In Liverpool: Confirmation and First Communion

A decision has been made in the Archdiocese of Liverpool to restore the original order of the sacraments of initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist) for children. (In the photo above, a pastor administers Confirmation to a young boy who will receive First Communion at the same Mass.)

Changes in the way we celebrate Sacraments

In recent years in the Archdiocese of Liverpool, most Catholics have been baptised as babies, made their First Communion around age seven and been confirmed as teenagers.

These three sacraments make up the process of belonging to the Church (called Christian Initiation). The sacraments weren’t always in that order, and adults preparing for initiation have always received them in the original order: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist (Communion).

From September 2012 in this Archdiocese, children who have been baptised will follow that same order. Those aged eight by the first of September 2012 will be invited to receive Confirmation and First Communion in the days between Ascension Sunday and the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) in 2013, and the same pattern will be followed each year after that.

The families of these children will be invited to explore and celebrate Reconciliation with them during Advent each year, while teenagers and their families will be invited to explore and celebrate Reconciliation during Lent each year.

The bishops will preside at some of the celebrations of Confirmation and Communion (with priests delegated to confirm at the other celebrations) and at some of the celebrations of Reconciliation with teenagers and their families.

At the same time the way children are prepared for these sacraments will change. Instead of teachers, catechists and priests teaching children and parents about the sacraments, they will help the parents to hand on their own faith to their children, fulfilling the privileges and responsibilities expressed in the Rite of Baptism. New resources will help parents to prepare their own children for these sacraments with the support of the local church community.

You can read more about the change in Liverpool here and you'll find a helpful article dispelling some commonly held myths about Confirmation here.

Here in the Archdiocese of Boston the norm for administering Confirmation to those baptized as infants remains in the high school years.  But just a bit to the north, in the Diocese of Portland, Maine, the original order of the sacraments has been restored for younger children.

 
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Good news: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist!

A bishop confirms a child before First Eucharist

I don't know about you but I needed some good news today and, at least in the world where I live and breathe and work - I got some! 

And here it is:

Rome, Italy, Mar 8, 2012 / 03:58 pm (CNA//EWTN News).- Bishop Samuel Aquila of Fargo said he is delighted to have first-hand papal approval for changing the order by which children in his diocese receive the sacraments.

“I was very surprised in what the Pope said to me, in terms of how happy he was that the sacraments of initiation have been restored to their proper order of baptism, confirmation then first Eucharist,” said Bishop Aquila, after meeting Pope Benedict on March 8...

Over the past seven years the Diocese of Fargo has changed the typical order of the sacraments of initiation. Instead of confirmation coming third and at an older age, it is now conferred on children at a younger age and prior to First Communion.

Bishop Aquila said he made the changes because “it really puts the emphasis on the Eucharist as being what completes the sacraments of initiation” and on confirmation as “sealing and completing baptism.”

When the sacraments are conferred in this order, he said, it becomes more obvious that “both baptism and confirmation lead to the Eucharist.” This sacramental assistance helps Catholics live “that intimate relationship of being the beloved sons and daughters of the Father in our daily lives,” he added.

The Bishop of Fargo said the changes have also distanced the Sacrament of Confirmation from “some false theologies that see it as being a sacrament of maturity or as a sacrament for ‘me choosing God.’”

Instead, young people in Fargo now have “the fullness of the spirit and the completion of the gifts of the spirit” to assist them in “living their lives within the world,” especially “in the trials they face in junior high and high school...”

Join me in hoping and praying that this will spread, with the pope's endorsement, all of the U.S.!



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Cameron Lyle and Confirmation

Illustration: Gates Dupont

Cardinal Sean O'Malley was scheduled to celebrate two Confirmation liturgies in my parish today but a change in plans required his being out of the country this weekend.  I was invited to ask to be delegated to confirm our 70 high school students, which delegation Cardinal Sean gave me.  This is my homily for the two Confirmation Masses.  Deacons and visiting priests will be preaching at the regular weekend liturgies here at Holy Family Parish.  The illustration above was in today's worship aid and is the work of one of our newly confirmed.

Homily for Confirmation 2013
(Scripture for today's liturgy: Luke 8) 

Audio for homily


Two years ago… two months ago… two weeks ago…

Two years ago, 
Cameron Lyle was a sophomore at the University of New Hampshire,
a shot put star on the track and field team,
and along with some other UNH athletes,
he signed up to have the inside of his mouth swabbed
as part of a program searching for bone marrow donors
to match blood cancer patients in need of a transplant.

