A reading from the prophet Isaiah (61:1-3, 6, 8-9)
The spirit of Lord God is on me
for the Lord has anointed me.
He has sent me to bring good news to the afflicted,
to soothe the broken-hearted,
to proclaim liberty to captives,
release to those in prison,
to proclaim a year of the Lord’s favour,
a day of vindication for our God,
to comfort those who mourn,
to give to those who mourn for Zion
a headdress in place of ashes,
a garland in place of mourning-dress,
the oil of gladness in place of a drooping spirit.
But you shall be called ‘priests of the Lord’
and addressed as ministers of our God.
I shall reward them faithfully
and make an everlasting covenant with them.
Their race will be known among the nations
and their descendants amid the peoples.
All who see them will agree
that they are a people blessed by the Lord.
The Mass of Chrism, celebrated on the morning of Holy Thursday, takes its name from the oil of chrism, used at Baptism, Confirmation and Ordination. At this Mass all the holy oils are blessed. The prophetic figure in this reading, anointed by the Spirit to ‘bring good news’, prepares the way for the Christ, the Messiah, whose name means ‘anointed one’. To be anointed to ‘bring the good news’ is common to all Christians. The ‘oil of gladness’ is given above all to those whose hearts are broken, whose spirit is ‘drooping’. The people are called to be ‘priests of the Lord’ and God declares, ‘I shall reward them faithfully and make an everlasting covenant with them.’ They are a people ‘blessed by the Lord’.
Psalm 89 (88) God has ‘found’ David and anointed him with holy oil.
A reading from the book of the Apocalypse (1:5-8)
Grace and peace to you from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born from the dead, the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father; to him be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen. Look, he is coming on the clouds; every eye shall see him, even those who pierced him, and all the races of the earth will mourn over him. So it shall be. Amen. ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.
The opening words of the book of the Apocalypse speak of Jesus Christ as ‘witness’ (martus). He it is who loves us and has freed us from sin. By his death he makes us ‘a kingdom, priests to his God and Father’. At his coming ‘every eye’ shall see him, and all races will mourn over him. The majestic words of God ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’ will be repeated towards the end of the book. God’s use of the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet indicate dominion over everything, and God brings together the three dimensions of time: ‘I am the One who is, who was, and who is to come.’
A reading from the holy gospel according to Luke (4:16-21)
Jesus came to Nazara, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath as was his custom. He stood up to read, and he was given the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is written:
The spirit of the Lord is upon me,
for he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to captives,
sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim a year of the Lord’s favour.
He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to speak to them, ‘Today this text has been fulfilled in your hearing.’
Christ, who has died, is risen, and will come again, is the one who is ‘anointed’ with the Spirit to bring good news. He is anointed by Mary for burial (John 12). His status is challenged by the high priest: ‘Are you the Christ?’ (Mark 14) And by Pontius Pilate: ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ (Mark 15) He is the Christ, but ‘the crucified Christ’, whom St Paul will call ‘the power of God and the wisdom of God’ (1 Corinthians 1). He is the fulfilment of Scripture who anoints his followers in Baptism to bring good news to the poor.
As a follower of the crucified Christ, am I worthy to be called ‘Christian’?
Pray for the grace to embrace the paschal mystery of Christ.