On Tuesday 31 March, the Sale diocesan family gathered with Bishop Greg Bennet to celebrate the Chrism Mass. This holy day of the gathering as bishop, priests, deacons, consecrated religious and diocesan faithful, the Bishop noted, ‘makes visible the reality of the Church’. The congregation included students from local primary schools, and the choir from St Peter’s College, Cranbourne & Clyde North, under the direction of Nigel Patawaran, led the congregation in music.

In this sacred celebration the Oil of the Sick, Oil of Catechumens, and Sacred Chrism were blessed and consecrated, our priests renewed the promises they made on the day of their ordination and we remembered that we are all united in mission—anointed and sent to bring Christ’s hope to our communities.

Drawing on St Pope John Paul II’s observation that “Hands are the heart’s landscape.” The bishop reminded us that the work of our hands tells a truth about us – ‘they carry the marks of our labour and they hold the memory of our choices’. ‘May the Lord bless the work of our hands’ the Bishop concluded, ‘May the oil we bless and receive today renew not only our hands but the hearts they reveal and strengthen us as missionary disciples for the Diocese of Sale.’