Two months ago 
that program called Cameron Lyle to tell him
he was a match for a 28-year-old man dying of leukemia
and they asked him if he was still willing to be a donor.

Interviewed about that phone call, Lyle says,
“I was surprised, I was pretty happy. I said yes right away.
And then afterwards I thought about everything I’d be giving up -
but I never had a second thought about donating.
If I had said no, that guy wouldn’t have had a match.”

(In fact, outside of the sick man’s family members,
none of whom was a match,
there was a one in five million chance of finding a match.)

Two weeks ago 
Cameron Lyle was at Mass. General Hospital
for a surgical procedure in which a syringe was attached to a needle
which was inserted into his hip bone about 200 times
to extract eight cups of bone marrow.

It will take about two weeks for Cam’s body to regenerate the marrow
but it will take more than a month before he can lift any weight
- like a shot put.

And that’s what he gave up.
His bone marrow donation benched him for the rest of his senior year.

At the Penn Relays, last weekend,
and at the America East Conference championship games,
this very weekend,
Cameron Lyle is a spectator, not a participant.
But in the eyes of just about everyone
he’s a champion of a different sort.
He’s a winner in a contest he’ll compete in the rest of his life:
the contest between loving yourself and loving your neighbor.

Two years ago Cameron Lyle did a simple thing:
he allowed someone to take a sample of his saliva
and so he began to open himself
to the possibility of something much greater,
something much more important, something more demanding.

Confirmation is something like that.
No one’s going to swab your mouth today,
but I’m going to smear some chrism on your forehead
as I say, “Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
and we are all going to pray that very Spirit of God
will come into your hearts
and make a home there -- and make a difference there.

Will you feel like a different person when you leave church today?
Well, I hope you’ll feel blessed, uplifted
and grateful for the gift of God’s grace in your life.
But you might not know the real difference today makes
until two weeks from now, or two months from now
or two years from now – or even longer...

What happens here today in your Confirmation
is what Jesus spoke of in the parable in the gospel we just heard.
In the sacrament of Confirmation, the Holy Spirit is the farmer,
sowing seeds in the rich soil of your young hearts.
Those seeds are the gifts we’ll pray you’ll receive in this sacrament,
the gifts the Holy Spirit plants in your soul like seeds:

• seeds of wisdom,
the gift of seeing the world and life as God does,
especially when we’re blinded by foolishness all around;

• seeds of understanding,
the gift of accepting what our faith teaches us,
especially when faith demands we take the high road;

• seeds of right judgment,
the gift of knowing what’s the right thing to do;
especially when we’re confused and unsure;

• seeds of courage,
the gift of strength to do what God asks of us, with conviction,
especially when we’d rather do our own thing;

• seeds of knowledge,
the gift of discovering God’s purpose for our lives,
discerning God’s plan for our gifts and talents;

• seeds of reverence,
the gift of putting God first in our hearts, above all others,
especially when those around us have no use for God;

• and seeds of wonder and awe in God’s presence,
the gift of the desire never to offend God
and always to do what’s right and just,
what’s pure and true – all for the love of God.

Like Cam Lyle getting his mouth swabbed, what you do today
opens you and your life to realities and demands you don’t yet know.
You’re inviting God to plant within you
the seeds of what you’ll need to live a Catholic Christian life.

Today you’re opening minds and hearts to gifts from God:
important and valuable gifts; gifts you’ll need in the future;
gifts that will serve you well,
gifts that will help you through hard times.

But like all planted seeds,
the seeds the Holy Spirit plants today will need good soil to grow in;
they’ll need the waters of prayer and light of faith
to grow and to flourish, to blossom and to bear fruit.
Your soul is like a garden: you’ll need to tend it well
if these seeds are to grow.

And just as presents need to be unwrapped and opened
before you can enjoy and use them,
so the gifts the Spirit gives you today will be wasted
if you don’t open them, if you don’t believe they’re for you,
that they have your name on them,
they’re the right size for your life,
that God wants and expects you to use and enjoy them.

These gifts of the Spirit are yours and like all really good presents
they’re meant to lift your spirits, to bring you joy and peace
and to serve you when you really need their help.

So we’re going to pray these gifts of the Spirit upon you today.

