 

This precious oil has been presented from the earliest days of salvation history as a sign and symbol of God's healing presence and overflowing, compassionate love.

In the Hebrew Scriptures, kings, prophets and priests were anointed with oil to empower and strengthen them for their sacred tasks. In the New Testament, the very name "Christ" means "Anointed One" because Jesus is the long-promised Messiah, the only begotten Son of God, anointed and sent forth by the Father to free us from the bonds of sin; and by His life, death and resurrection, to enable us to become adoptive sons and daughters of His heavenly Father, His own brothers and sisters and living temples in whom His Spirit dwells.

Because of their spiritual effect, the oils we bless and consecrate at our annual Chrism liturgy are infinitely more valuable than commercial oil and its products which make the marvels of modern life possible. 

Three oils
• The oil of the sick imparts spiritual healing, consolation, peace, inner serenity and forgiveness to those who are infirm or terminally ill; 

• the oil of catechumens helps those preparing to enter the Church at baptism to come to a deeper understanding of the Scriptures and of the challenges of Christian discipleship; and 

• the oil of sacred chrism is used to anoint and strengthen with God's power and grace the newly baptized, confirmed and ordained, so that they can be transformed more fully into the likeness of Christ, and truly participate in His royal, prophetic and priestly work.

What dignity, then, these sacred oils give to us - making us sharers of God's own divine life - and what an awesome responsibility they place upon us to continue the mission of Jesus in our time and place. 

Divine portion
This mission is spelled out clearly in the Gospel reading for the Chrism Mass (Luke 4:18-20), which tells us how at the outset of His public ministry Jesus entered the synagogue in Nazareth, took a scroll from the book of the Prophet Isaiah and read the following passage: "The spirit of the Lord is upon me: therefore He has anointed me. He sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor; to proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of the sight to the blind and release to prisoners; to announce a year of favor from the Lord." 

Having completed the reading, Jesus said, "Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing."

We who have been or will be anointed by the oils blessed and consecrated at the Chrism Mass are called to insure that this passage is fulfilled in our day, as well. 

Like Jesus, we, too, must bring glad tidings to the poor.

Lifting yokes
Who are the poor today? They are many: our family members, neighbors, classmates, friends and coworkers, and those in our wider society and world who have never heard of or have strayed from the Good News of Jesus Christ, which is the greatest poverty of all. 

They include the 37 million of our fellow Americans who live in poverty; the 12.5 million who are unemployed; the 45 million who lack healthcare insurance - to say nothing of the 800 million people globally who suffer from persistent hunger and malnutrition, or those in places like Kenya, Darfur, Somalia and Iraq who are threatened daily by the wanton savagery of warfare and mindless terrorism. 

We are also anointed to proclaim liberty to captives: to those addicted to alcohol, drugs, gambling, pornography and sexual indulgence; and to those mesmerized by the violence found in so many video games, movies and TV shows, heard in so many musical lyrics, or spewn so vehemently by shock media hosts and commentators. 

They include those captivated by the craving for material things which has made us in the United States unequal consumers of two-thirds of the world's resources and prime exploiters of the environment, contributing mightily to the phenomenon of global warming; and those who have become workaholics or escapists from meaningful interaction with others through excessive involvement with the job, studies or the internet. 

If we ourselves are bound by these addictions, we must seek the professional and spiritual help needed to set us free. We must be also willing to reach out to those captivated by these bonds by refusing to enable them further, and by offering them our love and support.

Opening eyes
Our mission as God's anointed people calls us as well to bring recovery of sight to the blind: to those who, because of selfishness or the fear of failure, turn a blind eye to the call of God to marriage; to having children; to becoming a priest, deacon, or religious brother or sister. 

We are to bring sight to those who refuse to acknowledge the beam in their own eye, the beam emanating from the seven deadly sins: pride, greed, envy, lust, sloth, anger and gluttony which blinds them to the poisonous fruit of their behavior, be it of commission or omission. 

Further, we must bring release to prisoners: to those so consumed by jealousy and envy that they fail to appreciate the true gifts they have; and to those so burdened by past hurts, slights, grudges and resentments that they allow these injuries to control their lives and to prevent them from offering that forgiveness which will free them from their imprisonment so that they can experience the beauty of God's love for them and the wonderful destiny God has in mind for them.

Finally, as God's anointed people, we are called to announce a year of favor from the Lord, that favor which comes from recognizing that God and God alone is the center of the universe and of our lives; that God is truly "the Alpha and the Omega, the one who is, who was and will come, the Almighty," as we read in Revelations 1:8. 

We announce that by worshiping God through liturgical and personal prayer we can come to appreciate more fully the awe and majesty of our God, the praise and thanksgiving we owe God, the trust we should place in God's providence, the inherent sacred dignity we have as children of God and that solidarity which can and should exist among members of the human family.

May the Spirit of the Lord which descends upon us at the Chrism liturgy, then, be with us in a way that uplifts our spirits, strengthens our faith, deepens our love, heals our wounds and divisions, renews our parishes and enables us individually and collectively to be faithful disciples of Jesus and dynamic witnesses to his Good News in our day.

In the Gospel for the Chrism liturgy we read that when Jesus completed the passage from Isaiah, "All eyes in the synagogue were focused on Him."
May this always be our focus, as well.[[In-content Ad]]

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