Homily text prepared by Pope Francis for the Chrism Mass

In the homily he prepared for the Chrism Mass, held instead by the Emeritus President of the Heritage Administration of the Apostolic Headquarters (APSA), the Italian Cardinal Domenico Calcagno, with which the Pascual Triduum of Holy Week opens, Pope Francis urged the priests to “leave clericalism” no longer to live looking for the “consensus at all costs”.

The 88 -year -old Pontiff continues to improve his health problems, both from the point of view of mobility and breathing and voice, but has chosen to delegate to Cardinals of the Curia the liturgical celebrations of Holy Week.

Then the text of the homily prepared by Pope Francis.

Dear bishops and priests,

Dear brothers and sisters:

“The Alfa and the Omega (…), the one who was, who was and the next one, the almighty” (Rev 1,8) is Jesus. Precisely the Jesus that Luke describes us in Nazareth’s synagogue, among those who know him since childhood and now marvel at him.

The revelation – “Apocalypse” – is offered within the limits of time and space: it has the flesh as axis, which sustains hope. The flesh of Jesus and ours. The last book of the Bible tells this hope. He does it originally, dissipating all apocalyptic fears in the light of crucified love. In Jesus the book of history opens and can be read.

We also, priests, have a story: by renewing on Holy Thursday the promises of ordination, we confess that we can only read that story from Jesus of Nazareth. “He loved us and purified us of our sins, through his blood” (Rev 1,5), he also opens the book of our life and teaches us to find the passages that reveal their meaning and mission.

When we let him who instruct us, our ministry becomes a ministry of hope, because in each of our stories God inaugurates a jubilee, that is, a time and an oasis of grace. Let us ask ourselves: Am I learning to read my life? Are I afraid of doing it?

It is a town that finds comfort when the jubilee begins in our lives. Hopefully it is not once every twenty -five years, but in that daily closeness of the priest with his people, in which the prophecies of justice and peace are fulfilled. “He made us a priestly kingdom for God, his father” (Rev 1,6): Here is the people of God. This kingdom of priests does not refer only to the clergy.

The “we” that Jesus Plasma is a people whose limits cannot see, in which the walls and customs fall. He who says: “I make all things new” (Rev 21,5) has torn the veil of the temple and has a city-jardin, the new Jerusalem, whose doors are always open (cf. Ap 21,25) prepared for humanity. Thus, Jesus reads and teaches us to read the ministerial priesthood as pure service to the priestly people, who will soon live a city without the need for temple.

The jubilee year thus represents, for us the priests, a specific call to recommend under the sign of conversion. Pilgrims of hope, to get out of clericalism and become announcers of hope. Of course, if the alpha and the omega of our life is Jesus, we will also find the rejection he experienced in Nazareth.

Not living in the search for approval and consensus at all costs

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 also restless and attracts others. «Everyone will see it, even those who had transferred it. The chest will hit all the races of the earth. Yes, it will be. Amen »(Rev 1,7).

We are gathered here, dear friends, to make ours and repeat this statement: «Yes, it will be. Amen”. It is the confession of faith of the people of God: “Yes, it is, firm as a rock!” Passion, death and resurrection of Jesus, which we prepare to revive, are the land that firmly sustains the Church and, in it, our priestly ministry. And what land is this? What humus can we not only resist, but flourish? To understand it, you have to return to Nazareth, as San Carlos de Foucauld sensed so deeply. Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had raised; On Saturday he entered as usual at the synagogue and got up to read ”(Lc 4,16).

Here at least two habits are evoked: to frequent the synagogue and read. Our life is sustained thanks to good habits. These can become arid, but reveal where our heart is.

Jesus is a heart in love with the Word of God: since the age of twelve he was already glimpsed, and now, being an adult, the Scriptures are his home. That is the terrain, the vital humus that we find by becoming its disciples. “They presented the book of the prophet Isaiah and, opening it, found the passage” (Lc 4,17). Jesus knows what he is looking for.

The synagogue ritual consented to it: after reading the Torah, each rabbi could choose prophetic pages to update the message. But there is much more here: there is the page of your life.

