One phrase that grabbed my imagination this morning from the Gospel was the aromatic nard with which Mary annointed the feet of Jesus and wiped them with her hair... and the entire house was filled with the fragrance of this costly oil! How beautiful is this vision of devotion and LOVE! And then to have the memory of that sustained throughout the house as the fragrance filled the house as incense does at the height of the mass! Just having the joy of sharing the Chrism mass with all those many of those from all over our diocese... the incense was used at all the high points of the service and all of the oils and chrisms were blessed by the Bishop that will be used in all of our churches over the next year! Ruth was there with her 4 to see John and to experience this Big Church experience with her kids. She leaned over and told me that in the next year she will have another little one to be annointed with the aromatic oil/crism at Baptism! It made me smile to remember that beautiful holy smell upon my 5 little newborn children, and then my grandchildren as I have been present at most of their baptisms!
The oils ready to be blessed, and the incense starts the procession the other night. All the beauty and meaning that comes to us from our amazing Church! And that smell on the babies after the baptism from the chrism is with them for days and on their blankets and bonnets that the girls wore over their heads afterwards. It lingered with them and reminded us as parents that they have been washed clean and are now members of the Church! As grandson Patrick was being taken by ambulance from the hospital to Providence Memorial in downtown El Paso after he was born dead and brought back to LIFE but in critical condition. I was reminded by Ruth that he needed to be baptized. I discovered that at 1a in the morning that the elderly priest would not be coming to my request, so I told the nurse that I would do it. So in the midst of the NICU with nurses, ambulance personel, doctors and many tiny babies in their basinets - I baptized Patrick in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit! I did not have the aromatic chrism to annoint him, but the aroma of his innocent LIFE being given into the hands of the LOVING and Merciful LORD was accomplished along with constant prayers and many tears! The Lord heard our plea and Patrick is now healed beyond what many could have ever thought possible. Maria told me this morning that he rolls and rolls and rolls over and is now getting up on his hands and knees with visions of crawling soon! He is thriving and is getting "huge!"
Patrick at one day old...newly baptized and now truly a little Lamb of God! Jesus, the fragrance of LOVE is a beautiful aroma that fills our homes when we LOVE and SERVE YOU with all that we say, do and think. May we sense Your LOVE for us in all that we do this day for those in our domestic Church/family. We long to honor YOU and give you the gratitude YOU need for giving us LIFE as you embraced the Cross for us. May we follow after You and take up our Most Cherished Cross and follow after YOU. Jesus, we trust in you. Amen and Halleluia
Bless-bless, Barb
"Thus says God, the Lord, who created heavens and stretched them out, who spreads out the earth with its crops, Who gives breath to its people, and spirit to those who walk on it: I, the Lord, have called you for the victory of justice, I have grasped you by the hand; I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon,those who live in darkness."
Isaiah 42: 1-7 The first reading from mass today!
"the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.."John12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hlh6_5znn7U Francesca Batistelli - Lead me to the Cross
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