The following is the complete text of Bishop DiMarzio’s homily at the Chrism Mass celebrated on Holy Thursday, April 5, at St. James Cathedral-Basilica.

Today, as we gather to celebrate this Mass of Chrism, we are the beneficiaries of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Sacramentum Caritatis, which our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, issued on the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter. This beautiful reflection on the Eucharist follows upon the Synod held on the Eucharist. It gives us an opportunity today, on this Holy Thursday, to meditate on the events of the first Holy Thursday, the day on which the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Holy Orders were instituted by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Today, in the context of this Eucharist, we will perform two important actions; first, the blessings of the Holy Oils to be used in the administration of the sacraments in the year to come and, second, the bishops, priests and deacons among us will renew their commitment to service, as it is part of this wonderful day commemorating the institution of these two great sacraments.

Clearly, these two actions are related to one another because the oils used in the administration of the sacraments are no other than those sacramental signs which allow the marvelous sacramental life of the Church to continue. Today, we will bless the Oil of Catechumens used to invite new Christians to the sacraments of initiation. We will bless the oil of the sick used in the sacrament of the anointing of the sick to enable the action of Christ to work in the lives of the sick to help them to conform their sufferings to his and to bring them the gift of healing. And finally we will consecrate Chrism, the perfumed oil used in Baptism and Confirmation as a sign of Christ bestowing His Holy Spirit upon those who are made one with Him. We cannot forget that Chrism is also used in the anointing the hands of a priest and the head of a bishop in the sacrament of ordination.

The sacramental life of the Church is connected in various ways to the sacrament of love, the Eucharist itself. Pope Benedict XVI makes these connections very clear in his Post-Synodal document. The Eucharist is also the principle of the Church, that is, as the Holy Father says, “Through the sacrament of the Eucharist, Jesus draws the faithful into His ‘hour.’ He shows us the bond that He willed to establish between Himself and us, between His own person and the Church” (Paragraph 14).

Bishop DiMarzio preaches at Chrism Mass

Yes, He loved us first as we hear in 1 John, 14-19, “for all eternity He remains the one who loves us first” (Paragraph 14). It is because the Church is the primordial or central sacrament of Christ’s presence in the world, “so the Second Vatican Council recalled that all of the sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are directed towards it” (Paragraph 16). The Holy Father goes on to say, “This close relationship of the Eucharist with the other sacraments and the Christian life can be most fully understood when we contemplate the mystery of the Church herself as a sacrament. The Council in this regard stated that ‘the Church, in Christ, is a sacrament – a sign and instrument – of communion with God and the unity of the entire human race’” (Paragraph 16). The fact is “that the Church is the ‘universal sacrament of salvation’” (Paragraph 16). So we see that the Eucharist is the fullness of Christian initiation. Baptism and Confirmation are ordered to the Eucharist no matter in what order they are received. They form the sacraments of initiation by which the faithful are united to the life of Christ.

The Holy Father continues by saying, “Furthermore, the relationship between the Eucharist and the sacrament of Reconciliation reminds us that sin is never a purely individual affair; it always damages the ecclesial communion that we have entered through baptism” (Paragraph 20). There is a process of conversion necessary in every Christian life and that conversion eventually brings us to the Eucharist.

The Eucharist and the Anointing of the Sick are also intimately connected. The Eucharist shows us how Christ’s suffering and death has been transformed into love. “The anointing of the sick, for its part, unites the sick with Christ’s self offering for the salvation of all so that they too, within the mystery of the communion of saints, can participate in the redemption of the world. The relationship between these two sacraments becomes clear in situations of serious illness when the Eucharist is given as viaticum” (Paragraph 22). This assists Christians on their final journey to the God who is all love.

The Eucharist also is connected to the Sacrament of Matrimony because the Eucharist, in fact, is a nuptial sacrament. Our Holy Father states, “The Eucharist, as the sacrament of charity, has a particular relationship with the love of man and woman united in marriage” (Paragraph 27). John Paul II, of happy memory, frequently stressed this same thought. He said, “The Eucharist is the sacrament of our redemption. It is the sacrament of the Bridegroom and of the Bride.” Moreover, “the entire Christian life bears the mark of the spousal love of Christ and the Church” (Paragraph 27). And so the love of marriage is sanctified and assisted in the sacrament of love, the Eucharist itself.

Finally, the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Holy Orders are intimately connected, because without Holy Orders we have no Eucharist. Pope Benedict XVI states, “The intrinsic relationship between the Eucharist and the sacrament of Holy Orders clearly emerges from Jesus’ own words in the Upper Room: ‘Do this in memory of me’ (Lk 22:19). On the night before He died, Jesus instituted the Eucharist and at the same time established the priesthood of the New Covenant. He is priest, victim and altar: the mediator between God the Father and His people (cf. Heb 5:5-10), the victim of atonement (cf. 1 Jn 2:2, 4:10) who offers Himself on the altar of the Cross. No one can say ‘this is my body’ and ‘this is the cup of my blood’ except in the name and in the person of Christ, the one high priest of the new and eternal Covenant (cf. Heb 8-9)” (Paragraph 23).

