Kolkata: The Priests of the Archdiocese of Calcutta under its shepherd Archbishop Thomas D'Souza, gathered together to celebrate the Priesthood of Christ popular known as Chrism mass, at the Cathedral of the Most Holy Rosary on 07 April 2022. The Chrism Mass is one of the most solemn and important celebration of the Christian liturgical calendar. The ancient Christian Apostolic Tradition described it as a ceremony taking place during the Easter Vigil at which two holy oils were blessed and one was consecrated. Maundy Thursday is the usual day in which this Mass is celebrated in a diocese or archdiocese. Archbishop of Calcutta Thomas DSouza welcomed all the faithful, priests and religious to the solemn celebration.
Their were gathered around 200 priests, 5 deacons and several religious and lay faithful. The Archbishop while commenting on the significance of the day also explained the importance of the blessing of oils and its use in the daily life of the Church. He also stressed on the fact that pandemic has taught humanity the lesson of inter dependency on one another and the importance of every human individual. Archbishop recalled a quote of Pope Francis "Joy is an echo of our inner holiness." He exhorted all the priests to continue the mission of Christ by obeying the command of Christ; "DO this in remembrance of Me". He gave the example of Fr Stan Swamy who broke his life for his people. Archbishop thanked the priests for their dedicated life as priests in the archdiocese. He called on all the priests to apply the words of the gospel reading; "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. He has sent me...".
Archbishop enumerated the four pillars i.e. Closeness to God, closeness to Bishop, closeness to brother priest and closeness to our people, given by Pope to all the priests and appealed all the priests to live faithfully in their daily ministry. After the final blessing the newly elected superior general of Missionaries of Charity, Sister Joseph Michael and other jubilarians were felicitated. The vote of thanks was proposed by Mr. Francis Chen. The priests and other invited guests were served with delicious meal.
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