I have neglected to write about ordination until today, simply because life has been so busy! However, I wanted to include a couple of things that made a huge impression on me.
First was the solo that was sung as I was kneeling before the Bishop – Canon Sarah Hussey had created an accompaniment with hand bells to what is essentially an acapella song, so it wasn’t constant, just every few notes. It created this sense of otherworldliness that led into the ordination itself. Then the laying on hands – most of the priests just touched me, but there were three that had a firm grip on my shoulders. Afterwards, I was grateful for those. I might have had an out of body experience otherwise. 🙂
Having a sister with a similar gift to mine, except that she sees the spiritual condition of people and things, where I see the health condition, is fascinating, and a great boon in this situation. When the Bishop laid hands, it felt like I was suddenly connected, not just to the Bishop, but back, back, back, all the way to the beginning in that line of succession. It blew my mind. What my sister saw, however, was that the group of priests with their hands on me glowed gold as a group, but that when the Bishop laid hands, she finally understood what people meant by the “heavenly host”; that the ceiling disappeared, and the souls of those gone before were there and blessing the whole process. As a staunch Catholic, she made the statement that she would have no problem taking communion at our table, as the presence of Christ was right there.
The other interesting aside from my sister was that priests glow their normal colors when in street clothes, but when they are vested, they take on the authority of Christ, and their individual nature disappears. In a fascinating sense, she differentiates the colors between male and female priests, with the males glowing a royal blue color, and the females glowing the color you would identify with Mary – the lighter blue color. Apparently in normal clothes, she sees me as a rose color (like her grandmother), but as soon as the stole went on, I changed to the light blue. I asked if it was similar to what she saw in nuns who wore habits, and she said no, they glow in shades of yellow.
I was just blown away by the whole process. It was *not* what I expected after the diaconate ordination.
Passage of Hours 