In the homily he prepared for the Chrism Mass, celebrated in his place by the President Emeritus of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), Italian Cardinal Domenico Calcagno, which opens the Easter Triduum of Holy Week, Pope Francis urged priests to “leave clericalism” and to stop seeking “consensus at all costs.”
The 88-year-old Pontiff continues to improve from his health problems, including mobility, breathing, and voice, but has chosen to delegate the liturgical celebrations of Holy Week to cardinals of the Curia.
Below is the text of Pope Francis’ prepared homily.
Dear bishops and priests,
Dear brothers and sisters,
“The Alpha and the Omega […], who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (Rev 1:8) is Jesus. This is precisely the Jesus Luke describes to us in the synagogue at Nazareth, among those who have known him since childhood and now marvel at him.
Revelation—”apocalypse”—is offered within the limits of time and space: it has as its axis the flesh, which sustains hope. The flesh of Jesus and our own. The last book of the Bible narrates this hope. It does so in an original way, dispelling all apocalyptic fears in the light of crucified love. In Jesus, the book of history opens and can be read.
We priests, too, have a history: as we renew the promises of our Ordination on Holy Thursday, we confess that we can only read that history from Jesus of Nazareth. “He loved us and cleansed us from our sins by his blood” (Rev 1:5). He also opens the book of our life and teaches us to find the passages that reveal its meaning and mission.
When we allow Him to instruct us, our ministry becomes a ministry of hope, because in each of our stories, God inaugurates a jubilee, that is, a time and oasis of grace. Let us ask ourselves: Am I learning to read my life? Am I afraid of doing so?It is an entire people who find comfort when the Jubilee begins in our lives. May it not be once every twenty-five years, but in the daily closeness of the priest with his people, in which the prophecies of justice and peace are fulfilled. “He made us a kingdom of priests for God and the Father” (Rev 1:6): this is the People of God. This kingdom of priests does not refer only to the clergy.
The “we” that Jesus portrays is a people whose boundaries we cannot see, whose walls and customs have fallen away. He who says, “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev 21:5) has rent the veil of the temple and has prepared for humanity a garden city, the new Jerusalem, whose gates are always open (cf. Rev 21:25). Thus, Jesus reads and teaches us to read the ministerial priesthood as pure service to the priestly people, who will soon inhabit a city without need for a temple.
The Jubilee Year thus represents, for us priests, a specific call to begin anew under the sign of conversion. Pilgrims of hope, to emerge from clericalism and become heralds of hope. Of course, if the Alpha and Omega of our lives is Jesus, we too will encounter the rejection He experienced in Nazareth.
The pastor who loves his people does not live in search of approval and consensus at all costs. However, the fidelity of love transforms: the first to recognize it are the poor; then, slowly, it also stirs and attracts others. “All will see him, even those who pierced him. For all the tribes of the earth will beat their breasts. Yes, it will be so. Amen” (Rev 1:7).
We are gathered here, dear friends, to make our own and repeat this affirmation: “Yes, so it shall be. Amen.” It is the confession of faith of the People of God: “Yes, so it is, firm as a rock!” The Passion, death, and Resurrection of Jesus, which we are preparing to relive, are the ground that firmly sustains the Church and, within her, our priestly ministry. And what ground is this? In what humus can we not only endure, but flourish? To understand this, we must return to Nazareth, as Saint Charles de Foucauld so profoundly intuited. “Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; on the Sabbath day he entered the synagogue as usual and stood up to read” (Lk 4:16).
At least two habits are evoked here: attending synagogue and reading. Our lives are sustained by good habits. These may become dry, but they reveal where our heart is.
Jesus’s heart is enamored with the Word of God: from the age of twelve he had already glimpsed it, and now, as an adult, the Scriptures are his home. This is the ground, the vital humus we find when we become his disciples. “They brought him the book of the prophet Isaiah, and when he had opened it, he found the passage” (Luke 4:17). Jesus knows what he is looking for.
The synagogue ritual allowed it: after the Torah reading, each rabbi could choose prophetic pages to update the message. But there’s much more here: it’s the page of his life.
