'God the Father makes us prophets and martyrs,' archbishop says at Chrism Mass

Holy Spirit equips the Church with wisdom, fidelity and bravery to respond to the world, archbishop says on Holy Thursday

DETROIT — On Holy Thursday, Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron called upon the faithful to embrace their mission as prophets and martyrs for Christ as the Church begins the Holy Triduum.

Priests, deacons and lay faithful gathered at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament on March 28 for the Chrism Mass, where the holy oils used in consecrations and sacraments throughout the year were blessed and distributed to parishes across the archdiocese.

The oils contain the power and graces of the Holy Spirit, but Archbishop Vigneron asked all gathered in the cathedral to reflect on three particular graces one needs in order to preach to Christ in 2024: wisdom, fidelity and bravery.

“The Holy Spirit offers us these gifts, and we need to grasp hold of these gifts to be faithful to our mission as prophets and martyrs, faithful to our mission to proclaim Jesus in word and by deed," Archbishop Vigneron said.

The liturgy comes at a time when the Church draws closer to the Sacred Triduum, when the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is commemorated for bringing about the salvation of all mankind.

The highlight of the annual liturgy is the blessing of the Sacred Chrism, the Oil of the Sick, and the Oil of Catechumens, with the Sacred Chrism being stirred and the archbishop blowing the breath of the Holy Spirit into the vessel.

The cathedral was packed to the brim with priests, parish staff and faithful from across the Archdiocese of Detroit — a crowd size reminiscent of pre-pandemic levels.

The liturgical ritual demonstrated how the oils used in churches throughout the year are meant to sanctify the faithful who are anointed by these oils, and how that anointing tasks each person with a mission.

It’s a point Archbishop Vigneron has made several times in past Chrism Mass homilies, he noted.

“In years past, I offered to think about various facets of this anointing for mission ... particularly what it might mean for Synod 16,” Archbishop Vigneron said, referring to the archdiocesan-wide gathering in November 2016 that formed the basis of the archbishop's centerpiece pastoral letter, "Unleash the Gospel." “I always spoke of this Chrism and what it means for our consecration to be anointed for mission, to be a Church on mission: a band of joyful mission disciples.”

When a person is anointed with Chrism — be it at baptism, confirmation or ordination — they are anointed as “priest, prophet, martyr and king,” the archbishop said.

“What does it mean for we, the people of God, to be made into prophets and martyrs?” Archbishop Vigneron asked. “First, we must understand consecration is about total dedication to God, but dedication for His saving purpose. We have a mission; that is why we are consecrated. There is no mission that is possible without being immersed in the Holy Spirit. How can anybody do the work of God, fulfill the mission of God, without God’s strength, without the spirit of God?”

Archbishop Vigneron asked the faithful, particularly those about to be confirmed during the Easter vigil, to understand what it means to proclaim that Christ crucified has risen from the dead in victory to defeat all death and misery and to establish God’s kingdom.

“This work of ours is about transforming in word and deed whatever our circumstances are, to transform them into being outposts of the kingdom of God,” Archbishop Vigneron said. “God wants His world back. It doesn’t really belong to the evil one, the prince of this world. It belongs to the Father. Jesus was anointed to bring it back, and he anoints us to share in this spirit to continue that work in the year 2024.”

After the homily, the archbishop asked the priests of the Archdiocese of Detroit to renew their priestly promises, commemorating Christ's conferral of the priesthood upon the apostles during the Last Supper on Holy Thursday. He then asked the faithful in attendance to pray for their priests. Finally, the archbishop asked the clergy and laity to pray for him and his mission as chief shepherd of the Church in Detroit.

Archbishop Vigneron prayed that all gathered on Holy Thursday might receive the specific gifts of the Holy Spirit of wisdom, fidelity and bravery, all necessary in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ in today’s world.

“We live in a context and society that promotes values that are contrary to those taught in the Gospel, visions and values about the nature of the human person and authentic human destiny,” Archbishop Vigneron said. “These are the challenges we face. We live in a world that challenges our mission of being prophets and martyrs, especially in its teachings of marriage and family.

“We exercise our mission in the context of a world that thinks differently from Christ and his teachings about what counts as success and what counts as failure in life,” Archbishop Vigneron added. “This mission we have requires the presence of the Holy Spirit. He is, as our Lord says, our Advocate, the One who speaks for us and sustains us.”

Archbishop Vigneron then turned to the priests gathered, sitting sanctuary and the front pews of the cathedral, asking them to think about what it means to be a prophet and martyr in the context of the priesthood in 2024.

“It is only possible for us to shepherd the people as prophets and martyrs if we make being prophets and martyrs touchstones of our ministry,” Archbishop Vigneron said. “Therefore, I invite all of us, when we make the promises, to reaffirm that we are made priests for the sake of evangelization. This is our first and highest priority — not maintenance.

"In our promises today, let us reaffirm that we will keep Jesus the focus of all we say and do; that you will not slip into becoming ecclesiastical civil servants, with no greater concern than keeping the organization running well. It’s not our mission. Our mission is to give glory and praise to the Father by proclaiming Jesus Christ in what we say and what do, in what we preach and how we minister.”

The archbishop said success in this mission is possible because God the Father has sent forth the Holy Spirit, present in the Chrism blessed at Mass, to be the Church’s guide.

“As we renew our Christian commitment, let us confirm once more that we rely on the Paraclete,” Archbishop Vigneron said. “We have the support of God; the Holy Spirit is our Advocate. We are reminded, as we renew our commitment, that we are not being foolhardy. We can rely on the assistance of the all-powerful God.

“By ourselves we are stupid, cowardly and unreliable," the archbishop concluded. "But by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can be wise with the wisdom of Jesus. We can be reliable with the reliability of Jesus. We can be brave with the bravery and heart of Jesus. That is what I am counting on. And I know it’s what all of us are counting on as we live our ministry.”