{"id":1687,"date":"2018-03-25T05:00:10","date_gmt":"2018-03-25T09:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sjcmetheology.wpengine.com\/?p=1687"},"modified":"2019-03-21T13:37:24","modified_gmt":"2019-03-21T13:37:24","slug":"holy-week-chrism-and-priesthood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/holy-week-chrism-and-priesthood\/","title":{"rendered":"Holy Week, Chrism, and Priesthood"},"content":{"rendered":"

Being a professor of theology, people often ask me for recommendations when introducing the Catholic faith to others. What\u2019s the best book to use? Is there a video I can suggest to someone? For years now, my answer to these questions has been the same. If you want to introduce someone to the Catholic faith, attend as many liturgies during Holy Week as possible. Take Thursday and Friday of Holy Week off from work, and live in church. That\u2019s my advice. <\/span><\/p>\n

Though, in Western Christianity, we have come to see Christmas as the \u201chigh holiday\u201d of the year, theologically speaking, it isn\u2019t. Those three days which celebrate the Lord\u2019s passion and culminate in his resurrection, hence the phrase <\/span>Paschal<\/span><\/i> (Passover) <\/span>Triduum<\/span><\/i> (three days), are the Christian \u201chigh holidays.\u201d They not only re-present the mysteries of the Lord\u2019s suffering, death, and resurrection, but \u2013 if I am to be counted among the saints \u2013 they are the story of <\/span>my<\/span><\/i> salvation. If I am saved, it is because I am mystically joined \u2013 through faith and baptism \u2013 to Christ on Calvary. St. Paul makes this same point to the Christians at Rome. \u201c[A]re you unaware,\u201d he asks them, \u201cthat we who were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life\u201d (Rom 6:3-4). To use another reference, on Good Friday many of us no doubt will sing the African-American spiritual \u201cWere You There?\u201d Well, if I am united to Christ, the answer is \u201cYes\u201d!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The Sacrament of Confirmation (a.k.a., Chrismation)<\/p><\/div>\n

Many of these liturgical celebrations are very familiar to us: Holy Thursday\u2019s Mass of the Lord\u2019s Supper, Good Friday\u2019s Celebration of the Lord\u2019s Passion (not Mass), and the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday. Along with the Way of the Cross (<\/span>Via Crucis<\/span><\/i>) \u2013 traditionally celebrated during the day on Good Friday \u2013 these are the most well-known and heavily attended liturgical celebrations during Holy Week. There is, however, another Mass during Holy Week that ought to be added to this list. The Mass celebrated during the day on Holy Thursday is known as the Chrism Mass. It is at this Mass that your local bishop will consecrate the oils used for sacraments (e.g., Confirmation, Anointing of the Sick, etc.) and liturgical celebrations (e.g., the consecration of a church, anointing of catechumens, etc.) in your diocese throughout the year. It is a rich liturgical celebration, and I would recommend that you find the Mass schedule of your local bishop in order to attend; it is not always celebrated, according to the tradition, on Holy Thursday.<\/span><\/p>\n

But there is more to attracting one to attend the Chrism Mass than just experiencing \"\"<\/a>something new. Customarily, we are used to commemorating <\/span>both<\/span><\/i> our Lord\u2019s institution of the Eucharist and the sacrament of Holy Orders at the Mass of the Lord\u2019s Supper. This makes perfect sense, since<\/span> \u201c[o]n the night before he died, Jesus instituted the Eucharist and at the same time established the<\/span>\u00a0priesthood of the New Covenant<\/span><\/i>\u201d (<\/span>Sacramentum Caritatis<\/span><\/i> 23).<\/span> Further, the celebration of the Eucharist is at the heart of the priesthood itself (see Pope St. John Paul II, General Audience, 9 June 1993). But while the sacraments of the Eucharist and Holy Orders are most certainly intimately linked, the Chrism Mass \u2013 more than the Mass of the Lord\u2019s Supper \u2013 is a celebration of the priesthood. In addition to the Blessing of Oils, this Mass contains within it a Renewal of Priestly Promises; and the scriptural readings point to the biblical use of oils for consecrating, i.e., \u2018setting apart,\u2019 a person for a holy task or office. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While the Chrism Mass is perhaps <\/span>the<\/span><\/i> annual celebration of Christ\u2019s institution of the priesthood, it should also remind us of the holy task to which we are <\/span>all<\/span><\/i> called. It is a celebration of the ministerial priesthood, established in the sacrament of Holy Orders. But it should also remind us all of the priesthood of all believers, established in the sacraments of initiation. All Christians, by virtue of their Baptism, are called to preach, govern, and sanctify in the world; just as those who have received Holy Orders are called to preach, govern, and sanctify in the Church. All Christians have been set apart for this task, and made \u201ca kingdom of priests, a holy nation\u201d (Ex 19:6; cf. 1 Pt 2:9). The ministerial priesthood and priesthood of all believers both participate in the one priesthood of Christ, and together form one Church (see <\/span>Lumen Gentium<\/span><\/i> 10). <\/span><\/p>\n

So if you happen to see a priest on Holy Thursday, it would be an appropriate day to thank him for his ministry. Then consider your own call to holiness, and the grace you have received through Baptism in order to fulfill this call. That\u2019s your priestly vocation!<\/span><\/p>\n

Anthony Coleman<\/strong>\u00a0teaches theology for the\u00a0Saint Joseph\u2019s College Online Theology Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Being a professor of theology, people often ask me for recommendations when introducing the Catholic faith to others. What\u2019s the best book to use? Is there a video I can suggest to someone? For years now, my answer to these … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":1688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,19,23,1],"tags":[135],"class_list":["post-1687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liturgy","category-sacraments","category-spirituality","category-uncategorized","tag-holy-week"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2018\/03\/Chrismation.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1687"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1687\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sjcme.edu\/theology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}