We pray that when confusion and hard times come your way;
when you’re tempted; when you’re alone and afraid;
when you’re not sure what to do or where to turn,
or when you’re just by yourself in a quiet moment,
wondering what it’s all about:
we pray you’ll tend the seeds planted in you at your Confirmation
and open the gifts God gives you today and that you’ll know,
without a doubt,
that the Spirit of God lives in you,
that the Spirit of God loves you.
that the Spirit of God will never leave you.



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Homily: I think I would have run out of there as fast as I could!

 

Above you'll find the audio of my Pentecost Sunday homily, based on today's first reading from the Book of Acts. (If a widget doesn't appear above, click here!)  And here's the text of my homily:

Imagine… Imagine that what happened on the first Pentecost happened here this morning. Suppose strong driving winds began to rip through this church. And suppose that tongues of fire began to settle on people's heads. What would you do? I think I'd be scared. Honestly, I think I'd run... I think I'd want to get out of here as fast as I could. I'm not sure I would have made a very good first century Christian disciple.

 

The image of the Spirit in the first reading today might seem intimidating, even frightening: driving winds, threatening to knock you down; flames close enough to set your hair on fire (if you have any!) But that's not what happened. The Spirit's coming doesn't bring devastation. Rather, the coming of the Spirit fulfills a promise… realizes a dream… gathers the scattered… unites the many… fills the empty… discloses what's hidden… reveals the unknown… opens minds… enters hearts… brings understanding… heals what's wounded… and men's what's broken…

 

Hurricane winds and open flames - but no one is harmed! And that's because, in addition to all the special effects of the first Pentecost, there's a phrase in the acts of the Apostles that we might easily miss, words that fill in the whole story. These words: “They were all FILLED with the Holy Spirit.”

 

We can be so mesmerized by the exterior, audibles, and visuals that we miss the interior movement in this scene. The people gathered there were FILLED with the Holy Spirit. More than 2,000 years later, I can't help but think of how much each one of us needs, how much our WORLD needs, to be filled with the Holy Spirit.  • To be filled with the power and fire of God's grace to help us gather together what's disordered and scattered in our minds, in our hearts, in the world. • We need the Spirit's help to unite what's splintered in our families, in our communities, in the global village of the world's nations. • We need the Spirit to fill us, to fill and satisfy the lonely emptiness that the culture around us so frequently fails to satisfy. •We need the Spirit to help us uncover and disclose what we hide in the corners of our souls. • We need the Spirit's help to reveal the truth we need to know, the truth we must face. • We need the Spirit's help to open our minds and hearts when they're walled in by anxiety and fear, by prejudice and bias. • We need the Spirit's help to bring ourselves to understand the people around us: to think as they might think, to see as they might see. • We need the Spirit's help to heal our wounded hearts - and to mend the jagged brokenness that fractures the peace the world so much desires.

 

When we received the sacrament of Confirmation we were anointed with, we were given, the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Just in case you're a little rusty on the Spirit's gifts, here they are: wisdom… understanding… counsel… fortitude… knowledge… and the desire to reverence and worship God. All those gifts were given us at confirmation. The question is: did we ever open them up? Have we used them? Have we lived then? Have we shared those gifts?

 

Is there anyone among us here this morning who doesn't need all those seven gifts of the Spirit? Is there anyone among us who doesn't need to be filled with the Holy Spirit who comes in wind and power and flame, to touch us, to anoint us, to bless us, to move us; to inspire and energize and heal us; to fill us with a breath of new life; and set our hearts on fire with an enthusiasm and a zeal we once had but now may only faintly remember?

 

So if you're sitting there wondering, as I do: “Hmm, have I opened the gifts I received at Confirmation?” Well, there's actually a way to tell. St. Paul, writing to the Galatians, wrote about the FRUITS of the Holy Spirit: the sweet fruit the Spirit brings to life when we open and share the Spirit's gifts.

 

And the fruits of the Holy Spirit are these: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self- control, and purity.

 

If we've opened up the Spirit's gifts, those are the fruits we should be enjoying - those are the fruits that should be the hallmarks of our lives.

 

Well, just looking around, first at myself, and at others - and the world we live in - I'd say that we ALL STILL have some work to do in opening up the Spirit's gifts.

 

And I would say that the world we live in is in desperate need of the FRUITS of the Spirit. In desperate need of: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, and purity.

