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The Thursday Suppers at Catholic Charities sponsored by Holy Name have been a successful program for over a year. Funding has come from local restaurants, very generous parishioner donations, the sale of the Ides of March/Dick Biondi CD at Christmas time, and now the sale of that beautiful coffee table book, John Paul II: The Epic Life of a Pilgrim Pope. For just $20, you can have this treasured book while at the same time feeding the hungry. The books are on sale at the State Street doors throughout the weekend Mass schedule. They were donated to us; every penny of your purchase price will go to the Thursday Suppers. Last Thursday’s supper was served by members of the parish staff. I think that was a good idea; I was happy to be there. I am proud that Holy Name Cathedral has taken on such basic Christian work in the Holy Name of Jesus. The call came to the rectory about 11:40, late in the morning and pretty close to the time when I should have been heading toward the sacristy to prepare for the 12:10pm Mass. One of the Cathedral priests is on-call for generic requests to see a priest, for emergencies, and for needed anointings at Northwestern Hospital. Most often, the full-timers among us on the Cathedral clergy staff – Fathers Stein, Boivin, Novick, and I – are the on-call priests. We get help on weekends and occasional other days from Father Lagges and from Father Moriarity who regularly works at the hospital and covers it so well that the number of emergency calls is not overwhelming. On this particular day, Father Moriarity was away. I was on call. So I needed to make a quick decision. The non-ordained chaplain at the hospital said that the patient was “actively dying” and that her husband was with her. Still, it was less than 30 minutes until the scheduled Cathedral Mass. I decided to try to make it there and back. The brisk walk would do me good. On the way over to Northwestern I resisted thoughts about being interrupted or about how the pace of my day had been upset. I reminded myself of the truth – Anointing the Sick is genuine priest’s work. This Sacrament is part of what I was ordained to do. I was about to prepare someone for forever, to prepare her for her meeting with Our Lord. There is no room for thoughts about having the rhythm of my day accelerated. I hustled to the 16th floor and found not only the patient’s husband, but her youngest daughter present. The girl, a young adult, greeted me and thanked me. She introduced me to her father who was quiet, quite overcome. Then she introduced me to her mother. The patient was unconscious, obviously sedated. She had lost her hair; her skin was pale. Her breathing was very shallow, hardly detectable. Only the beeping and humming machines indicated that she was still alive. I explained to her loved ones what I was about to do before calling her by name and beginning the brief ritual. After imposing my hands on her head and praying the Lord’s Prayer, I added a Hail Mary, not a part of the rite, but seemingly so appropriate with its reference to “now and at the hour of our death.” For this particular disciple of Christ, now and at the hour of death were one in the same. Then, with the holy wish that makes up the first part of the actual anointing, I traced the Sign of the Cross with the blessed oil on her forehead. Through this holy anointing may the Lord in his love and mercy help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit. Then, as I reached to anoint the left hand, her daughter picked it up to me. These two likely had held hands the day the young one walked to Church for her First Holy Communion. Their hands were gracefully joined again. When I reached to anoint the right hand, it was her husband who had once upon a time held that hand while reciting marriage vows who lifted that hand to the Sacrament – until death do us part. Now another wish from a priest that whatever soiled her soul be forgiven with this Cross. May the Lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you up. I am not as eloquent as St. John Chrysostom. But that great priest of the 4th century wrote a long time ago about what had just taken place. "The priests of Judaism had power to cleanse the body from leprosy—or rather, not to cleanse it at all, but to declare a person as having been cleansed. Our priests have received the power not of treating with the leprosy of the body, but with spiritual uncleanness; not of declaring cleansed, but of actually cleansing. Priests accomplish this not only by teaching and admonishing, but also by the help of prayer. Not only at the time of our regeneration [in baptism], but even afterward, they have the authority to forgive sins: ‘Is there anyone among you sick? Let him call in the priests of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick man, and the Lord shall raise him up, and if he has committed sins, he shall be forgiven’" I hurried back to Holy Name deep in thought. At the 12:10 Mass, we prayed for that dying woman. Even if I have just 30 minutes, I never anoint anyone quickly, never routinely. Even now, after a couple weeks have passed since that moving morning, I ask that woman whom I anointed to pray for me. I ask all who have gone before us marked with the Sign of Faith and whom I have anointed to pray for me. May the Lord who frees you from sin save you and raise you up. On Tuesday this week, the annual Chrism Mass will be celebrated by Cardinal George along with the Auxiliary Bishops and the Priests of the Archdiocese. Sacred Chrism used in Confirmation, Holy Orders, and Baptism; the Oil of the Catechumens used in preparation for Baptism; and the Oil of the Sick - all will be blessed by the Cardinal and distributed to each parish in northeast Illinois. Parishes will send representatives to the Cathedral on Tuesday to carry those sacred oils back to their Churches. In addition, the priests of Chicago will gather to rededicate themselves to the promises of our priesthood. We will stand together with our Archbishop as those with authority to celebrate the Sacraments, to preach the Gospel, to forgive sins, and to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Priest attendance at the Chrism Mass had waned over the years. Recently, however, Cardinal George organized a day of recollection for priests at the Cathedral in advance of the Chrism Mass. He himself offers reflections in the morning followed by the opportunity for priests to go to confession. After lunch a second talk will be presented in the auditorium by Father Dennis Lyle, Rector of the Seminary at Mundelein. I hope a lot of priests come to Holy Name Cathedral on Tuesday. Please pray for us as we wind our spiritual springs for another year of service to this great Chicago Church. All Holy Week prayers are dramatic. See the descriptions elsewhere in this bulletin; join us. Especially, let me invite you to the Easter Vigil, the first Mass of Easter at 8:00pm on Saturday. It may take 2 ½ hours. But it will fascinate you. Over 67 new Catholics will be welcomed to our Church by the Cardinal that night. I look forward to Holy Saturday. Fr. Dan Mayall |
