Florida Catholic | Holy Oils Blessed During Chrism Mass

Holy oils blessed during chrism Mass

BOB REDDY | FLORIDA CATHOLIC VENICE BUREAU EDITOR

Published: 04.04.08

Bishop Frank J. Dewane celebrates the Eucharist with Bishop Emeritus John J. Nevins, left, and the 240 priests in the diocese who were able to attend the Mass.
BOB REDDY | FC

VENICE | At the Diocese of Venice chrism Mass on March 18, Bishop Frank J. Dewane blessed the holy oils to be used during the upcoming year for the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, ordination and the anointing of the sick.

As they do every year at the Mass, the priests of the diocese renewed their vows and recommitted themselves to serving the church and its people. “The holy oils, which are the instruments of salvation in various sacraments … are signs of divine grace, drawing their effectiveness from the death and resurrection of Christ,” Pope John Paul II explained at the 2000 chrism Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

During the chrism Mass ceremony, Bishop Dewane breathed on the oils “to symbolize the Holy Spirit coming down” and said a prayer of consecration. After Mass, the oils, which signify “an indelible mark placed on the soul,” were divided up and given to each pastor to use in his parish for baptisms and anointing of the sick.

“The holy oils impact the lives of a lot of people through the administration of the sacraments, and are a great spiritual benefit for them,” Bishop Dewane said.

The chrism Mass is traditionally on Holy Thursday, but the expansiveness of the diocese makes a Tuesday Mass more practical.

More than 200 students representing most of the schools in the diocese were able to witness and participate in the solemn ceremony.

The Mass takes its name from the most eminent of the three holy oils that the bishop commissions for his local church’s use over the following year. The chrism is used at the ordination of priests and bishops, baptisms, confirmations, the consecration of altars and the blessing of churches, where the walls are smeared with it in the shape of the sign of the cross.

While the oil of the sick, used for those who seek the anointing, and the oil of the catechumens, which is imposed on those preparing for baptism, are simply “blessed,” the sacred chrism is “consecrated,” and all the priests present participate in the latter moment by extending their hands toward the vessel containing it as the bishop says the prayer of consecration.

As part of the consecration of the chrism, balsam is poured into the oil, which gives it a sweet smell intended to remind those who encounter it of the “odor of sanctity” for which those people and things marked with it, and by extension all of us, are called to strive.

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Holy oils blessed during chrism Mass

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