The Catholic Church is a priestly Church, not in the sense of being a church for Bishops and Priests (otue ifada), but one which offers in an unbloody manner in prayers, the sacrifice enacted by Christ himself, where the faithful participate in the universal priesthood of Jesus Christ, either in the ministerial form as ordained priests or in the common form by virtue of our baptism in Christ. The Church is so, because Christ made it so by instituting the ministerial priesthood that offers this unbloody spiritual sacrifice on Holy Thursday of the Lord’s Supper, when he took the bread and wine of sacrifice, consecrated it as His real Body and Blood, given up and shared for many. Not only did he do this, he also commanded this to be done in memory of him. And for the sake of this perpetuation, Jesus established a Priestly Church; the Catholic Church.
Bishop Ogun also stated that the Chrism Mass is the empowering of the Priestly Church to carry out its function of ministering to the people of God. It is the Mass of the blessing of the three oils used by the Priest for the administering of the Sacraments. The Oil of Chrism is used for Baptism, Confirmation ordination. The Oil of Catechumens is used on the Catechumens just before Baptism, and the Oil of the Sick is used for the Anointing of the Sick.
Furthermore, His Lordship said that the Mass of Chrism is a celebration of renewal of commitment of priests to the priestly service to Christ in the person of the Bishop and in the presence of the faithful, who stand as witnesses to these commitment. He concluded by appreciating all faithful, who made the event colourful with their presence and active participation.
BY STAFF REPORTER
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