This is what Luke means: among many prophecies, Jesus chooses which one to fulfill. Dear priests, each of us has a Word to fulfill. Each of us has a long-standing relationship with the Word of God. And we put it at the service of all only when the Bible remains our first home.
Within it, each of us has cherished pages. This is beautiful and important! Let us also help others find the pages of their lives: perhaps spouses, when they choose their wedding readings; or those who are grieving and looking for passages to entrust the deceased to God’s mercy and the prayers of the community.
There is usually a vocational page at the beginning of each of our journeys. Through it, God continues to call us, if we guard it, so that love does not grow lukewarm.
However, the page chosen by Jesus is also important for each of us, and in a special way. We follow Him, and for that very reason, His mission concerns and involves us. “Opening it, he found the passage where it was written:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has consecrated me through his anointing. He has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim a year of favor from the Lord.
Jesus closed the Book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down” (Luke 4:17-20). Now our eyes are fixed on Him. He has just announced a jubilee. He did so not as one who speaks of others. He said: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,” as one who knows which Spirit He is speaking of. And in fact, He adds: “Today this passage of Scripture in your hearing has been fulfilled.”
This is divine: that the Word becomes reality. Now deeds speak, words are fulfilled. This is new, this is powerful. “I make all things new.” There is no grace, no Messiah, if promises remain only promises, if they are not realized from here below.
Everything is transformed. This is the Spirit we invoke upon our priesthood: we have been anointed with Him, and the Spirit of Jesus remains the silent protagonist of our service.
The people perceive his breath when his words become reality in us. The poor, before others, as well as children, adolescents, women, and even those who have been wounded in their relationship with the Church, have a “nose” for the Holy Spirit: they distinguish him from other worldly spirits, they recognize him when proclamation and life coincide in us. We can become a fulfilled prophecy, and that is beautiful!
The holy chrism, which we consecrate today, seals this transforming mystery at the different stages of Christian life. And pay attention: never be discouraged, because it is God’s work! Believe, yes! Believe that God will not fail me! God never fails.
Let us recall that phrase during the Ordination: “May God himself complete this good work he has begun in you.” And he does. It is God’s work, not ours, to bring a message of joy to the poor, liberation to the captives, sight to the blind, and freedom to the oppressed. If Jesus found this passage in the book, he continues to read it today in the life of each of us.
First, because, until the very end, it is always He who evangelizes us, who frees us from our prisons, who opens our eyes, who lightens the burden placed on our shoulders. And then, because, by calling us to His mission and by sacramentally inserting us into His life, He also frees others through us.
Usually, without us even realizing it. Our priesthood becomes a jubilee ministry, like his, without sounding the horn or the trumpet; in a silent, but radical and gratuitous dedication.
It is the Kingdom of God, the one told in the parables, as effective and discreet as yeast, as silent as seed. How many times have little ones recognized it in us? Are we capable of giving thanks?
Only God knows how abundant the harvest is. We, the workers, experience the toil and joy of the harvest. We live after Christ, in the messianic age. Away with despair! The People of God rather await restitution and the forgiveness of debts, the redistribution of responsibilities and resources.
They wish to participate, and by virtue of Baptism, they are a great priestly people. The oils we consecrate in this solemn celebration are for their consolation and messianic joy.
The countryside is the world. Our common home, so wounded, and human fraternity, so denied but indelible, call us to take a stand. God’s harvest is for all: a living field, where a hundred times more grows than what was sown. May we be encouraged in our mission by the joy of the Kingdom, which rewards every effort. Every farmer, indeed, experiences seasons in which nothing is born. Nor are such moments lacking in our lives. It is God who gives growth and who anoints his servants with the oil of gladness.
Dear faithful, people of hope, pray today for the joy of priests. May the liberation promised by the Scriptures and nourished by the sacraments come to you.
Many fears inhabit us and great injustices surround us, but a new world has already emerged. God so loved the world that he gave us his Son, Jesus. He anoints our wounds and wipes away our tears. “He comes with the clouds” (Rev 1:7). His is the Kingdom and the glory forever. Amen.