H
Hoosier_Daddy
Guest
This could go in either the family section or the sacrament section…
We have 5 children. Our fifth was born last month. All of our other children just happened to be baptized on major feast days in the Church. DMS, Baptism of the Lord, etc. But this little newbie was born during lent. So we had her baptized in a parish in our hometown. We traveled across the country with 4 kids and a newborn fifth to have her baptized in the same parish we have received all of our families sacraments in. And to keep the same Godparents to all of our children. This was the first baptism we had outside of a Mass. Our old parish rotates priests every two years so this priest we had never met. But we were assured by our friends in the office that he was great and was a “kick in the pants” we did not know what that meant. Now we do.
So after Mass we all gathered up around the font. And there were about 20 grade school aged children. ( we have friends with large families as well) So Father took the time to involve them all and offer a little catechists at the rite. Which we appreciated. He asked the children during the first anointing of oil why we anoint with oil. And then he proceeded to give the oddest explanation I have ever heard.
Father: Do you children know why we anoint?
Kids: To heal and to consecrate.
Father: No. Do you know what the Olympics are?
Kids: Yes
Father: Do you know what the first Olympic even was?
Kids: Track.
Father: No. The First Olympic event was wrestling.
It was only done by men. Men would get naked (kids uncontrollably laugh) and they would rub oil all over their bodies. And the oil would be used so that their adversary could not grab a hold of their bodies. We anoint this little baby with oil because she will wrestle with the devil and the oil will help her to escape"
Ok. now here is the thing. I have no idea about naked wrestling, but we looked into the theology behind the oil being used to not let the devil “grab ahold of you” and it turns out that it does have theological history. And in the Orthodox Church it is still used in the wording of the baptisms. The priest was foreign (from Europe) and perhaps should be talked to about “safe environment” issues, or the general sense that scandals or not, priests should probably refrain from telling a bunch of children about grown naked men wrestling in oil.
I have gone back and forth from being a tad annoyed at the event to actually liking the fact that indeed the priest was a “kick in the pants” and we will never forget this baptism. Either way, the baptism was done in a valid manner and we are so happy to have a pure clean Catholic soul in our family. I had come down firmly on the side of being annoyed until a few days later my wife was in the hospital with a life threatening medical issue. And in the lobby who do we run into but the Father himself. He recognized us and asked what we were doing in the hospital and we told him about my wife. He dropped what he was doing and went directly up to my wife’s room to bless her and offer spiritual counseling. It was a moving event and has changed my annoyance to sheer confusion as to how I feel about all that has happened in the last month or two…
We have 5 children. Our fifth was born last month. All of our other children just happened to be baptized on major feast days in the Church. DMS, Baptism of the Lord, etc. But this little newbie was born during lent. So we had her baptized in a parish in our hometown. We traveled across the country with 4 kids and a newborn fifth to have her baptized in the same parish we have received all of our families sacraments in. And to keep the same Godparents to all of our children. This was the first baptism we had outside of a Mass. Our old parish rotates priests every two years so this priest we had never met. But we were assured by our friends in the office that he was great and was a “kick in the pants” we did not know what that meant. Now we do.
So after Mass we all gathered up around the font. And there were about 20 grade school aged children. ( we have friends with large families as well) So Father took the time to involve them all and offer a little catechists at the rite. Which we appreciated. He asked the children during the first anointing of oil why we anoint with oil. And then he proceeded to give the oddest explanation I have ever heard.Father: Do you children know why we anoint?
Kids: To heal and to consecrate.
Father: No. Do you know what the Olympics are?
Kids: Yes
Father: Do you know what the first Olympic even was?
Kids: Track.
Father: No. The First Olympic event was wrestling.
It was only done by men. Men would get naked (kids uncontrollably laugh) and they would rub oil all over their bodies. And the oil would be used so that their adversary could not grab a hold of their bodies. We anoint this little baby with oil because she will wrestle with the devil and the oil will help her to escape"
Ok. now here is the thing. I have no idea about naked wrestling, but we looked into the theology behind the oil being used to not let the devil “grab ahold of you” and it turns out that it does have theological history. And in the Orthodox Church it is still used in the wording of the baptisms. The priest was foreign (from Europe) and perhaps should be talked to about “safe environment” issues, or the general sense that scandals or not, priests should probably refrain from telling a bunch of children about grown naked men wrestling in oil.
I have gone back and forth from being a tad annoyed at the event to actually liking the fact that indeed the priest was a “kick in the pants” and we will never forget this baptism. Either way, the baptism was done in a valid manner and we are so happy to have a pure clean Catholic soul in our family. I had come down firmly on the side of being annoyed until a few days later my wife was in the hospital with a life threatening medical issue. And in the lobby who do we run into but the Father himself. He recognized us and asked what we were doing in the hospital and we told him about my wife. He dropped what he was doing and went directly up to my wife’s room to bless her and offer spiritual counseling. It was a moving event and has changed my annoyance to sheer confusion as to how I feel about all that has happened in the last month or two…
