Turn to the Lord in your weariness, Pope exhorts priests at Chrism Mass

April 02, 2015

Following the celebration of Terce from the Liturgy of the Hours, Pope Francis presided at the Chrism Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica on Holy Thursday morning.

During his homily, Pope Francis preached on the weariness of priests.

“There is what we can call ‘the weariness of people, the weariness of the crowd,’” he said. “For the Lord, and for us, this can be exhausting – so the Gospel tells us – yet it is a good weariness, a fruitful and joyful exhaustion.”

“There is also the kind of weariness which we can call ‘the weariness of enemies,’” he continued. “The devil and his minions never sleep and, since their ears cannot bear to hear the word of God, they work tirelessly to silence that word and to distort it. Confronting them is more wearying. It involves not only doing good, with all the exertion this entails, but also defending the flock and oneself from evil. The evil one is far more astute than we are, and he is able to demolish in a moment what it took us years of patience to build up.”

There is a “weariness of ourselves,” he added, “associated with ‘wanting yet not wanting,’ having given up everything but continuing to yearn for the fleshpots of Egypt, toying with the illusion of being something different. I like to call this kind of weariness ‘flirting with spiritual worldliness.’ When we are alone, we realize how many areas of our life are steeped in this worldliness, so much so that we may feel that it can never be completely washed away. This can be a dangerous kind of weariness.”

 

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Further information:

• Pope Francis: Chrism Mass homily (Vatican Radio)
• Chrism Mass (Vatican YouTube)
• Booklet for the Celebration (Holy See)