Chrism Mass

My friend L and I went to the Diocese of Dallas's Chrism Mass last night. That is the mass where they bless all of the oils used for annointing for the entire year, including the Vigil Mass. The base of each oil is Olive Oil, and different oils with various scents are blended into the oil and make each oil slightly different. They bless the Oil of the Sick, which they use for the Annointing of the Sick sacrament, and the Oil of the Catechumens, which is used to bless the Catechumens before they get baptized. I talked about my blessing with the Oil of the Catechumens in this post.

The most important oil, at least for me this Easter season, is the blessing of the Chrism Oil. The Chrism Oil is what they use for confirmation and for holy orders. After I get baptized on Sunday, I will be confirmed a member of the Catholic church.

My friend L and I got there at 6:15 for the mass, which started at 7:30. The Cathedral was almost full already. We found a seat on the last row. By 7:00, the place was completely packed, and people were starting to take up Standing Room Only places to watch the Mass. We were seated right next to the entrance door, so we got good whiffs of the incense used and we got to get a good view of all of the deacons and priests as they came into the chapel. It was very impressive. They also had an excellent choir and the cantor was one of my favorites from the Cathedral.

The homily and the blessings were very moving and interesting. After the blessing of the oils, we had a Breaking of the Word. L was rather shy about going up, but I was able to persuade her to come up with me. We got a special blessing from the Bishop as catechumens, then we walked out the door. We had a special Breaking of the Word class with the head of RCIA for the diocese. That was very special. Linda really enjoyed that part.

I'm so glad we were able to go. We were even able to see a few deacons and priests that we knew. It was a very spiritual experience to see the actual oil that they are going to use to annoint us being mixed and blessed.