In normal times, I usually go to the Chrism Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue in New York. As best as I can remember, I’ve been praying there since my father took me to Cardinal Terrence Cooke’s funeral Mass there when I was in grade school. Last year, the Chrism Mass wasn’t open to the public, but I made sure to get myself in there. The Chrism Mass is for the priests of the Archdiocese, and during the coronavirus pandemic, the need for the priesthood became so clearly critical. We kept abortion clinics, liquor stores, and supermarkets open, but we closed the churches. I wept the first times I went to Mass again — in gratitude for what I had been longing for. As you may know, Catholics believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and the sacraments of the Church. That’s an awesome reality. It’s also quite the deprivation when it is taken away.
At the Chrism Mass, Cardinal Timothy Dolan chose not to preach, but to give the pulpit to Archbishop Borys Gudziak, Metropolitan Archbishop of Philadelphia of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Before he said a word, the message was clear: He represents a people who are united with Jesus in His Passion, suffering under the evil of Russian aggression against these long-suffering people.
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