Bishop Donald DeGrood, Diocese of Sioux Falls
Homily from the Chrism Mass
March 25, 2024

My brothers and sisters in Christ, as we celebrate Chrism Mass, we have every reason to be filled with delight in the goodness of our God, and his faithfulness to us. 

We hear in our first reading, of course, from the Book of Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me.” 

In the beautiful Book of Isaiah, Spirit is capitalized referring to the Holy Spirit. Each of us who have been blessed by oils in our lives, for example, if we were anointed with the Oil of Catechumens when we were baptized or received into the church (if we were adults). If we’ve ever been anointed by the sacred holy Oil for the Sick. All of us who have been baptized with, in baptism the Sacred Chrism sealing us. So, there’s no question that when the prayer is said over these oils, which we will bless today, that the Spirit of the Lord will be upon them so that the Spirit of the Lord will be alive in each of us. 

At baptism, of course, we were so greatly blessed with the Spirit of the living God, when God, in the Oil of Catechumens, washed away original sin through Baptism, and then we were anointed with the Sacred Chrism as priest, prophet, and king. That’s for everyone who has been baptized, and in that we were baptized into the common baptism of the priesthood of Jesus Christ. So as lay men and women, consecrated men and women, married, God has blessed you with the graces you need to live holy lives because the Spirit of the Lord is upon you. And through the gifts of the Holy Spirit, he continues to animate us with his own life, that is the life of God. 

So first, we have reason to be filled with encouragement from the Book of Isaiah that, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me.” 

We have been anointed with the oils that God has blessed us with. 

The second reason for us to be filled with great hope is from the Gospel today from Saint Luke. “Today the scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing,” and it’s referring of course to the passage from Isaiah, “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” Jesus was proclaiming that the Spirit of the Lord was upon him and that he was sent to bring glad tidings to the poor, of course, to proclaim liberty to captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord. 

My brothers and sisters, what a privilege it is to be with you to announce the Good News. This is a year acceptable to the Lord as is every year of our life. When we were baptized with Sacred Chrism oil, if when we’re ill, we’re blessed with the Oils for the Sick, and in confirmation again blessed with the Sacred Chrism. You my brothers in the Lord, as deacons and priests, which I share with you and you share with me, let us remember that today this scripture passes as fulfilled in your hearing. Jesus is, of course, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He has set for us the example of which we are to follow and that is why in our second reading today, I love that beautiful expression, that we are to be the witnesses. You know in your beloved brother, your bishop, Bishop Peter, his motto, “I have given you an example,” and oh what an example he has given. 

I remind us that, like Jesus, he is not far away. You see, when one is anointed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, when one is called by God to be a priest — to be a bishop — God gives those souls the graces they need to follow Him and to be the example and to go where the Father desires. Jesus said often, “I have come to do the will of my Father.” God the Father. 

I was reflecting upon Bishop Peter’s motto and how he strived to live that in his own life. And I was thinking about how Jesus, having been born in Bethlehem did not stay there the rest of his life. He spent most of his life in Nazareth, and looking up here and seeing your windows that reflect that, neither was he buried in Nazareth. He was buried where God the Father wanted him — in Jerusalem after his passion and death. The week of course we are entering into. 

What I see in our beloved brother Bishop Peter, was he himself, having been blessed by God in his baptism, sensed the call of God to be a priest and then called by God to be a bishop, that he was to leave everything behind. Everything. And now he was espoused to Christ the High Priest to be a servant for all of you, and to teach you and to teach me the importance that we follow the example of Christ has set for us. Bishop Peter’s beautiful witness of desiring to be buried here where he was espoused by God to you as laity, consecrated, and clergy. He believed in the Word of God, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me” is evident in his choice to be buried here. 

One can only imagine, and I pondered myself, why would he not return to his native place to be buried where his family or maybe one of his former parishes? Because he followed where the spirit of the Lord led him, and he knew, and he believed that now he was Christ the High Priest, called by God, anointed by God with the Sacred Chrism to be the High Priest here in Rapid City. And to remain here, with whom God had espoused him too. 

