ARTICLE – Altar Servers V
My hope is that every woman and young girl will understand and experience more deeply the gift and beauty of their femininity by participating in the Holy Mass at Holy Rosary Shrine. It is painful to think that they may feel they are being treated unjustly, but I realize this is the perception of many about the Church in general. And women have been treated unjustly in many ways, in the Church and in the world. When I felt God calling me to religious life, specifically to a vow of chastity, one of my main motives was to make reparation for my sins against women.
Part of the Ordination Rite is that the bishop consecrates the newly ordained priest’s hands with sacred chrism. The cloth used to wipe the oil from his hands after the anointing is called a manutergium, which is Latin for hand towel. An old tradition, that is being revived, is that this cloth be presented to the new priest’s mother. She keeps it until her death, and then she is buried with it wrapped around her own hands.
The last sight I had of my mother was her holding the manutergium from my ordination as they closed her casket. The tradition is that Jesus will ask the mother, “I have given you life, what have you given me?” She hands Him the manutergium and replies, “I have given you my son as a priest.” Then she is led into paradise.
It is hard to express the mystical bond between a man and his mother. When I was growing up you could insult another kid in a million ways, but if you said something about his mother, fists would fly. Jesus made His own mother the greatest of all creatures. After God Himself, she has the highest place in Heaven. Yet He did not ordain her a priest, but only the twelve Apostles. She has a different and superior role.
“Male and female He created them. …and behold, it was very good.” (Gen1)
God bless you.
— Fr. Peter