Homily - Mass of Chrism - Bishop McKeown

Holy Thursday, 17 April 2025
St Eugene's Cathedral, Derry 

In these days we celebrate the final events in the life of Jesus. But it is interesting that the Gospel reading of today brings us back to the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. In his opening sermon to his fellow citizens in Nazara he declares why he has come, what the purpose of his whole public life – including his death and Resurrection - will be. At this Chrism Mass we celebrate not just what he said he was to do – but what we as his Body in 2025 are called to do. What do I hear in these powerful readings about us as a diocesan church in Derry? 

Firstly, the driving force behind the mission of Jesus and of the church is the Holy Spirit. Our call to bring the good news to the poor is being fulfilled today - if we are prepared to listen. If we – whether clergy or laity – think that we are in charge of the church, we are sadly mistaken. That is the original sin of Adam and Eve – to believe that we have to live out of our own resources and solve the problems that we face in a way that we think best. All sin begins in a loss of confidence in God's promise to provide. That recognition is the beginning of our synodal approach, nationally and universally. But, like everything, that process is open to the temptation to serve our own interests rather than to listen for the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit. There are those who see the process as an opportunity to promote their agenda. In that case, the church is reduced to a parliamentary system where loud voices and voting blocs count. The other temptation is to think that only the learned and the clever, or the clerical professionals, know the truth. Both temptations believe that some voices are more powerful than others and that the church is a power game, driven by human egos. The synodal idea of conversations in the Spirit, of listening together for the voice of the Lord is an attempt to bring us back to the one driving force of the church, the Holy Spirit who blows where the Spirit wills. As Nicodemus discovered, we do not know where the Spirit is coming from or where it is going. Trust in the Spirit frees us from pride in what we can achieve and from the temptation to love power and to dominate others. We can end up taking convenient shortcuts in the service of convenience or of speed. Jesus did not take shortcuts. He took the long hard road and asks us to walk that road with him. 

Secondly, in the book of the Apocalypse, our second reading, we read that we have been made 'a line of kings and priests to serve our God'. The Letter to the Hebrews says that we gather around Jesus, we come as a people where each one is a first-born child of God and a citizen of heaven. (Hb 12:23) That is an enormously challenging understanding of who we are as church. It seems impractical. But if we refuse to believe in amazing things that God can do in us as communities of faith, we reduce parish to the limitations of our poor imagination and refuse to enter into the transcendent vision that the scriptures call us to take on board. The call of the church to behave transparently, to act accountably and to evaluate honestly how well we are doing – all of this will challenge us to go away beyond our comfort zone. But Jesus always pointed beyond what his listeners thought they could control. Church is not a place for Lone Rangers. It is a place for community builders who can help people to be heard. Those who only hear themselves will not be building on the foundation that is Jesus Christ. 

Thirdly, Jesus knew that the road he was starting out on would be difficult. He knew that he was called to be a Suffering Servant. Fighting sin is a huge struggle. That is the temptation to what Pope Franis calls 'spiritual worldliness'. That term refers to the temptation for the church to make itself an object of worship when outwardly worshipping God. We can end up focused – like the Pharisees – on our own image. Then we have nothing to offer except our own shallow morality or self-pity rather than the mercy of God. Life is tough for many people in these times. Despite our own crosses, Jesus asks us bind up hearts that are broken and to replace the mourning robe with the oil of gladness. That puts enormous pressure on clergy and on all who have leadership roles in parishes. But Jesus still calls people to take up their cross and follow him, because it is only the Cross that will save the world. 

These are tough times for us as a Church. We have to acknowledge the failings of the past. But today, as we gather as a diocesan family in search of renewal, Jesus reminds us of what he was called to be and do – and what we are called to be and do as his Body in our local communities. Renewal will not come merely through restructuring how parishes are served by clergy or by adapting teaching to fickle modern trends. It will not come through feeling sorry for ourselves or blaming somebody else or telling a gloomy story about the future or spending our money differently. We are called to a different way of being church, not just to adopting a different marketing strategy. We will allow God to renew us if we are open to be led by the Holy Spirit to bring Good News to the poor. We will let God work when we seek to build communities who discern together what our local priorities are. And we will be open to the Spirit if we develop our parishes as what Pope John Paul II called 'schools of prayer'. That is the context in which we can find new ways of walking with Christ and not be afraid, even if the road to Resurrection leads through Calvary and through dying to self.

+ Donal