Chrism Mass Homily – Bishop Terry R. LaValley

 Chrism Mass Homily – Bishop Terry R. LaValley

Jubilee Year of Hope – 2025

“May the power of this sacrifice, O Lord, we pray, mercifully wipe away what is old in us and increase in us grace of salvation and newness of life through Christ our Lord.”

My sisters and brothers in Christ,

It seems to me that this prayer over the offerings that I will soon address to our Lord offers a helpful recipe for hope—for hope in this Jubilee Year and beyond.

Know—and believe in your hearts—that through the power of this Chrism Mass, the Lord is going to do some pretty heavy lifting. If we let Him.

We pray that God will mercifully wipe away what is old in us. And we know what we hang on to—the habit-forming behaviors that keep us comfortable, even unchallenged. Anything that makes me say, “My way, not Yours, Lord,” smacks of the old in us.

Spiritual growth and a closer relationship with Jesus Christ are stifled when the old in us goes unchallenged. It can evolve into a stale spirituality, where I turn to Jesus merely as a cheerleader for my concept of Church, my image of God.

I can choose to live in a mode of self-preservation, determined to protect my ego, my lifestyle, my philosophy of life. Or I may be haunted by past hurts and vow never to suffer again. But such a self-centered way of living leaves no room for vulnerability.

And if I’m unwilling to be vulnerable, real hope is not achievable.

This self-satisfaction can turn me into a couch potato in the faith—cynical, disengaged, and critical of others in the parish. Or, as a pastoral leader, it might make me rigid, inflexible: “take it or leave it.”

So, at this Chrism Mass, let us ask the Lord to mercifully wipe away what is old in us.

We also pray that God increase in us the grace of salvation. My friends, grace does not come cheaply. It comes by way of the Cross. Again—I must make room for Christ. He must increase; I must decrease.

I ask myself: Do I really believe that it is in self-giving that we receive?

Today’s second reading from Revelation reminds us: “Jesus Christ, who loves us, has freed us from our sins by His blood.” If I want to understand the cost of the grace of everlasting life, of salvation, I must spend time gazing at Jesus crucified.

So I ask: How easy is it for me to give of myself to others? To be Christ for others?

Because—love without sacrifice is no love at all.

And thirdly, we pray for newness of life.

Is it true that the heartlands of Christianity are tired of their faith, bored by their history, and no longer interested in knowing Jesus? Is our Church a spent force?

My sisters and brothers: No. The love with which God has loved us is so great that it can always sustain us in finding new ways to touch the hearts of women and men today.

But for the times we’ve let past hurts, paralyzing fear, or hardened hearts prevent us from paying attention to others and being signs of hope—we ask for forgiveness and an even closer walk with Jesus.

Jesus is the Way to the Father, who waits with open arms to welcome us home.
He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Our hope lies in the new heavens and new earth the Lord has promised to those who remain faithful. Through baptism, we have become a new creation—children of God, adopted in Christ Jesus through the Spirit. And baptism makes all the difference—not just for the life to come, but for life right now.

With the blessing and consecration of the oils today, we are reminded: we are the aroma of Christ.

That means the stench of despair, of spiritual decay, of greed and hatred—all the powers that destroy life—are now confronted by the new power of Jesus’ life: the risen Christ, who is the fragrance of new life.

So I say to you:
Give no time, no space, no attention to the naysayers—those whose cynicism and faithlessness try to rob us of our hope.

Hope doesn’t stand still. It moves, always forward, always in humility, always looking ahead to newness of life.

We walk this journey with our heads held high, focused on our Savior—Christ-led, Christ-fed, and hope-filled.
We have hope because our God walks with us.

God does not abandon us.
God entered into our world—and gives us the strength to walk with Him in Jesus.

For the Christian, to hope means being certain that we are on a journey—with Christ, toward the Father who awaits each of us.

Again, hope never stands still.

The fragrance of the sacred oils reminds us of our vocation: to be the pleasing fragrance of Christ to all we meet.

We are not called to be harbingers of doom in a broken world, but heralds of what the Lord has done for us. We stake our lives on the promise of heaven.

As Isaiah says, “The Lord gives the oil of gladness, a glorious mantle instead of a listless spirit.”

So, in our prayer after Communion today, we’ll pray to become that fragrance of Christ:

Dear Jesus, help me to spread your fragrance wherever I go. Flood my soul with your Spirit and your life. Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly that all my life may be a radiance of yours. Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come into contact with may feel your presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me, but only You, Jesus. Stay with me, and then I shall begin to shine as You shine—so to shine as to be a light to others. The light, O Jesus, will be all from You. None of it will be mine. It will be You, shining on others through me.”

“May the power of this sacrifice, O Lord, we pray, mercifully wipe away what is old in us and increase in us grace of salvation and newness of life through Christ our Lord.”

Amen to that.