ARTICLES

A Tale of Two Masses

How Many People Realized What Was Going On?

BY SACERDOS

"It was the best of times and the worst of times." These opening words of Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities crossed my mind as I drove home through the evening rain after the San Diego Chrism Mass on Thursday, April 1, 2004.

Earlier that day I had read about the Chrism Mass in the Church's liturgical books and official instructions: "The Chrism Mass, which the bishop concelebrates with the presbyterium [the priests of the diocese] and in which the holy chrism is consecrated and the oils [of the sick and of the catechumens] blessed, manifests the communion of the priests with their bishop in the same priesthood and ministry of Christ. The priests who concelebrate with the bishop should come to this Mass from different parts of the diocese, thus showing in consecration of the chrism to be his witnesses and cooperators, just as in their daily ministry they are his helpers and counselors. The faithful are also encouraged to participate in this Mass, and to receive the sacrament of the Eucharist."

This strong emphasis on the priesthood is found in the texts of the Mass where all the priests present renew publicly their priestly promises to "accept the responsibilities of the priesthood out of love for the Lord Jesus and his Church; to unite [themselves] more closely to Christ and to try to become more like him by joyfully sacrificing [their] own pleasure and ambition and bring peace and love to [their] brothers and sisters; to be faithful ministers of the mysteries of God, to celebrate the Eucharist and other liturgical services with sincere devotion; to imitate Jesus Christ, the head and shepherd of the Church, by teaching the Christian faith without thinking of [their] own profit, solely for the well being of the people [they] were sent to serve."

At the very heart of the Mass, in the preface to the eucharistic prayer, the bishop prays: "By your Holy Spirit you anoint your only Son High Priest of the new and eternal covenant. With wisdom and love you have planned that this one priesthood should continue in the Church. Christ gave the dignity of a royal priesthood to the people he has made his own. From these, with a brother's love, he chose men to share his sacred ministry by the laying on of hands. He appoints them to renew in his name the sacrifice of our redemption as they set before your family his paschal meal. He calls them to lead your holy people in love, nourish them by your word, and strengthen them through the sacraments. Father, they are to give their lives in your service and for the salvation of your people as they strive to grow in the likeness of Christ and honor you by their courageous witness of faith and love."

This preface is used at priestly ordinations. These and countless other texts show the centrality of the priesthood in this celebration and my expectations when I arrived at Good Shepherd Church in Mira Mesa.

The Scene: For those who haven't been there I could best describe it as a high-tech, steel and concrete auditorium with pews arranged in a semicircle on a sloping floor. The center of the "worship space" is the raised platform of the sanctuary with a square wooden altar/table, an ambo to the left and presidential chair to the right. A large, three-dimensional San Damiano crucifix hangs on the wall. In a corner to the left and outside the sanctuary is a statue of Our Lady. Abstract stations of the cross are incorporated into fourteen clear glass windows arranged along the flanking walls. The Blessed Sacrament is reserved in a chapel situated behind the congregation. One gets a glimpse of the chapel through an opening in the wall where ciboria can be passed back and forth to eucharistic ministers.

This chapel is flanked on the opposite side of the nave by an immense cry room with towering windows of tinted glass. At the main entrance I was immediately struck by the level of noise coming from inside. It was just like a theater or concert hall before a performance. In the Blessed Sacrament chapel some determined souls were attempting to pray in spite of the din: men and women saying their rosaries, a few priests reciting the Divine Office and one of the auxiliary bishops kneeling at a prie-dieu just in front of the tower-like tabernacle. Meanwhile the din rose to a roar as more and more priests, vested in alb and stole, assembled in the narthex and louder and louder organ music filled the air.

Amid this scene of chaos the entrance song began and the procession of concelebrants entered the nave of the church. The concelebrating priests bowed to the altar and went to their places in the pews to the far left of the sanctuary. Meanwhile, to the accompaniment of flute and piano the choir and congregation sang: "Church of God, chosen people, sing your praise to God. He has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." This replaced the Entrance Antiphon given in the Roman Missal: "Jesus Christ has made us a kingdom of priests to serve his God and father: glory and kingship be his forever. Amen."

