Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem Eastern Lieutenancy

Investiture Vigil & Promotion Service

Church of St. Vincent Ferrer, Friday, 11 October 2025

Homily of

Most Reverend Bishop Larry Kulick, KC*HS, 

Bishop of Greensburg

It is a great joy to be with you this afternoon to celebrate this Vigil Service together as we prepare our hearts and minds for the Investiture tomorrow. My deepest congratulations to the candidates who will be inducted into the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem tomorrow, as well as all those Knights and Dames celebrating their promotions during this ceremony this afternoon.

Our Catholic faith is replete with beautiful signs and symbols that represent or stand for a sacred truth or mystery of our faith. “Symbol” comes from a Greek word that means “to bring together,” and symbols help us to express a divine truth by connecting us sacramentally with the world.

This afternoon, I’d like to briefly reflect on three important symbols of the Equestrian Order: Anointing with Oil, the Jerusalem Cross, and the Holy Sepulchre. Each of these symbols communicate an important truth about our Catholic faith and our role as Knights and Dames of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.

First, let’s examine the symbol of oil. In the Gospel of Saint John, Mary of Bethany anoints the feet of Jesus prior to his death, preparing his body for burial. Through the Resurrection, Christ’s body is now present in the Church. As Knights and Dames, we are called to anoint the Body of Christ, the Church, through our lives of service. We are called to care for God’s beloved people, especially those who have been so wounded by violence in the Holy Land. Just as Mary anointed the feet of Jesus, the dirtiest, least glorious part of him, so too are we called to serve the “least” among us, those most in need.

When Mary anointed the feet of Christ at Bethany, Saint John notes that, “the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.” This evokes the words of Saint Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians in which he states, “For we are the aroma of Christ for God.” We are the Aroma of Christ. This is why Sacred Chrism – with which we are all anointed at our Baptism and Confirmation, and with which clergy are anointed in the Sacrament of Holy Orders – this is why Sacred Chrism is infused with balsam to give it the aromatic fragrance that symbolizes the permeation of Christ throughout our entire lives. As anointed ones in the image of Christ, the perfectly Anointed One, we bring Jesus into the world, dispelling the odor of death.

May the oil you receive always serve as a reminder of your commitment to minister to the Body of Christ and be the Aroma of Christ to the world.

The second symbol I’d like to reflect upon is the Cross, the most important sign of our faith. The cross is not a mere decoration. It is our undeniable and perfect proof of God’s immense love for all humanity. It serves as an assurance of our hope for salvation, which is only possible because God loved us so much that he redeemed us by conquering sin and death once and for all through the ultimate sacrifice of his Son on the cross.

As Knights and Dames, our insignia is the Jerusalem Cross, comprised of the five wounds of Christ. We don this cross in our regalia to reflect our closeness to the Heroic Heart of Jesus, broken and poured out for the life of the world. Through the wounds of Christ has flowed the salvation of all humanity. By our donning of these wounds, we commit to unite ourselves to Christ and, like Simon of Cyrene, bear his cross in the world.

As we heard in the Second Reading, Saint Paul tells the Ephesians to “put on the armor of God.” As Knights and Dames, charged with the care of the Holy Land and the protection of pilgrims (not just on pilgrimage to Jerusalem but all pilgrims on the journey of faith), we look to Christ as our chivalric hero par excellence whose five grievous wounds model the sacrificial love to which we are all called. May the Jerusalem Cross you wear always serve as a reminder to carry the cross of Christ as a mark of sacrifice and hope for the salvation of the world.

The third and final symbol I would like to reflect upon is the Sepulchre, the place of Jesus’ burial. The location of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is so important that our order takes its very identity from it. The sepulchre is significant because it represents where the body of the Lord was given a place of rest. Joseph of Arimathea was so driven by his discipleship, his desire to care for the broken Body of Christ, that he offered his own tomb, his own future security, out of love for the Lord.

But for us as Christians, the story doesn’t end with the tomb. God took a place of putrefaction and decay and transformed it into the very source of Life. Through the grace of God, a place a sorrow becomes the locus of our joy.

The empty tomb isn’t just a simple burial place left vacant. The Holy Sepulchre stands as proof of the most ontologically extraordinary event in the history of humanity – the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

As Knights and Dames, may we always serve as a “holy sepulchre,” providing the broken Body of Christ a place of rest and transforming sorrow and death into Life and Hope through our love of the Risen Lord.

Some of you here will receive these symbols tomorrow for the first time. My deepest congratulations on your investiture as Knights and Dames of this chivalric order. Your candidacy attests to your character, your unwavering support of your parishes and the universal Church, your generosity and commitment to the service of the Body of Christ, and your love of the Lord.

To those who will shortly be promoted to a new rank, I congratulate you also. This promotion, however, is not just recognition of your advancement in the Order, but a calling forward in the Lord. As pilgrims on the road to Christ, we can never stand still, never stop seeking a closer relationship with Him. May your promotion serve as an opportunity for you to recommit yourself to a personal relationship with Christ and his Church.

In our First Reading from the Prophet Isaiah, we heard, “Upon your walls, Jerusalem, I have stationed sentinels; by day and by night, they shall never be silent.” The purpose of the sentinels on the watchtower is to keep the lookout and report what is coming to prevent the city from being overwhelmed and overrun. We are those sentinels, those stationed on the watchtowers to declare what we see – to declare the Truth of Christ. As Christians, we are called to never be silent – in our families, our communities, our workplaces, our culture. And as Knights and Dames of the Equestrian Order, we are the sentinels on the watchtower for the Church in the Holy Land.

May we, like Mary of Bethany, anoint the Body of Christ and his be Aroma to the world.

May we, like Simon of Cyrene, carry the glorious cross of Christ for the salvation of the world.

May we, like Joseph of Arimathea, provide a resting place for the Body of Christ and be a source of hope in the Risen Christ.

May we, as Knights and Dames of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, always, through prayer, pilgrimage, service, and personal sanctification, support our parishes, dioceses, the universal Church, and particularly the Christian presence in the Holy Land.

May Our Lady, Queen of Palestine and Queen of Peace, intercede for you and for all those persecuted in the Holy Land. Amen.