Have you used oil lately? Yes, I mean literally, and no, I don't mean the cooking kind.

The store employee was stocking the baby oil when I walked past this morning. I suffer from dry skin, which is exacerbated by cold weather, lack of proper hydration, and regular exposure to chlorinated pool water. It had been a long time since I used baby oil and so I picked up some lavender-scented J&J.

As an undergraduate, I used baby oil regularly after working out. Its richness went a long way and, on a college student's budget, a little dab would do me. But its greasiness bothered me and, so, when I stopped working out regularly, I stopped using oil.

But trying it again after so many years, the propriety of oil's theological application (ho!) was clear to me. First of all, it spilled and squirted and dripped and slopped and ran and splashed and stained and warmed and soothed and I couldn't contain the oil in the palm of my hand. It runneth over, in all directions. And I thought, "How like the Christian God."

Oil in the Bible is a multipurpose solution and perhaps it is mentioned more often in the context of light, burning oil in lamps. And that's ok, that's a useful theological insight.

But the Good Samaritan and the anointing of the sick and the unharmed oil and wine of the End Times (Revelation 6:6c) speak of the personal application of oil, the more immediate use. And since I shan't be making a retreat this year and, therefore haven't any opportunity to receive the anointing of the sick, I must needs make do on a smaller scale. But in a way, my private use of oil is on a grander scale because I don't anoint only my forehead and palms. Why isn't the sacrament more lavish? Maybe in other cultures it is.

When I was teaching catechism to ten-year olds, I had a small vial of scented oil that I bought in a Protestant Christian bookstore. The oil was not blessed, I don't think. And I held an informal penitential rite with the children, minus auricular confession because I'm not a priest, and I anointed their hands and foreheads and blessed them. I think it was a meaningful experience and I am happy to rediscover oil for myself, in my old age when I really need it.

But, now, if you talk to me in a few days when my skin is broken out with acne and blemishes, you'll find out whether I intend to use oil again! I'm not as old as I think, at least, my skin isn't!