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April 16, 2025Your Excellency Christophe El Kassis, Apostolic Nuncio to the UAE, Bishop Paul Hinder, my beloved predecessor, dear brothers in the priesthood, dear deacons, dear consecrated persons, dear faithful, may the Lord give you peace.
Celebrating the Chrism Mass is the fundamental moment of unity of our Apostolic Vicariate. I would first like to express my profound gratitude and that of all our faithful for you, dear priests, for your presence and for your tireless pastoral work. What would our parishes be without you, without your availability and your pastoral commitment? You are essential, you are vital members of our Vicariate.
We are in the Jubilee Year of the Lord 2025 dedicated to hope. The readings we heard help us discover the meaning of this Holy Year and our priestly mission. The First reading from prophet Isaiah, speaks of the one sent by God on whom the Spirit of the Lord is given; he is the anointed of the Lord, the Messiah. This anointing indicates total belonging to God, his being totally taken up at the service of his mission.
He knows his task: "He has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to bind up hearts that are broken; to proclaim liberty to captives, freedom to those in prison; to proclaim a year of favor from the Lord, a day of vengeance for our God". Indeed here he speaks of the proclamation of a year of grace, a holy year.
The Gospel shows us Jesus who, after reading this prophecy, refers it to himself: ‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.’ We can note an important detail: Jesus in quoting the prophet Isaiah stops at the proclamation of a year of grace, he does not speak of the day of vengeance. In Christ, mercy and grace overcome vengeance.
We too, dear brothers in the priesthood, have been made participants in the anointing of Christ; we are made participants in the fulfillment that Christ has brought about of all the prophecies. First of all we have received the baptismal anointing, therefore we are first and foremost members of the holy people of God, a priestly, prophetic and royal people, as the Book of Revelation reminds us: He loves us and has washed away our sins with his blood, and made us a line of kings, priests to serve his God and Father". Let us never forget our baptism with which we were made participants in the death and resurrection of Christ and members of his body. Dear priests, let us never forget that first of all we are baptized and confirmed in faith.
Precisely in the service of the common priesthood of the faithful, we have been chosen, called and consecrated as priests. Therefore, our whole life is consecrated for the mission. The blessing of the oils that we have in this mass reminds us that we are called for the sanctification of the people.
In the context of this Holy Year, we are called to be a sign of hope, companions on the journey, authoritative guides. Support the hope of the people. Bring people to Christ and never to ourselves. Christianity is the religion of hope and joy, not of fear and blackmail.
But what does it mean to be consecrated, to be sent? No one is sent on his own. We are always sent by another, and we can live the priestly mission only because we are sent by Jesus through the authority of the Church.
For this reason, both for the Bishop and for the priests, obedience to the mission that has been given to us is decisive, obeying the one who sends us. We are here to live the mission that has been given to us by the Church, not for anything else.
Besides, we are always sent together with someone, never alone, even when we are alone to work let us not forget that each one represents the Church. For this reason, priestly brotherhood is essential. Only in following Jesus, as clergy united around the Bishop, we can live our priestly mission.
Finally, we are sent to all our people. We can support a group, or an association, or a movement, or a particular community, only when we have the entire Christian community in our heart and not just our own group. We are sent to serve the people of God with their spiritual gifts, different traditions and rites.
And again, serving the people means promoting an increasingly responsible participation of our faithful, enhancing their charisms. This is the task that the Synod of Bishops has given to us, to be a synodal Church in mission, a Church that goes out and never turns unto itself, suffocated by internal claims. The vocation of our Church is to be a polyphony of faith – as pope Francis declared when he visited our land - to be a prophecy to the world of the kingdom of God.
Dear brothers in the priesthood, let us renew our promises that we made on the day of our ordination. May the Lord renew in us the gift of the Spirit to be totally consecrated. Thank you for your great testimony, let us walk together with the people of God as pilgrims of Hope.
Mary, Queen of the Apostles and Mother of Hope keep as united to Jesus and to his holy people.
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