 

We need those gifts, these fruits…

 

The descent of the Holy Spirit did come as a complete surprise to the first disciples. 40 days after Easter, just before Jesus ascended to heaven, he promised he'd send his SPIRIT. So they were waiting for it. They were waiting nine days since the Ascension, in that “upper room,” the same place that Jesus had shared his last supper with them. They were waiting there and praying for the Spirit to come.

 

Well, we are gathered here in OUR upper room where we come to celebrate the Lord's supper. So perhaps we could pray, you and I could pray this morning - for another Pentecost, for the Spirit to come again - upon us and upon our world.

 

So, I'm gonna pray here. It helps you to close your eyes - close your eyes…

 

Come, Holy Spirit, and move in our lives like a strong wind, pushing us in the right direction towards you and your grace and your gifts.

 

Come, Holy Spirit, and touch our lives with healing. Heal us of the blindness that keeps us from seeing the truth. Heal us of the paralysis that keeps us from doing what is good and right and just.

 

Come, Holy Spirit, and change our hearts. Change our old ways and show us a new way. Change our minds when they're tightly closed. Change our thinking when our thinking stinks. Change the ways we care for one another: for our families, our friends, our neighbors, for strangers. And for those most in need of a share in the bounty that's ours.

 

Come, Holy Spirit, and transform our lives: transform our souls with your mercy and pardon; transform our ways with your saving word; transform our outlook with trust and hope; transform our world with the work of justice that leads us to peace.

 

Come, Holy Spirit, and purify us. Purify all our thoughts and desires; purify our ambitions and schemes; purify all our designs and intentions; purify us in our words and our deeds; purify us from the inside out.

 

Come, Holy Spirit, give voice to the goodness in each living being. Give voice to the song that praises God's name. Give voice to our cry for an end to war, to oppression, violence, and terror.

 

And here I'm going to pause for a few moments of silence: time for each of us to search our hearts and pray for the Spirit to come into our individual lives wherever each of us might most be in need of the gifts and the fruits of the Spirits wind and flame.

 

Let's pause and pray…

 

In a few moments, here in our upper room, we will pray for the Spirit to come down over our gifts of bread and wine, and to make of them, for us, the body and blood of Christ, who is our Passover, our everlasting peace.

 

May the Holy Spirit come down like a flame of fire and settle upon each of us. And help us open the gifts we have been given so that like bread, we might be broken and shared to nourish others. And like wine, we might be poured out to fill and heal our neighbors' hearts.

 

Come, Holy Spirit. Come fill the hearts of your faithful people, and kindle in us, in each of us, the fire of your love.

 

Come, Holy Spirit – come!

 

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Understanding, making and keeping promises

David B. Batchelder has a fine article in the current issue of Worship, Vol. 81, no. 5, pp 409-425. As telling for a Roman Catholic audience as for his own Presbyterian congregation. Batchelder's essay, Baptismal Renunciations: Making Promises We Do Not Intend to Keep raises a number of issues but here I will focus on the notion of promises made that we don't really mean or intend to keep.

Batchelder points to the renunciation of evil and sin in the adult baptismal rite which is reprised in the renewal of baptismal promises in our rite of baptism for infants. People who have participated in a Roman Catholic baptism at the Easter Vigil, at Sunday eucharist or in a liturgy of baptism on a Sunday afternoon will be familiar with this wording for the renunciations:

- Do you reject sin so as to live in the freedom of God's children?
- Do you reject the glamor of evil and refuse to be mastered by sin?
- Do you reject Satan, father of sin and prince of darkness?

Here's how Batchelder describes the dilemma these questions present. After using these renewed rites for decades.

(W)hat is the fruit born from this enlarged meaning of Christian initiation? Does the evidence show that the baptized and baptizing community is renouncing sin and evil or participating in it? I worry that our communities have learned to practice a way of speaking ritually that not only permits false witness at the font, but establishes it as the norm. We make claims concerning sin and evil but often live as if we have not really considered the implications. Sometimes I wonder whether the church believes there are any serious implications at all. Ritual practice can give the appearance that accountability is fulfilled simply by one's participation in the rites with the moral weight residing in the rhetoric. Or to say it another way, the ethical responsibility of baptismal vows seems more associated with strong ritual language that, paradoxically, absolves the community from the cross rather than obligates it to the cross. As a result, ritual performance at the font is in danger of becoming a scandal of saying what we really do not mean. (p. 411)

Batchelder develops this question historically, theologically, liturgically and in terms of contemporary culture. I commend the article for your consideration and study. Here, I would like to play out his essay's title question and ask if there are other moments in the liturgical life of the church when people are invited to make promises they don't intend to keep.