The Rites: Since February, I had been preparing my catechumens and their sponsors for the celebration of Holy Week and the Sacred Triduum. While preparing for our trip to the Chrism Mass we looked at the special ceremonies that accompany a Mass celebrated by a bishop in his own diocese.

This is called a Pontifical Mass and is described in the Ceremonial for Bishops, last revised in 1984 to conform to the decrees of Vatican II. At a Pontifical Mass a bishop wears the vestments of both priest and deacon (dalmatic and chasuble) to show that he possesses the fullness of the priesthood. He is assisted by at least four deacons and is surrounded by his priests, all vested according to their orders to show their unity in priesthood and ministry. He is preceded in the entrance procession by seven candles and seven candles are placed around the altar as a reminder of the seven lamp stands seen before the altar of heaven in the Book of Revelation.

The Sacrifice of the Mass and the liturgy of heaven are inexorably united. Although the ceremonies in Mira Mesa were in their own way reverent and well rehearsed it was clear that a decision had been made not to follow the Ceremonial for Bishops. Aside from the use of the miter and crozier the bishop celebrated like a simple priest. Rather than be surrounded by his deacons and priests he sat in splendid isolation with a single deacon in attendance. This minimalist approach seemed to effect every aspect of the Chrism Mass. It was as if someone was making a real effort to blunt the strong emphasis of this liturgy on the priesthood. The concelebrating bishops wore no miters and sat in the pews with the concelebrating priests. The seminarians of the diocese sat behind the priests in jacket and tie while the Mass servers were a politically correct mixture of women and men. The sermon, given by one of the auxiliary bishops, was a fine explanation of the symbolism of the holy oils. However, it failed to follow the instruction given in the Missal: "In his homily the bishop should urge his priests to be faithful in fulfilling their office in the Church and should invite them to renew publicly their priestly promises."

After the priests had later renewed their priestly promises Bishop Brom invited the people to give them a round of applause. At the end of Mass he would invite the priests to applaud the people. Neither accolade is mentioned in the Church's liturgical books. The consecration of the chrism and the blessing of the holy oils was similarly low-key and subtly modified. During the presentation of the gifts (both the bread and wine for the Mass and the oil for consecration and blessing) the missal prescribes the ancient hymn, "O Redemptor," composed in the sixth century by St. Venantius Fortunatus. Here is the full text:

O Judge of the dead! O only hope of men! Hear the prayers of those who carry the symbol of the gift of peace.

Sunlight makes the olive fruitful; From the fruit the oil is pressed; Savior of the generations, Now we bring it to be blessed.

The mitered pontiff, too, standing before the altar, is about to do his duty, by consecrating the chrism.

In your kindness, King immortal, consecrate this olive oil; May it be a sign and safeguard, And the schemes of Satin foil.

Men and women are made new by the anointing of the chrism; and by it is healed their glorious dignity, wounded by sin.

When the soul is washed in the sacred font, her sins are put to flight; and the holiest graces come upon those whose heads are anointed with this oil.

O Son of the eternal Father, and son of the Virgin Mother give light and life to us to whom you have given a share in your own anointing.

May we keep this feast forever As a holy day of days; May our hearts grow never weary, as we sing its fitting praise.

What we don't say (or sing) is often more eloquent than what we do. All but the bishop and his assistants remained seated during what is intended to be a most solemn moment. The priests alone stood for the final section of the Consecration of the Chrism. Though he has a good singing voice the bishop sang none of the prayers.

At the end of the Mass a further rite, not in the liturgical books, was added. The lay delegations from every parish and chapel were called forward to greet the bishop and then proceeded to the narthex of the church. There they received boutique shopping bags containing plastic bottles with the holy oils. This process took longer than Communion. There were many other interesting details that evening, from the relentlessly contemporary music to the shenanigans of concelebrating priests who chatted with neighbors and waved to parishioners. I was in a strange city, one that had been convulsed by a revolution, and I couldn't help wondering how many people realized what was going on. It was a Mass, but what kind of a Mass? The priesthood was celebrated but not quite as the Church would have it. The oils were blessed but somehow the juxtaposition of those solemn prayers and the little shopping bags made me wonder if this was the Chrism Mass that the Church and Tradition intended. Like the characters in Dickens, it was with great relief that I left Paris and returned to London.

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