What a gift it is for me to be here having been at his ordination, having been perhaps like many of you at his funeral, to see what it looks like to be a witness to Christ. To fall so deeply in love with the Lord that whatever his will is to find joy and peace wherever that is and whatever that road to Calvary is. What a sadness it is indeed that his Calvary came so early for all of you having been here for such a short period of time, but he is following the witness of Christ who himself in public ministry began with such a short period of time. It is very similar to your time and Bishop Peter’s time with you. And yet I remind you as Jesus, and I remind myself, by the will of the Holy Father would have such a short period of time and how God works such beautiful things which I was to witness, so privileged to witness, when I came to the funeral of your love and care for Bishop Peter and Bishop Peter’s obvious love and care for you. So many present for his funeral service, for his vigil service, but I also remind you that there’s much more than just his body here in the Jerusalem God chose for him. 

Yesterday I was so very privileged. One of the things I was desiring to do was to kneel at his feet. What a gift it was to see at the feet you have a little angel. Then you have the rocks from the native quarry from the land. It reminded me so much of what happens, in our beloved brothers and sisters where our own heritage comes from in the Jewish tradition, where they will in their period of mourning, will go to the graves and they will put stones upon them. And there was the heap of stones from the quarry to remember that our brother or sister is not lost, but we come to be present with them. And as I was there, what a beautiful gift it was for me to look beyond the rock and on top of it was an array of what appeared to be olive branches and something that looked like palms. And here it was Palm Sunday where we celebrate the hailing of the great king, the Lord of Lords where people would take branches, whether it be from olive trees, whatever it was, to give glory to God and here over his grave — the cold and the snow was coming down — your king and Lord is present with you. 

In Jesus Christ himself, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords incarnate, and Bishop Peter to be incarnate in each one of us and our vocations that God has called us to, and then the gift of gifts that confirms for me evermore, every reason to be filled with the confidence of God, with faith and hope and charity, that the spirit of the lord is upon us. That today in your presence, my presence, the Scriptures have been fulfilled — Christ is alive! Yes, the seat is vacant. The body of your bishop is present in your own land, like Jerusalem, but his spiritual presence was so palpable yesterday at his feet. The spirit of a God remains upon him as his body was anointed, as his soul was purified in baptism, gifts of the Holy Spirit strength and confirmation and then called the holy orders as deacon, priest, and bishop. He is alive and present and how he loves you as you so beautifully loved him. 

And so, I offer you words of encouragement that as we celebrate this Chrism Mass, we remember that the Spirit of the Lord is upon us and we remember that today the Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing because Christ is outside of time. God is, and so the events that happened in the Passion of Christ and Bishop Peter’s passion, but in the Passion of Christ, what we celebrate at every Mass is not just a memory of what happened at the Last Supper or the Passion. It comes alive and is present in every celebration we have. The Word of God is active and alive. The spirit of the Lord is upon us, and we are to enter more deeply into this Holy Week with faith. Going into the Passion with Christ. Going into the Last Supper. Being in awe and wonder on Holy Thursday of the institution of the holy priesthood and the Holy Eucharist and Jesus teaching them, “I am giving you an example of which you are to follow.” Each of us now. 

And then we go through the Passion with Christ as we mourn our own sins and those in the world. But we don’t go as Christians without hope. We go with Christians filled with the living God because the Spirit of the Lord is upon us, and we wait in the darkness and the silence, longing for the kingdom, as Bishop Peter does as well, the end of time when our soul and our body will be reunited and how blessed you are to have your bishop here in body. Imagine what it’ll be at the resurrection when those stones upon his grave, or the stones upon our grave, when the stones upon our grave, will be thrown aside as the Lord brings us to eternal life. Gives us a new body and his spirit ever radiant. 

Let us long for the kingdom ever more. Let us long to enter in with faith, hope, and charity, as we bless these oils for the next set of people who will receive the spirit of the living God. In this time of absence of your bishop, may you remember his faithfulness to you and may we also remember the faithfulness of Our Lady of Perpetual Help — your patroness, forever.

You will have, as you have now, and I will have everything we need, regardless of the road the Lord has chosen for us, but we must go with him to Jerusalem. And the goal is to do it willfully as I witnessed in my good brother, and our good brother Bishop Peter, to go where the Father sends me. To be espoused to Christ in his Church there, and to be buried where the Lord desires us to be buried, and then we wait for the glorious coming of the Kingdom of Heaven.