Church’s “cosmetic counter”

HCH photos by Anna Weaver

Bishop Larry Silva in his homily at this year’s Chrism Mass on Oahu, March 13, called the tables with baskets of holy oil sitting to one side of the Co-Cathedral of St. Theresa the “cosmetic counter of the church.” The balsam that is added to the chrism oil he described as the “fragrance of the Holy Spirit.”

Newly filled bottles of chrism sit on a table before being returned to their respective parishes’ baskets.

 

Bishop Larry Silva pours sweet-smelling balsam into a large container of olive oil before mixing the two together to create chrism.

One of the two tables which parishes’ holy oil baskets sat upon throughout the Chrism Mass.