How important those words are when the priest says, in the person of Christ the Head, “this is my body, and this is the cup of my blood.” The priest at that moment also must put himself into the recitation of those words because in effect he offers also his own body and blood, the sacrifice of his life, and in particular his commitment to chaste celibacy as the sacrifice offered with the eternal sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

The profound meaning of priestly celibacy is truly something which cannot be discovered all at once in the life of a priest, nor in the history of the Church. Although priestly celibacy is a long tradition in the Church, its history remains unclear. It is clear, however, that today in the Church, as the Holy Father tells us, “…as a sign of expressing total and exclusive devotion to Christ, to the Church and the Kingdom of God, and I therefore confirm that it remains obligatory in the Latin tradition” (Paragraph 24).

This year, we commemorate the 40th anniversary of Pope Paul’s encyclical, Sacerdotalis Callibatus or Priestly Celibacy. Paul VI gave three reasons for sacred celibacy: its Christological, ecclesiological and eschatological significance. It is Christ who calls His priests to embrace the charism of celibacy so that the union between Christ and His Church can be imaged in the priest’s total dedication to witnessing to the Kingdom of God yet fully to come.

Perhaps this image can be helpful in understanding how the promise of celibacy becomes a reality. As one wise spiritual writer said: plant an act, reap a habit; plant a habit, reap a virtue; plant a virtue, reap a character; plant a character, reap a destiny. Perhaps I can make this even clearer with my own image. Celibacy, indeed, is like a seed that is planted. It grows, it becomes a habit. And as it grows, the habit truly can become a virtue as the plant matures and gives off flowers. These flowers, indeed, first are buds and then become beautiful works of God’s creation to behold. And finally the flower’s destiny is to give off a fragrance and then wilt and die. How much is this like the life of priestly celibacy. The great fragrance, the attraction of holiness as achieved through celibacy, is the work of a lifetime.

Recently, I read a quote from Mother Teresa that described priestly celibacy so well: “Your priestly celibacy is the terrible emptiness you experience. God cannot fill what is full, He can only fill emptiness – deep poverty, and your yes is the beginning of being or becoming empty. It is not how much we really ‘have’ to give, but how empty we are – so that we can receive fully in our life and let Him live His life in us.” (Mother Teresa of Calcutta, “Priestly Celibacy: Sign of the Charity of Christ,” in For Love Alone, 211-213.)

Unfortunately, although there is a fascination with the life of priestly celibacy, the failures to live a life of celibacy have diminished its value in the eyes of the world and the faithful. Unfortunately, again, when the faithful are asked if priests should marry, the vast majority, especially those who do not participate in the life of the Church, say that the priest should marry. They do not understand the witness and the gift we give to the life of the Church. We must restore this image; we must find a way to let the fragrance of our lives attract the faithful to the life of Christ.

Today, we will renew the promises made in our diaconate and our priesthood ordination. I will ask several questions. First, I will ascertain your willingness to renew your dedication to Christ as priests of the New Covenant and as deacons. I will then ask if you will accept the responsibilities of the priesthood, most especially the charism of priestly celibacy. And finally, I will ask if you will be faithful ministers of the mysteries of God, celebrating both word and sacraments with sincere devotion. These questions encapsulate those questions you were asked in the Rites of Ordination. You were asked to serve in humble charity for the life of the Church, to proclaim the faith in word and action as ministers of the word and sacrament, to remain celibate as a sign of the dedication to Christ for the sake of the Kingdom, to celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours, and so, most importantly, to conform your life to Christ, to consecrate yourselves to God.

Also, you promised to give obedience and respect to the bishop and his successors, as well as being a fellow worker with the bishop. Today, obedience can be translated as dialogue with authority, and respect can be carried out by sincere collaboration. Obedience is perhaps the most difficult promise that we make. When the world was a different place and I was in the third grade, I learned a short poem from a Sister that said, “All obedience worth the name must be prompt and ready.” Our priestly obedience and respect for authority has a certain urgency to it. It demands that we be ready to live unattached to our own desires, it demands that we give up our own wills and conform it to the will of God in our own lives. It is precisely this way that Jesus saved the world. He gave up His own will, accepted the will of the Father, to empty Himself for our sakes so that we might be saved.
United together, today as the Church in Brooklyn and Queens, we come to recommit ourselves to be the sacrament of God in the world as Church, and in a special way to celebrate the sacrament of His love in the Eucharist. I thank you for your continuing service to our Diocese. I personally appreciate all that you do. All that we do today is meant to lead us to that wonderful sacrifice in the Eucharistic meal that we will celebrate today.

Be encouraged. The work of God is being accomplished among us right here in Brooklyn and Queens. No matter how much we struggle and no matter how much the vision of success is hidden from our eyes, when joined to the life of Jesus Christ, we are assured our ultimate success and victory that we celebrate in this Eucharist today.