Apostolic Succession and The Barbershop Mirrors

Here's a slide show of the recent ordination of several Franciscan friars .
Most touching to me in this strip is the blessing that the Bishop now receives back from each new priest. The bishop humbly bows and receives the blessing acknowledging the passage of the apostolic succession to the new priest. The process of "the laying on of hands" to confer the sacrament of Holy Orders is an ancient process that goes back to apostolic times.

I sometimes liken apostolic succession to the "double-mirrored barbershop phenomenon." Work with me on this for a minute... When I was a kid and used to get a haircut every 6 months or so, (whether I needed it or not) I remember sitting in the barber chair looking at my image in the mirror in front of and behind me and seeing the image visually "reverberate" on and on and on ad infinitum. Sometimes, when I look at the priest celebrating the Mass, I think of the "reverberation" back through history, unbroken succession, as we Catholics like to say, to the very apostles and bishops of the early Church.

Seeing this ordination of Franciscans is like looking back through history and getting a glimpse of how the Church looked and operated a millenium ago.