Sacraments

Holy Baptism - Tonsuring

	The sacrament of baptism restores the image and likeness of 
	God with the child. When we anoint with oil, we reconcile 
	the child to God. When we immerse the child, God, through 
	the Church, "gives" a new life - a personal resurrection. 
	When we chrismate, the child receives the additional gift 
	of the Holy Spirit - a personal Pentecost. The next step 
	or movement in the baptismal service is the rite of tonsure. 
	Tonsuring, the cutting of the hair, is a symbol of obedience 
	and sacrifice. It is seen as furthering the restoration of 
	the child away from the fallen world. To do this, we must 
	always be willing to obey God and be ready to sacrifice for 
	Him. By offering a piece of hair, the child can offer his 
	first free and joyful sacrifice to God. In addition, the 
	tonsuring continues the theme of the entire baptism service: 
	the rejection of the world with its pleasures and cares. 
	This is all the child has to offer and yet the offering is 
	done to offer the child fully to God.
	
	
	The priest asks God to bless the child as God blessed David 
	the King by the hand of the prophet Samuel. When he cuts the 
	baby's hair, he says: "The servant of God______, is tonsured 
	in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy 
	Spirit. Amen."
	
	




I am in touch with my feelings about who I am.


Many people believe they are lacking something. We have 
been programmed to feel that way. We are taught we lack 
good looks. We are led to believe we lack intelligence. 
We are educated in a system that denies our history, 
culture and traditions. How are we expected to feel 
complete? We are not! We are, however, expected to look 
good on the outside. We do. We dress up to hide our 
inner feelings of inadequacy. We are led to believe 
that if we have a home, a car, a few jewels and nice 
clothes we have enough to matter. It doesn't work! In 
order for people to thrive rather than survive, to 
flourish rather than make it, to strand tall rather 
than just stand up, we must individually and collectively 
get rid of the stuff and get to the core - what does it 
really feel like to be a person?


Rather than face how bad I truly felt about me, I 
stuffed myself with stuff, puffed myself up with a 
false sense of power and importance.




Sacraments

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