HOMILY AT THE CHRISM MASS
Most Reverend Manuel de Jesús Rodríguez
Tuesday of the Holy Week, March 31, 2026
Cathedral of St. Ignatius of Loyola
Most Reverend Gerald Barbarito, Bishop Emeritus of Palm Beach
My dear Priests
Dear Deacons and their wives
Dear Brothers and Sisters
Having entered into the very heart of our liturgical year—Holy Week—with the celebration of Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, we now stand on the threshold of the most sacred liturgies of the Paschal Triduum. Before we begin these solemn celebrations, the Church gathers around the altar of the Lord to celebrate the Chrism Mass, a luminous manifestation of the holiness of our anointing and of our communion in the grace of Christ.
It is within this most sacred assembly that the holy oils of the Church are consecrated and blessed by the Diocesan Bishop, united with his presbyterate. Together, they share the vocation and the solemn responsibility of anointing God’s people with these oils of gladness, healing, renewal, and hope—visible signs of the grace of the Lord poured abundantly into the hearts of the faithful, especially within our beloved Diocese of Palm Beach.
For this reason, today’s celebration of the Chrism Mass is, in itself, a privileged moment to contemplate and to rejoice in the ontological communion that unites the Diocesan Bishop with his priests. As the Second Vatican Council reminds us, priests share in the sacred ministry of the Bishop, who, together with them, presides over the priestly body called to sanctify God’s people for the salvation of souls.
It is within this profound communion—both priestly and episcopal—that the Sacred Chrism is consecrated: to anoint those reborn to new life in Christ through the waters of Holy Baptism; to seal with the gift of the Holy Spirit those who are confirmed; to consecrate the hands of those chosen to serve as presbyters; to anoint the heads of newly ordained bishops; and to sanctify altars and churches at their dedication. In that same spirit, the Oil of Catechumens is blessed for the strengthening and preparation of those who are to be reborn in Baptism, and the Oil of the Sick is blessed for the comfort and healing of those who suffer in body and spirit.
It is therefore most fitting that, within this celebration of the outpouring of the Lord’s grace upon His priests and His flock—and of the deep communion that binds the Bishop to his presbyterate—the priests themselves renew their sacred promises. In doing so, they reaffirm their total commitment to serve God’s people faithfully, according to the obligations they freely embraced on the day of their ordination.
Wherefore, my dear priests—who are at once my brothers and my sons—before we proceed to the renewal of our priestly promises, let us pause to reflect more deeply on the very grace we are called to dispense.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a remarkable Christian witness and martyr, offered a profound contribution to the understanding of grace by distinguishing between what he termed “cheap grace” and “costly grace.”
Cheap grace, he tells us, is grace reduced to mere convenience—grace without discipleship, forgiveness without repentance, sacramental life without interior conversion. It is the illusion of salvation without transformation, the comfort of religion without the demands of the Gospel. It is grace proclaimed, but not lived; received, but not allowed to change the heart. In short, it is grace emptied of the Cross.
Costly grace, on the other hand, is the grace of Jesus Christ in its full truth and power. It is grace that calls, that demands, that transforms. It is grace that invites us to follow the Lord even when that path leads to sacrifice, to self-denial, and to the Cross. It is costly because it asks everything of us; yet it is grace because it gives us everything—indeed, it gives us Christ Himself. For this grace has cost God nothing less than the life of His only Son, who shed every drop of His Precious Blood for the salvation of the world.
Standing before the altar of the Lord today, as you did on the day of your ordination, promise anew to the Heart of Jesus that you will be priests not of cheap grace, but of costly grace.
Let your ministry never be reduced to routine or mere function. Let it be a living proclamation of today’s Gospel: bringing glad tidings to the poor in the forgotten corners of our communities, proclaiming liberty to captives in our prisons, restoring sight to the blind, setting the oppressed free—especially through the sacred ministry of reconciliation—and announcing a time of grace and hope for all God’s people.
There is something worse than a bad priest: it is a mediocre one. The mediocre priest is the minister of cheap grace. Do not be mediocre. You have received everything necessary to make a true difference in the lives of the faithful entrusted to your care in your respective parishes and ministries.
Believe in the power of the grace bestowed upon you on the day of your ordination. Do not hesitate to go forth and encounter those in need of the forgiveness of sins, which you are empowered to impart in the Name of the Lord. Believe that you have been given the sacred power to bring down from heaven the Body of Christ, so as to nourish the souls of His flock—therefore, celebrate the Eucharist with profound devotion and ardent zeal. Remember, too, that those who lie sick—whether in hospitals or in their homes—recognize in your anointing hands the very touch of God’s healing mercy.
In a word: you have been consecrated as priests in order to give your lives entirely to the priestly ministry. Live it fully. Live it generously. Live it as Christ Himself did—unto the last drop of the blood of your priestly heart… and happiness and joy will be with you and those you are called to serve.
Amen.
