For The Dialog
OCEAN CITY, Md. — Normally the sound of waves crashing onto the shore and the screeching of gulls accompany the annual Blessing of the Sea by Bishop Malooly here every Aug. 15, the Feast of the Assumption of Mary.
But heavy rains during the afternoon this Aug. 15 left Father Stanislao Esposito turning to “Plan B,” as he put it. And “B” in this case did not stand for beach, even though the rains subsided during the evening Holy Day of Obligation Mass.
Instead, Father Esposito and Bishop Malooly administered the blessing from the entry steps of Holy Savior Church, three blocks from the Atlantic Ocean and a block or so from Isle of Wight Bay. The sounds of cars and buses, and occasional tooting of horns, mixed with the blessing.
It was the second time Plan B had to be implemented for Bishop Malooly. He recalled that in 2009, the blessing could not be held at the beach because of rain.
The tradition began in 15th Century Italy. Various accounts state that a bishop was aboard a ship at sea that encountered a storm on Aug. 15, the Feast of the Assumption. The bishop took off his pastoral ring and threw it into the waters, and the storm abated.
For some, this year’s sea-blessing-away-from-the-sea was a bit disappointing.
“It was unusual,” said Father Esposito, pastor of St. Mary Star of the Sea Parish, of which Holy Savior is a mission church. He missed the procession from the church to the Atlantic Ocean boardwalk and beach, and “the witness on the beach.”
Pat Fairbend of St. Luke Parish in Ocean City attends the blessing each year.
“It was nice,” she said of the service at Holy Savior, “but there is something special about being at the beach.” Missing was the witness factor, especially when Bishop Malooly cites the work of lifeguards, first-aid crews and police officers who work along the beach, and for all first responders.
The rite includes prayers for those who work at the sea and in Ocean City — especially during the summer tourist season — or visit the ocean for “relaxation, pleasure and joy.”
Bishop Malooly enjoyed the change of pace. “I like doing it here [at the church],” he said afterward.
While the blessing on the beach and the procession leading up to it were forms of witnessing, he said the blessing on the steps of the church empowered those who attended to live out their baptismal calling.
“They will take the blessing to the beach with them,” sharing it with all they meet, he said. He thinks that may be an even more powerful witness than the blessing usually is.
