At the Mass of the blessing of the oils and the renewal of commitment to priestly service, the Auxiliary Bishop of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Pretoria thanks priests for their ministry and urges them to be “effective ministers of the gospel.”

“Dear friends in this mass in which the oils are blessed, we express our communion with the archbishop as our chief shepherd. Today there is also a particular focus on the vocation to the priesthood and I thank the many priests of the archdiocese for their presence today. Your ministry is revered and loved by so many,” says Bishop Masilo John Selemela in homily during Chrism Mass at the Church of the Beatitudes, Zwavelpoort, Pretoria East.

Synodal Priest

In his homily, Bishop Selemela reflects on the “Synod on Synodality currently underway in the Universal Church in its second phase” and the call “for a synodal priest filled with joy as he accompanies and announces the gospel of hope in our context where there is obvious collective depression.”

Recalling the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium where Pope Francis shares his vision of a missionary church, Bishop Selemela says, “We are called by Pope Francis in union with our bishops to realize this church of missionary disciples. In this church no one is excluded, everyone’s voice is heard, and those challenged by the circumstances of life are encouraged and accompanied with great mercy.”

In a country with “high levels of unemployment, high levels of crime, gender-based -violence, youth plagued by drugs, abuse of the elderly and brutal killings of innocent people, and the loss of the sense of the sacredness of life,” Bishop Selemela says priests must be bears of “good news,” and “ministers of the Gospel whose lives glow with fervour, who have first received the joy of Christ (EG 10).”

“It is in this context that people have a need to experience the good news and be anointed with the oil of gladness,” he adds.

Missionary priests

In his reflection Bishop Selemela says the “readings given for this mass are also pregnant with the theme of Mission.”

He adds, “The gospel reminds us that Christ’s mission is directed to the poor, release of captives, restore sight to the blind, and to lift the downtrodden. All these speak to raising people to a new hope. It is also our mission as it was during Christ’s time.”

And staying in line with the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference Pastoral Plan, Bishop Selemela calls for collaborative efforts in building a missionary Church.

“Building a missionary Church demands that we help people to discover their baptismal call so that together we can build a collaborative church, as missionary disciples,” he says.

He adds, “Baptism is not just the pouring of water on our forehead that we renew with sprinkling each time we celebrate the liturgy, it is the initiation into Christ’s way of living and loving.”

In his concluding remarks, Bishop Selemela calls on priests to “be men of God.

He says, “Vatican II reminds us that as priests, we are leaders and community builders. But to do this effectively we have to be men of God. We must be men who have been touched and transformed by the Spirit of God.”

“The Council itself reminds us: “Priests cannot be ministers of Christ unless they are witnesses and dispensers of a life other than this earthly one. It is the ministry that is the most powerful means of sanctification. Finally, priests must be good human beings to be effective ministers of the gospel,” Bishop Selemela concludes.