His Excellency Bishop Glen John Provost celebrated the Mass of Chrism with the priests of the Diocese on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. At this Mass, customarily in Holy Week, the Bishop blessed the holy oils to be used throughout the year for sacramental celebrations in the Diocese of Lake Charles. He addressed his homily to the priests and offered the following reflection:
Chrism Mass 2026
“Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” Luke 4:21
This year on my customary visit to a Catholic elementary school, I had finished my conversation with a 5th Grade class and was leaving, when a student rose from his desk and followed me out of the classroom. He looked up, stared me in the face, and said, “Bishop, I want to be a saint.”
“I want to be a saint” — a noble sentiment for a 10-year-old. Then, I thought about all those DYC (Diocesan Youth Conference) Masses I’ve celebrated with hundreds upon hundreds of young people. Invariably I invite questions. The greater number were very serious: “How do I pray?” “How do I know right from wrong?” “How can I know Jesus better?”
What inspires youth to ask these questions? We hear a great deal these days about the increasing numbers of young people, particularly young adults, entering the Church through OCIA, particularly in countries that fancy themselves as bastions of secularism, like Western Europe, Australia, Canada, the United States. Then the pundits begin sharing their wisdom with us about motives. Frankly, I find none of their explanations satisfying.
Conversions, the rebirth of faith in youth, and a marked increase in religious interest are all the work of the Holy Spirit, God’s work. And I learned long ago when God is at work, it is best not to interfere. The best we can do is simply cooperate. But let us return to the statement: “I want to be a saint.” I would not presume to posit what I think is God’s motive. However, I think I can comment on what might be the motive.
They want more, not less. Simply, being a saint is a challenge. They want the challenge. God has placed before them the goal, and they want to cross the finish line. To paraphrase St. Paul, they are willing to exercise and train to win the race (I Corinthians 9:24-26). St. Paul addressed those words to the Corinthians, and historians tell us that Caesar had made Corinth a settlement for veterans. Those men knew what it took to compete and accomplish an end.
They want more, not less. I recall once at a USCCB meeting a bishop challenged our approach in religious education. He said that in mathematics and science we feed our children steak and foie gras but in religion we feed them baby food. I suppose one can say, at least we are feeding them something, but couldn’t we do more? They want more, not less.
Isn’t this the scene in the Gospel for our Chrism Mass? Our Lord reads from Isaiah about being anointed to carry out a mission (cf. Luke 4:18-19; cf. Isaiah 61 and 58). Then, He gives the shortest commentary I ever read on a Scripture passage. I find it a very challenging commentary. He says: “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). That is steak and foie gras!
If they wanted more, not less, then our Lord gave them all He could. The response? At first, they marveled at His eloquence, “the gracious words that came from his mouth” (Luke 4:22). But fascination soon turned to skepticism, and we know the rest of the story. I dare say there were no fifth graders present in the synagogue that day, and if there were, they didn’t speak.
They indeed want more, not less. We priests must be aware of this fact. Who among you would give his son a stone if he asked for a loaf of bread (cf. Matthew 7:9-11)? Yet, this is what we do from time to time when we seek answers in programs, self-help, conferences, and fads. How many renewals must we attend before we finally realize what is expected of us? How many arguments must we entertain? How many hours wasted over studies about whether the unrepentant can be admitted to Holy Communion, before we accept the truth our Lord left us by word and example, what the Church teaches and has taught from time immemorial? Do we really want a Church run like a corporate or governmental agency? Have we really become the product in what some (e.g. Prof. Shoshana Zuboff of Harvard) have called “surveillance capitalism”? Recall the adage attributed to Archbishop Sheen, amongst others (e.g. Dean William Inge). Variously phrased, it reads as follows: the church who marries the spirit of the age will find herself a widow in the next.
“I want to be a saint.” How do we answer such a statement of intent? What answer would be adequate? I think “it is fulfilled in your hearing” is the best. Young man, fight the fight, finish the race, allow the goal to remain in sight, do not let the skepticism of cynics coax you into ambivalence and ask the question, “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” (Luke 4:22).
“I want to be a saint.” When I heard those words, I thought to myself, “Did I ever say that at his age?” Yes, I did. And I dare say you did also. What happened between now and then is the jaundice of age. May I borrow a reference from Proust? When I seek la recherche du temps perdu, I am not grasping a pipe dream but re-entering the Synagogue of Nazareth, awaiting the closure of the text and the statement, “Today this scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” When on that sabbath day in Nazareth two thousand years ago, our Lord said those words, He was giving us the greatest challenge of our lives and the answer to our life’s pursuit. He says the same today. We must become like little children and say, “Amen.”
