On Tuesday, March 28, 2023, Bishop Gregory consecrated Holy Oil of Chrism, Baptism and healing of the Sick. These oils, blessed by the bishop at his Cathedral, are now being distributed throughout the churches of the Eparchy.
You can view the divine liturgy of the Consecration of the Holy Oils on the Cathedral’s youtube channel, https://www.youtube.com/@OurLadyofLebanonBrooklynNY.
Below is a transcript of His Excellency’s homily.
Chorbishop Michael, Fr. Dominique, brother priests, deacons and subdeacons, brothers and sisters in Christ. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I say “Brothers and Sisters in Christ”. Christ means anointing. Msheeho. Messiah.
We may think Christ is Jesus’s last name but it’s really his description. It’s not Jesus Christ, it’s Jesus the Messiah. Jesus the anointed one.
When we talk about ourselves being in Christ, we talk about being anointed. Being anointed from above. And we are anointed through the chrism at Baptism. All of us have been anointed but you saw from the first reading, beautifully done by Erica, the idea that St. John in his epistle talked about the people of God who are dwelling in that anointing in the person of Christ. Dwelling and being meshiho means literally anointed but just not anointed but sent. That’s how the chosen people, the Jewish people were anointed. Even Moses, and then Moses anointed all the vessels for worship and anointed Aaron as priest and the kings were and the prophets were anointed. It’s all a part of the partaking of the Holy Spirit. To be in the world anointed with a special mission doesn’t mean we are better than anyone else. It means that we’ve got a mission.
In Psalm 133, there’s a beautiful passage.
A song of ascents. Of David.
1 How good and pleasant it is
when God’s people live together in unity!2 It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down on the collar of his robe.
3 It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the Lord bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.
The idea of this overflowing joyful anointing is how the Jewish people and then the Christian people have lived their anointing.
Now, it’s important for us to realize that there are three elements to anointing. One is for healing and refreshing. As in Psalm 133, you pour oil on your head after a long day, and you start to feel better. If your hands are cracked, you put on olive oil or if you’re in the sun. So there’s a refreshing element to it and a healing element. That’s first. Second, it is a setting apart. The kings were set apart; prophets were set apart; all of the people of God were set apart. The Jewish people and then the Christian people were set apart for a purpose.
There’s a third element that I’d like to spend just a moment on today and that is protecting. God protects us by this anointing and we get that from Psalm 23:
A psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
Now, I credit Father Dominique for this -- He reads; he studies.
Why did the shepherd anoint the head of the sheep? For three reasons. Sorry to get gross, but first so that the flies would not get in their nose and their ears and in their eyes and in any cracks they had. It was a preventative. The shepherd anointed the Sheep to prevent flies from doing mischief. Second, you know sheep, sometimes they head butt each other. Who’s going to be the most important? By putting a little bit of oil, it helps them from that self-destructive behavior. Sound a little bit like us? Third, is to heal wounds that could be made larger because sheep have no one to tend for them.
So, when King David talks (and King David was a shepherd). King David talks about you are my good shepherd Lord, you anoint my head with oil. This is what he talks about. That protective, preventative, that way in which our wounds are healed.
To conclude. We are set aside by the chrism as the priests, kings and holy people with the purpose. We are healed with God’s Grace by the anointing oil with the purple. We are protected and preserved by God’s pleasing oil which we see with the white. This is the way God treats us. This is the power that God gives us. He places in our hands to anoint one another and to help others. This is the power of prayer. Today our prayer is a protection for the whole church and it’s a prevention for the whole church. It’s a healing and a grace for the whole church.
Let us go into this consecration of these three oils with that in mind. That our prayer, whoever we are praying for, for the whole church, makes a huge difference in life.