The Oil of Gladness

After the water is blessed, it and the child are anointed by oil. In the ancient world Oil was a universal medicine, a symbol of mercy, and a natural source of healing. This anointing, “of the breasts and shoulders unto the healing of soul and body, of the ears unto the hearing of faith, of the hands Thy hands have made and fashioned me, of the feet that he may walk in the way of Thy commandments,” is the re-creation of the whole person.