• At the baptismal rite for infants, before the renunciations, we tell parents, You have asked to have your child baptized. In doing so you are accepting the responsibility of training him/her in the practice of the faith. It will be your duty to bring him/her up to keep God’s commandments as Christ taught us, by loving God and our neighbor. And then we ask, Do you clearly understand what you are undertaking? Following a renewal of their own baptismal promises, we then ask the parents and godparents, Is it your will that (your child) should be baptized in the faith of the Church, which we have all professed with you?

In many situations, we are asking this question of parents who, after a relatively brief baptismal preparation program, do not clearly understand what they are undertaking, have not been present to the worshiping assembly for years and may not return again until next Christmas or Easter - or not until their newly baptized is ready to receive first communion. Yet they testify before God and the church that they understand what they are undertaking and will be faithful to the task. The same is often true of the godparents.

• Fast forward about 7 years and those baptized infants are preparing to receive communion for the first time which means they are preparing to celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation for the first time, too. In many communities, the children's instruction for reconciliation will come largely through a home-based component of the parish faith formation program. Parents will prepare their children to receive a sacrament which they themselves have often not frequented for several decades and which, they may report at parent meetings, they no longer believe to be helpful or necessary. No promises involved here, but there is that same dynamic of speaking words and leading others (children) to ritual acts which lack congruence with faith as practiced and life as lived.

•Fast forward again and you will meet confirmation candidates in their second year of high school who are corralled into a penance service on a confirmation retreat. More often than not, this will be only the second confession of their life thus far. But that's not the sadder part. A month or so later many of these adolescents will stand before God, the bishop and the church and they will -you guessed it- renew their baptismal promises, including the renunciation of sin and evil. One might more easily believe that these young candidates were serious about what they renounce and the promises they renew were it not for the reality that so many confirmandi understand the celebration of confirmation as their graduation from faith formation and the liturgical life of the church.

Perhaps the greatest promises the church invites people to make which they do not intend to keep are the promises of marriage. In the first of a collection of essays he edited (Marriage Among Christians: a curious tradition, Ave Maria Press 1977) James T. Burtchaell wrote:

Part of today's confusion regarding matrimony comes from the fact that so many wedding rituals deceive... Men and women, through one formulary or another, are led by judges and ministers into promises they may not really mean. They are being made to say that they bind themselves solemnly by oath to one another for life. Yet neither the State nor their Church nor their society nor the couple themselves has any such understanding of what is being promised. What is really meant is that a many and woman will remain faithful as husband and wife as long as it pleases them to do so, and that they expect, but do not pledge, that their union will last until death... They regard their marriage as a public declaration of a joyful compatibility they hope will endure; they do not give themselves to one another irrevocably in such a way as to expect that there will be seasons when both joy and compatibility seem lost in the fog and clouds, and promise that even then they will sail on. (p. 22)

The stakes in the promises of marriage are so high and the consequences of unkept promises here can be tragically devastating to so many. As in the situations noted above, we need to ask what we are doing when we stand as witness to promises made by those who do not clearly understand nor truly intend to keep the promises they make.

Annie Dillard "clearly understands" the depths of this dilemma:

On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.

- Annie Dillard in Teaching a Stone to Talk

Praying 10 Minutes a Day: Holy Week/ Tuesday

In Holy Week, in every diocese, the bishop blesses and consecrates the holy oils to be used for the sacraments of initiation (baptism and confirmation) at the Easter Vigil and for the celebration of the sacraments through the year until next Easter. The oils are pictured here in vessels bearing the initials of their titles, in Latin:

Oleum Catechumenorum - OC - Oil of Catechumens
for anointing those who are preparing for baptism

Sacra Chrisma - SC - Sacred Chrism
for the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and holy orders

Oleum Infirmorum - OI - Oil of the sick
for anointing those who are seriously ill

Oil?

Anointing with oil is something done in many faiths for many reasons.  Of course, we anoint ourselves all the time, even if not always for religious purposes.