The Bible, First Home

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 with the Word of God a relationship that comes from afar. And we put it at everyone’s service only when the Bible remains our first home.

Inside it, each one has more beloved pages. This is beautiful and important! Let’s also help others find the pages of their life: maybe to husbands, when they choose the readings of their marriage; or those who are mourning and seek passages to entrust the deceased to the mercy of God and the prayer of the community.

There is a vocational page, in general, at the beginning of the path of each of us. Through it, God continues to call us, if we guard her, so that love is not watched.

However, it is also important for each of us, and in a special way, the page chosen by Jesus. We follow him and, therefore, his mission concerns and involves us. «Opening it, he found the passage where he was written:

The spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has consecrated me for the anointing. He sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to announce the liberation to the captives and the view to the blind, to give freedom to the oppressed and proclaim a year of grace of the Lord.

Jesus closed the book, returned it to the assistant and sat down ”(Lk 4,17-20). Now our eyes are fixed on him. He has just announced a jubilee. He has done it not as who speaks of others. He said: “The Spirit of the Lord is about me” as one who knows what spirit is talking about. And in fact he adds: “Today this passage of writing that has just heard has been fulfilled.”

This is divine: that the word comes true. Now the facts speak, the words are fulfilled. This is new, it is strong. “I make all things new.” There is no grace, or Messiah, if the promises remain only as promises, if from here below they do not come true.

Everything is transformed. This is the spirit that we invoke about our priesthood: we have been anointed with Him, and precisely the spirit of Jesus remains as a silent protagonist of our service.

The people perceive their breath when words come true. The poor, before others, as well as children, adolescents, women and also those who have been injured in their relationship with the Church, have “smell” for the Holy Spirit: they distinguish it from other worldly spirits, they recognize it when the announcement and life coincide in us. We can become a fulfilled prophecy, and that is beautiful!

The Holy Crisma, which today we consecrate, seals this transformative mystery in the different stages of Christian life. And pay attention, you never have to be discouraged, because it is the work of God! Believe, yes! Believe that God does not fail with me! God never fails.

Let us remember that phrase during the ordination: “May God himself take this good work that has begun in you.” And he does. It is the work of God, not ours, to bring to the poor a message of joy, to the captives liberation, to the blind sight and freedom to the oppressed. If Jesus found this passage in the book, today he continues to read it in the biography of each of us.

“He also frees others through us”

First because, until the last day, it is always he who evangelizes us, who frees us from our prisons, who opens our eyes, who relieves the burden on our shoulders. And then because, by calling us to his mission and by inserting ourselves sacramentally in his life, he also frees others through us.

Generally, without us noticing. Our priesthood becomes a jubilee ministry, like yours, without sounding the horn or trumpet; in a silent, but radical and free delivery.

It is the kingdom of God, that which narrates the parables, effective and discreet as yeast, silent like seed. How many times have the little ones recognized it in us? Are we able to give thanks?

Only God knows how abundant is Mies. We, workers, live the effort and joy of the harvest. We live after Christ, in the messianic time. Over despair! The people of God expect rather the restitution and remission of debts, the redistribution of responsibilities and resources.

He wants to participate and, by virtue of baptism, it is a great priestly people. The oils that we consecrate in this solemn celebration are for its consolation and for messianic joy.

“The harvest of God is for all”

The field is the world. Our common house, so wounded, and human fraternity, so denied but indelible, call us to take a position. The harvest of God is for all: a living field, where it grows a hundred times more than that was sown. That encourages us, in the mission, the joy of the kingdom, that rewards all effort. Every farmer, in effect, knows stations in which nothing is seen. Nor are such moments missing in our lives. It is God who grows and who anoses his servants with oil of joy.

Dear faithful, People of Hope, today pray for the joy of priests. That the liberation promised by the Scriptures and fed by the sacraments comes to you.

Many fears inhabit us and great injustices surround us, but a new world has already emerged. God loved the world so much to his Son, Jesus. He anoses our wounds and welcome our tears. “He comes among the clouds” (Rev 1,7). His is the kingdom and glory for centuries. Amen.