BOSTON -- The holy oils that will be used in parishes and shrines throughout the Archdiocese of Boston for sacraments throughout the coming year were consecrated during the annual Chrism Mass, celebrated by Archbishop Richard G. Henning at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on March 31.

At the Chrism Mass, traditionally celebrated in Boston on the Tuesday of Holy Week, the archbishop consecrates three types of sacred oil that priests use in their duties. These oils are the oil of the catechumens administered during baptisms, the oil of the infirm, which anoints the sick, and the sacred chrism used at baptisms, confirmations, ordinations, and the dedication of churches and altars.

The Chrism Mass is also a time for the archdiocese's priests to gather in a spirit of fraternity and renew the promises they made on the day of their ordination. The Mass began with a procession of hundreds of priests through the cathedral.

"That was quite a procession," Archbishop Henning said. "A thing of beauty to see the priests, the presbyterate of the Archdiocese of Boston, process as one, to gather as one, to renew our commitment to the priesthood of Jesus Christ."

Also present at the Mass were Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley and Archbishop Lionginas Virbalas, the delegate of the Lithuanian Bishops' Conference for Lithuanian Catholics abroad. Continuing a Holy Week tradition lasting over 40 years, Metropolitan Methodios of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston attended the Chrism Mass. The Archbishop of Boston traditionally attends the Orthodox Easter Vigil at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral of New England each year in a show of friendship between the two Churches.

"The friendship that you have forged between our Churches is, I believe, a gift to the Lord who prayed that we might all be one," Archbishop Henning said as he invited Metropolitan Methodios to address the assembly at the start of the Mass.

Metropolitan Methodios said he considers his "brothers" in the archdiocese to be part of his family and said he often meets Boston's Catholic priests in hospitals and parishes he visits.

"It is obvious to me that your priests serve from early morning until late at night, tirelessly working to manifest the presence of the Lord in the communities in which you serve," he said. You are each a candle of the resurrection, shining brightly everywhere."

He referred to Cardinal O'Malley as "an old friend" and said that he is blessed to celebrate Easter twice, both with his "Catholic brothers" and with the Orthodox population he shepherds. He thanked Boston's Catholic priests for their ministry, praying "that the unwaning light of our Lord may shine on the path of your lives and into the hearts of all Christians -- Catholics, Orthodox, Protestant."

"We need the light of Christ in the days in which we live," he said.

Archbishop Henning began his homily by asking: "If a clock is broken and no longer tells time, is it still a clock?"

The archbishop said yes, because a broken clock is simply waiting for the moment that it is repaired, and can go back to being what it was meant to be. Human beings, he said, are the same way. They sin, but they are not meant to be broken. They are waiting for Jesus Christ, who reveals who they are.

"Even in our brokenness, we see in him our truest selves," Archbishop Henning said.

He said that during the Chrism Mass, "we priests turn to the Lord and ask for that gift of renewal."

The archbishop recalled the words of Pope Leo XIV, spoken to priests in Rome a few months ago. The pope told the priests that they do not have "more priesthood than the people." Every baptized Catholic has the same gift, which God wants to constantly renew. Priests are simply "claimed by the Lord" to serve him. To make his point, Archbishop Henning turned to the young people in the assembly, including students from multiple Catholic schools.

"We see your longing to know meaning and purpose, your longing to know God's plan for you," he said. "You're longing to know the truth that you are more, that you are made for more, that there is something bigger than yourself, that there is help."

Despite the challenges their generation is facing, the archbishop said, they are "leading the way" and rejuvenating older Catholics. Archbishop Henning called on them to look at the chalice to better understand the priesthood. He told them that priests, like the chalice, are "set aside and consecrated to receive the things of God."

"That's what these men are," he said. "They are vessels called by the Lord to his heart, set aside, consecrated so that they might open their lives and their hearts to that grace and truth of God, and then see it overflow from them for the sake of God's people."

He then turned to his brother priests and expressed his hope that they "remember the magnitude of the gift that God has poured out upon us, each and every one of you."

"He sees you," he said, "he knows you with your gifts and your flaws, and he chooses you, and he entrusts you to share in this priesthood, and together we are united, receive from him that call to govern, to teach, and to sanctify."

The consecration of the chrism, he said, must not be an "empty ritual" but "a cry from the heart" that God repair them into the priests he made them to be. The archbishop reminded the priests that during Holy Week they would be proclaiming God's glory, Jesus's resurrection, and, of course, saying "This is my body, my blood, given for you."

"Let those words renew us every day," he said. "Let this moment be a moment of decision, a free response to the grace of the Lord, to give witness to the seminarians that are here today that we would do it all again, for all the challenges and struggles and flaws, we would do it all again. That's what we're saying to them right now as we renew the promises made on the day of our ordination."

After his homily, the archbishop led the priests in renewing their promises. The priests promised to grow closer to Jesus and carry out their duties faithfully, with no thought of personal gain. The archbishop then asked the assembly to pray for him and their priests, especially the priests who had died in the past year. After that, the archbishop and all of the priests consecrated the oils together. The Mass concluded with a procession of the silver oil vessels around the sanctuary.