We coat ourselves in suntan lotion for protection from the sun's rays..  We apply creams and slaves to soothe a burn or rash.  We anoint ourselves with perfumes and aftershave to make ourselves smell good and pleasing.  Royalty are anointed to their identity as king or queen.  It's not all that unusual, then, that religious practices should take hold of such anointings and appropriate them for ritual purposes.

The oil of catechumens anoints those to be baptized to make them strong in the struggle against evil.  Sacred chrism identifies us as a priestly people, confirms the baptismal life within us through the Spirit's gifts and orders some among us for service as priests at the altar - all the while making those anointed sweet and pleasing with its dark fragrance.  The oil of the sick heals through strengthening those who are weak in body and spirit.

Some who read these words might be anointed this week in preparation for baptism at the Vigil on Saturday night -- when they will be anointed with chrism to receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Today I have an appointment to anoint a parishioner who's illness has required hospitalization.

Today my bishop will bless the oils my parish will use for celebrating the sacraments between this Holy Week and Easter 2013.

It's likely that you have been (and will be) anointed with these oils in your life as a Christian.  Although these oils are used for the celebration of the sacraments, we often find ourselves in need of the Spirit's anointing...

As I go to pray today, I might reflect on these thoughts...

Has my spiritual life become dry, even withered?  
Is my spirit in need of anointing
to soften what has become leathery,
to smooth what has become rough?

Do I need anointing to protect me 
lest I become chafed or burned
by the heat of each day's concerns? 
each night's worries? 

Do I need to inhale an aroma
strong enough, gentle enough,
to waken me to the fragrance of God's presence
all around me?

Do I need an anointing 
to strengthen my limbs for reaching out to others?
to penetrate muscles sore from carrying my heart's burdens?
to empower my soul to be more faithful?

Have I forgotten who I am as God's child?
as God's beloved? as the apple of God's eye?
Have I forgotten that I'm anointed as the Lord's own,
as a member of his body,
of his priestly people anointed for Gospel service?

What in my life, today, needs the anointing of God's Spirit?
What weakness needs to be strengthened in me, today?
What roughness needs to be smoothed in me, today?
What vulnerability in my heart needs protection, today?
What confusion in my mind needs the anointing of God's wisdom, today?
What old hurt or sin needs the anointing of God's mercy, today?

What in the lives of those around me
needs the anointing of my word, my hand, my love,
today?

Be still... and know that God's anointing breath is upon you...
Be still... and soak in the anointing peace of God's presence...
Be still... and be softened by the anointing power of God's strength...


Are you new to "Praying 10 Minutes a Day in Lent" - or are you having trouble getting started?  The first installment offers some thoughts on getting started, as do the subsequent posts in the series.  So take a look and join us!   



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Tuesday of Holy Week

Holy Oils and the Chrism Mass

In Holy Week, in every diocese, the bishop blesses and consecrates the holy oils to be used for the sacraments of initiation (baptism, confirmation, eucharist) at the Easter Vigil and for the celebration of the sacraments through the year until next Easter. The oils are pictured here in vessels bearing the initials of their titles, in Latin:

Oleum Catechumenorum - OC - Oil of Catechumens
Sacra Chrisma - SC - Sacred Chrism
Oleum Infirmorum - OI - Oil of the sick

The Oil of Catehcumens is used for anointing those who are preparing for baptism.

Sacred Chrism is used in celebrating the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and holy orders.

The Oil of the Sick is used for anointing those who are seriously ill.

It's customary for the priests of the diocese to gather with their bishop for the celebration of this liturgy. The oils are blessed in very large urns and then after the Mass a priest, deacon or parishioner has the parish vessels filled with the oils to bring home. Oils are stored in a cabinet called an ambry. In Holy Family Parish, the ambry is in the center of the nave, just to the choir's left.

Over the next few days the oils will be blessed in cathedral churches around the world. In many parishes, the oils are formally presented to the parish during the entrance rite of the Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday. As they oils are presented and received, the following words are prayed:

Oil of Catechumens
Through anointing with this oil may our catechumens who are preparing to receive the savings waters of baptism be strengthened by Christ to resist the power of Satan and reject evil in all its forms.

Sacred Chrism
Through anointing with this perfumed Chrism may children and adults, who are baptized and confirmed, and presbyters, who are ordained, experience the gracious gift of the Holy Spirit.

