Homily: July 7, 2024, Monday of the 14th week in Ordinary time (First Anointing)

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“Early the next morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head, set it up as a memorial stone, and poured oil on top of it. He called the site Bethel, whereas the former name of the town had been Luz.” 

Jacob had a holy dream of seeing angels entering heaven from where he lay asleep, and with that, Luz was renamed Bethel, and Bethel was consecrated, set apart as a holy place, a ‘House of God’, a sacred site. From that moment on, Luz disappeared, and Bethel would be remembered forever.

Luz was left in the past; Bethel was consecrated for the future.

Jacob’s pouring of oil on the stone marks the first ever act of consecration recorded in the Old Testament. That act of consecration changed the identity of the place, with a new name and new future.

That first anointing continues as a practice and tradition in the life of the Church till today. When we consecrate a new altar, we anoint it with sacred chrism, making five crosses on it representing and remembering the five wounds of Christ.

Just as Jacob poured oil on the stone, gave it a new name and offered it as the house of God, the Church would similarly dedicate such sacred places to God with anointing and naming.

In the early Church, monks and the religious often took on new names on the day of their consecration, symbolic of entering a new life and becoming a new identity in Christ.

But this meaningful practice is not just for altars or religious vocations. Every one of us was consecrated on the day of our baptism. We were anointed with sacred chrism, set apart for Christ as His own, and entered a new spiritual life. 

From that moment, whatever we were before is left in the past, we are consecrated for the future with Christ, for Christ, through Christ. We are set aside not for the world, but for Christ, and Christ alone. We belong entirely to Him, consecrated for God’s holy purposes, anointed as temples of the Holy Spirit.

We become the house of God and carry the divine presence within our soul. 

St. Paul said, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come”.

From that moment on, our names are written in the book of life, destined for eternity. Let us live worthy of that consecration. Let us remain true to our identity. And may be die faithful to that calling.

Amen.


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