Well in my last post I promised to tell you about the Chrism Mass on Nassau, so here goes.
Suffice it to say, for me, this was a fantastic liturgy.
The Chrism Mass is an annual liturgy where the local Bishop consecrates all the holy oils and chrism to be used over the next year. This includes the Oil for the Sick, used during the Sacrament of the Sick; the Oil of Catechumens used during Baptism, and Holy Chrism used during Baptisms, Confirmations, and Ordinations.
In Boston the Chrism Mass has always been held mid-day, on a mid-week day which meant that Permanent Deacons with jobs pretty much could not attend so while ordained for 7 years I have never been able to attend a Chrism Mass. In the Archdiocese of Nassau clergy must fly in from islands all over the Carribean so they hold it during the evening so all can attend.
I should explain the logistics for those of you who have never visited the Cathedral. St. Francis Xavier Cathedral is a new building, absolutely wonderful, built next to the old cathedral that was built by the founding fathers of the diocese. The old cathedral is a fantastic historic building, still a great worship space, but we used it to vest prior to the procession entering the Cathedral. Here priests and deacons from all the islands were present, and the Archdiocese provided matching gold and white Deacon stoles and Priest chasibles for the liturgy.
Parish choirs from throughout the Archdiocese joined forces and the music was glorious as we processed in. Chairs were set up around the rear of the altar for us and after processing in I was struck by this overwhelming sense of community, or commradarie with the priests and deacons that I now serve with.
Archbishop Patrick Pinder led the worship and, at the appropriate time, the pitchers of oil were presented to him for his blessing and consecration. During his homily he spoke about the significance of the oils and, in particular, the Holy Chrism, used for ordination, would for the 2nd year in a row not be used for that function since there were no priests to ordain in this diocese. "We have the chrism, but no one to ordain", was an incredibly sad moment in the service.
Bringing the oils to the Archbishop
After the consecration of the oils Archbishop Pinder asked all priests and deacons to stand and we re-dedicated ourselves to our ministries by renewing our vows. This was very special to me and I was amazed I had been missing this in Boston. Mass continued with Archbishop Pinder presiding but during the Mass, at the sign of peace, I had an experience that made this liturgy even more special. I hug the deacon on my right, the deacon next to me, shake hands with the priests in front of me and then turn to the altar servers who were standing behind my chair. With them was the Rector of the Cathedral who came over to me, reached across the back of my chair and hugged me and said, "Peace Deacon, I want to thank you for being here, we appreciate all you are doing on Andros, peace". Blew me away.
During all this Ginni was sitting in the community with a friend and a little Bahamian girl began asking Ginni about what was happening and why. Ginni ended up making a new friend as she helped the girl follow the program to understand what was happening.
When it came time to distribute the oils to the parishes each parish in the Archdiocese was called up one by one. Andros was the 2nd alphabetically so I didn't have to wait long. They call "St. John Chrysostom, Fresh Creek, Andros" and up I go to recieve my 3 bottles. As the Archbishop hands them to me they call, "Christ the King, Cargill Creek, Andros" so I stay there and the Archbishop hands me 3 more bottles. Then they call "AUTEC Navy Base, Andros" and he hands me 3 more bottles saying, "You have alot of people out there", and at this point, with me juggling 9 bottles of sacred oils, the Cathedral breaks into laughter.
I made it back to my seat wondering if the people made the connection that the reason I was juggling 9 bottles for 3 churches was the lack of vocations. When I made it back to my chair the Rector of the Cathedral met me and helped transfer the bottles to a side table.
As the liturgy ended we began to process out and the Rector caught my eye and told me to hurry back and get my oils, else the altar servers would gather them up and put them away. It dawned on me that once we got to the rear doors of the church I'd be battling to crowd to return to get the oils. But I wasn't about to let them be picked up by someone else.
The Recessional Procession
When we reach the door of the church our line of priests and deacons go outside but in an orderly line formed a circle in a covered area right in front of the Cathedral doors. After we are all outside the Archbishop comes out as part of the procession and goes to the center of the circle and stands there with his eyes closed as the last 2 verses of the recessional song are song (Bahamians sing every verse of every song). When the song ends he opens his eyes, looks at all of us, blesses us, and says "My brothers, have a holy and blessed Easter", THEN we disperse to disrobe and head home.
I, of course, dive back into the crowd now pouring out of the Cathedral to get back to retrieve my oils. It was like a salmon swimming upstream but I did it and juggled my 9 bottles back to the old cathedral to disrobe and then connect with my ride.
An absolutely wonderful experience for me, for Ginni, and for anybody I could get to listen to me. I think I must have told anyone who would listen for days about how great it was. We returned on Friday where I was to lead a holy hour at Christ the King in Cargill Creek and we were 20 minutes late starting because someone asked how my trip to Nassau went!
Hope you enjoy the pics. Thanks to Jeanie McLean from Rochester who was with us and emailed them to us once she got home. GOOD JOB JEANIE!
