VATICAN - The Holy Father says during the Mass of the Chrism: “The bath in which the Lord immerses us is himself - the Truth in person. Priestly ordination means: being immersed in him, immersed in the Truth”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – On the morning of Holy Thursday, 9 April, the Holy Father Benedict XVI renewed his priestly vows with cardinals, bishops and priests present for the Chrism Mass: “In the Upper Room, […], the Lord saw us too, and he prayed for us. […] “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, so that they also may be consecrated in truth” (Jn:17.). The Lord asks for our sanctification, our consecration in the truth. And he sends us forth to carry on his own mission.
The Pope then explained the word ‘holy’, which “ describes above all God’s own nature, his completely unique, divine, way of being, one which is his alone […]. All other holiness derives from him, is a participation in his way of being.”. To consecrate something or someone means, " to take it out of the context of what is ours and to insert it in his milieu, so that it no longer belongs to our affairs, but is totally of God.”. “ The thing or person– the Pope said –, no longer belongs to us or even to itself, but is immersed in God. Such a giving up of something in order to give it over to God, we also call a sacrifice ”. Benedict XVI affirmed that the priesthood “: is a transfer of ownership, a being taken out of the world and given to God. We can now see the two directions which belong to the process of sanctification-consecration. It is a departure from the milieux of worldly life – a “being set apart” for God. But for this very reason it is not a segregation. Rather, being given over to God means being charged to represent others. The priest is removed from worldly bonds and given over to God, and precisely in this way, starting with God, he must be available for others, for everyone".
“Therefore – he continued – Bultmann was right to translate the phrase: “I consecrate myself” by “I sacrifice myself”. Do we now see what happens when Jesus says: “I consecrate myself for them”? This is the priestly act by which Jesus – the Man Jesus, who is one with the Son of God – gives himself over to the Father for us. It is the expression of the fact that he is both priest and victim. I consecrate myself – I sacrifice myself: this unfathomable word, which gives us a glimpse deep into the heart of Jesus Christ, should be the object of constantly renewed reflection. It contains the whole mystery of our redemption. It also contains the origins of the priesthood in the Church, of our priesthood. ”.
The words ‘sanctify them in the truth' form the prayer of consecration of the apostles, for whom - the Pope continued – “the Lord prays that God himself draw them towards him, into his holiness. He prays that God take them away from themselves to make them his own property, so that, starting from him, they can carry out the priestly ministry for the world. ”. The Holy Father illustrated the significance of the prayer of Jesus, “sanctify them in the truth' ”: “Jesus adds: ‘“Your word is truth”. The disciples are thus drawn deep within God by being immersed in the word of God, [...]. The word of God is, so to speak, the bath which purifies them, the creative power which transforms them into God’s own being ”. Responding to the position of Nietzsche, who scoffed at humility and obedience as the virtues of slaves, the Holy Father said “ there exist caricatures of a misguided humility and a mistaken submissiveness, which we do not want to imitate. But there also exists a destructive pride and a presumption which tear every community apart and result in violence”. Benedict XVI, interpreting the words: “sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth”, took a step further: “Did not Christ say of himself: “I am the truth” (cf. Jn 14:6)? […] Sanctify them in the truth – this means, then, in the deepest sense: make them one with me, Christ. Bind them to me. Draw them into me. Indeed, when all is said and done, there is only one priest of the New Covenant, Jesus Christ himself. Consequently, the priesthood of the disciples can only be a participation in the priesthood of Jesus. Our being priests is simply a new and radical way of being united to Christ. In its substance, it has been bestowed on us for ever in the sacrament”. " Being united to Christ calls for renunciation It means not wanting to impose our own way and our own will, not desiring to become someone else, but abandoning ourselves to him, however and wherever he wants to use us: “ we enter into true closeness to him. Then indeed we experience, amid sacrifices which can at first be painful, the growing joy of friendship with him, and all the small and sometimes great signs of his love, which he is constantly showing us. “The one who loses himself, finds himself”. When we dare to lose ourselves for the Lord, we come to experience the truth of these words.”. To be immersed in the Truth, in Christ – means "praying with the Church. Celebrating the Eucharist means praying. We celebrate the Eucharist rightly if with our thoughts and our being we enter into the words which the Church sets before us. There we find the prayer of all generations, which accompany us along the way towards the Lord. As priests, in the Eucharistic celebration we are those who by their prayer blaze a trail for the prayer of today’s Christians. If we are inwardly united to the words of prayer, if we let ourselves be guided and transformed by them, then the faithful will also enter into those words. And then all of us will become truly “one body, one spirit” in Christ.”. The Pope added “ Being immersed in him means being immersed in his goodness, in true love. True love does not come cheap, it can also prove quite costly.”… “Christ asks for his disciples the true sanctification which transforms their being, their very selves; he asks that it not remain a ritual formality, but that it make them truly the “property” of God himself. ”. Then Benedict XVI concluded: “ Let us implore him to draw us ever anew into himself, so that we may become truly priests of the New Covenant.”. (Agenzia Fides 9/4/2009, righe 53, parole 903)