Oil of the Sick
May the sick who are anointed with this oil experience the compassion of Christ and his saving love, in body and soul.

As the Chrism Mass is celebrated in your diocese, pray for those who are preparing for the sacraments of initiation at the Easter Vigil; pray for those who will be baptized, confirmed and ordained in the year ahead of us; and pray for those who will be anointed with the oil of the sick.

So what's a Pentecost Novena?

Art: Gates Dupont

Beginning Friday, May 10, you'll find a daily post as part of a Novena for Pentecost.   Here's a little background to help you understand what we'll be doing.


What's Pentecost?
The Jewish feast of Shavout occurs 50 days after Passover and it was on this day that Christians believe the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles of the risen Jesus.  Jews still celebrate Shavout and Christians still celebrate Pentecost but because their calendars differ, Passover and Easter have different dates each year, as do Shavout (5/14/13) and Pentecost (5/18/13).  On the Christian calendar, Pentecost Sunday is the 50th and last day of the Easter Season.

What's a Novena?  Why a Pentecost Novena?
A novena is a series of prayers that are said for nine straight days. The book of the Acts of the Apostles tells us (Chapters 1 and 2) that after Jesus' death and resurrection he appeared to his disciples for 40 days and then ascended into heaven.  Before his ascension, Jesus promised that "in a few days" the Holy Spirit would come upon them and empower them to serve as witnesses to his life and message.  After the Ascension the apostles and others gathered in prayer in Jerusalem and 9 days later the Holy Spirit came upon them.  So, the very first novena consisted of the early disciples' prayer over the 9 days between the Ascension and Pentecost.

What will we pray for in the Pentecost Novena?
 At Confirmation we pray for God to send the Holy Spirit upon the candidates and to give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence and the spirit of wonder and awe in God's presence.  The gifts we receive at Confirmation sometimes go unopened and unused for years and years.  Our Novena for Pentecost will refresh our memory of those gifts and reopen them for us.

What will the Novena prayers be like?
The prayer each day will be very simple: something like the regular Pause for Prayer and the occasional Praying 10 Minutes Today.
• You'll be invited to listen to a song to help you settle down and find a prayerful place in your mind and heart.
• There will be a short verse from the bible to reflect on.
• There will be a brief description of one of the gifts of the Spirit, followed by a few questions to stir your reflection.
• There will be a short prayer to the Holy Spirit.
• Today's Take-Away: a thought to carry through the day.

Don't be afraid!
Don't let the words "novena" or "Pentecost" scare you away!  If you already stop here to pray every day or just once in a while, spend a few minutes with these special prayers over the 9 days between now and Pentecost.  This is all about gifts and there will be presents here with your name on them!

Here's a widget with the 29 songs you can choose from each day to set the mood for prayer.  Some titles repeat because I've included different musical versions of the same songs.  Enjoy! (The same widget will be at the top of the side bar through Pentecost.)



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The Holy Oils in Holy Week

Holy Oils and the Chrism Mass

In Holy Week, in every diocese, the bishop blesses and consecrates the holy oils to be used for the sacraments of initiation (baptism, confirmation, eucharist) at the Easter Vigil and for the celebration of the sacraments through the year until next Easter. The oils are pictured here in vessels bearing the initials of their titles, in Latin:

Oleum Catechumenorum - OC - Oil of Catechumens
Sacra Chrisma - SC - Sacred Chrism
Oleum Infirmorum - OI - Oil of the sick

The Oil of Catehcumens is used for anointing those who are preparing for baptism.

Sacred Chrism is used in celebrating the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and holy orders.

The Oil of the Sick is used for anointing those who are seriously ill.

It's customary for the priests of the diocese to gather with their bishop for the celebration of this liturgy. The oils are blessed in very large urns and then after the Mass a priest, deacon or parishioner has the parish vessels filled with the oils to bring home. Oils are stored in a cabinet called an ambry.

Over the next few days the oils will be blessed in cathedral churches around the world. In many parishes, the oils are formally presented to the parish during the entrance rite of the Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday. As the oils are presented and received, the following words are prayed:

Oil of Catechumens
Through anointing with this oil may our catechumens who are preparing to receive the savings waters of baptism be strengthened by Christ to resist the power of Satan and reject evil in all its forms.

Sacred Chrism
Through anointing with this perfumed Chrism may children and adults, who are baptized and confirmed, and presbyters, who are ordained, experience the gracious gift of the Holy Spirit.

Oil of the Sick
May the sick who are anointed with this oil experience the compassion of Christ and his saving love, in body and soul.

As the Chrism Mass is celebrated in your diocese, pray 

    - for those who are preparing for baptism at the Easter Vigil

    - for those to be baptized, confirmed and ordained 

        in the year ahead; 

    - and for the sick and the dying seeking healing and strength.

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Holy Oils

Holy Oils and the Chrism Mass

In Holy Week, in every diocese, the bishop blesses and consecrates the holy oils to be used for the sacraments of initiation (baptism, confirmation, eucharist) at the Easter Vigil and for the celebration of the sacraments through the year until next Easter. The oils are pictured here in vessels bearing the initials of their titles, in Latin:

Oleum Catechumenorum - OC - Oil of Catechumens
Sacra Chrisma - SC - Sacred Chrism
Oleum Infirmorum - OI - Oil of the sick

The Oil of Catehcumens is used for anointing those who are preparing for baptism.

Sacred Chrism is used in celebrating the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and holy orders.

The Oil of the Sick is used for anointing those who are seriously ill.

It's customary for the priests of the diocese to gather with their bishop for the celebration of this liturgy. The oils are blessed in very large urns and then after the Mass a priest, deacon or parishioner has the parish vessels filled with the oils to bring home. Oils are stored in a cabinet called an ambry.

Over the next few days the oils will be blessed in cathedral churches around the world. In many parishes, the oils are formally presented to the parish during the entrance rite of the Evening Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday. As the oils are presented and received, the following words are prayed:

Oil of Catechumens
Through anointing with this oil may our catechumens who are preparing to receive the savings waters of baptism be strengthened by Christ to resist the power of Satan and reject evil in all its forms.

Sacred Chrism
Through anointing with this perfumed Chrism may children and adults, who are baptized and confirmed, and presbyters, who are ordained, experience the gracious gift of the Holy Spirit.

Oil of the Sick
May the sick who are anointed with this oil experience the compassion of Christ and his saving love, in body and soul.

As the Chrism Mass is celebrated in your diocese, pray 

    - for those who are preparing for the sacraments of initiation at the Easter Vigil

    - for those who will be baptized, confirmed and ordained in the year ahead; 

    - and for the sick and the dying seeking healing and strength

Pentecost 2010 Novena - Day 4

Image: LordShadowBlade

The oldest novena is the prayer of the first disciples from the time Jesus ascended to his Father (40 days after Easter) to the feast of Pentecost. These nine days are a time for us to pray for the coming of the Spirit upon the Church and upon each of us. Each day of the novena you'll find a post with scripture and prayer for the day. There's a widget at the top of the sidebar with 17 musical selections for this Pentecost novena. (If you are just joining us, find the Novena series to date by clicking on the link at the top of the side bar.)

Pentecost Novena to the Holy Spirit - Day 4

From scripture:

Paul traveled through the interior of the country
and down to Ephesus where he found some disciples.
He said to them,
“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?”
They answered him,
“We have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
Acts 19:1-8

For reflection...
- I received the Holy Spirit
in the sacrament of Confirmation:
have I remembered to seek,
to draw on the Spirit's gifts?

- Has the Holy Spirit moved, drawn me
in ways I've ignored or put off?
How is the Spirit nudging me today?

- It may seem that our times, our culture have
"never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit..."
How might my words and deeds bring the Spirit's gifts
to the corner of the world where I live?

- What shall I pray for the Church today?

• The Gifts of the Holy Spirit (as they are named in the Rite of Confirmation) include: wisdom... the spirit of understanding and right judgment... courage... the spirit of knowledge and reverence... and the spirit of wonder and awe in God's presence... For which of the Spirit's gifts will I pray today?

• Choose one of the songs from the top of the sidebar and let it be part of today's prayer...

Let us pray:
Come, Holy Spirit of God!
Refresh your vital presence in my mind, my heart,
my thoughts and my imagination...
Open me to your gifts
and lead me to rely on them;
give me the grace to be Spirit-driven...
Descend upon the world
and make your dwelling in the hearts of all...
Set us on fire for the reign of peace
you offer in your gifts...

Come, Holy Spirit,
fill the hearts of your people
and kindle in us the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created
and you will renew the face of the earth.

Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be...


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