The Bigger View: Instruction on Blessing

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
St. Elizabeth Queen of Portugal - Widow
J.M.J.

INSTRUCTION ON BLESSING

And He blessed them. (Mark VIII. 7.)

Seduced by Satan, the first man violated the holy command of God, and by his
sin brought upon himself and his habitation the curse of divine wrath (Gen.
III. 17.). Man was made by God, and therefore subject: to Him, but was
himself master of all created things. After the sin of disobedience,
however, all creation revolted against him: the animals fled from him, the
fields yielded only thorns and thistles, the herbs became poisonous to him,
or refused him their former wholesome power. Innumerable evils followed, all
men and even the whole earth suffered from them; the devil drew both into
his sphere and made them his servants, and this evil spirit now made use of
created, things to divert man altogether from God and to cause his eternal
ruin. But God decreed that man and earth should not remain in this
condition: Christ, the Son of God, came upon earth, redeemed it from the
bonds of Satan, and gave all men the power to become once more God's
children. The devil was conquered by the cross, but not slain; man and the
earth were indeed taken from his dominion, but not from his influence; for
he even now, as the apostle writes, goes about like a roaring lion, seeking
whom he may devour (I Peter V. 8.); and as he used the forbidden fruit in
paradise to seduce man, he now uses the created things of the earth to tempt
man, and make him his servant.

Man and all creation had to be drawn from this pernicious influence, to be
liberated from the bondage of corruption and be brought to the freedom of
the children of God (Rom. VIII. 19.). This is done in the Church, to which
Christ entrusted the power of binding and loosing, and gave the work of
sanctifying through the Holy Ghost, by means of blessing and consecrating.
By virtue of the merits of Christ, and with the assistance of the Holy
Ghost, the Church, or the priest in her name, therefore blesses and
consecrates persons as well as other created things which they are to use,
or which she is to apply to the service of God. In this the Church follows
the example of Christ and the Apostles. Jesus embraced children and laid His
hands upon them, blessing them (Mark X. 16.); He blessed bread and fishes,
the food of thousands; blessed bread and wine at the last supper (Matt.
XXVI. 26.); was recognized by the disciples in the blessing of bread (Luke
XXIV. 30.); blessing the disciples He ascended into heaven (Luke XXIV. 51.);
by His command the apostles wished peace to every house into which they
stepped (Matt. X. 12, 13.); and St. Paul expressly says, that every living
thing is sanctified by prayer and the word of God (I Tim. IV. 5.). Following
the example and command of Christ the Church also introduced blessings and
benedictions which were prefigured in the Old Law. God commanded the priests
to sanctify and to consecrate whatever was to belong to His service (Levit.
VIII.), and the Old Law is full of blessings and consecrations which had to
be used by the priests (Exod. XXIX. 36.; XXX. 25.; XI. 9.); and if persons
and things used for God's service were to be blessed, how much more so in
the New Law which in place of the type, contains the reality and truth! The
testimony of Scripture is confirmed by all the holy Fathers, and by the
constant practice of the Church which has received from Christ, the power to
bless and to consecrate.

The blessing or benediction of the Church is nothing more than a prayer of
intercession which the priest makes in the name of the Church, that for the
sake of Christ (therefore the sign of the cross) and the prayers of the
saints, God may give His blessings to a person or thing, and sanctify it.
Through consecration, in which besides prayer and the sign of the cross, the
anointing with holy oil is used, things required for divine service are
separated from all other things and especially sanctified. Thus persons,
fruits, bread, wine, houses, ships and fields, are blessed; churches,
altars, bells, etc., are consecrated.

What virtue have these blessings?

The chief effects of the blessing of persons are: Preservation or liberation
from the influence of Satan; preservation of the soul from his temptations
and evil suggestions; preservation of the body and of the property from his
pernicious malice; forgiveness of venial sins, and strength to suppress
concupiscence; curing of sickness and physical evils, whether natural or
supernatural; a blessing upon the person and his surroundings; the imparting
of the grace of conversion; the advantage of the prayer of the Church and
further grace for the remission of temporal and eternal punishment. The
blessing of things withdraws them from the influence of the devil, so that
he can no longer use them as a means of bringing us into sin, but that they
rather serve us as a protection against the evil spirits and as a means for
our salvation.

Whence do the blessings derive their force?

From the merits of Christ who by His death on the cross vanquished Satan.
The Church asks God that He will through these merits and through the
intercession of the saints bless a person or thing, and make that which is
blessed profitable to us for both body and soul. Whether or not the effects
manifest themselves in the person who receives the blessing, or makes use of
the object blessed, depends on his faith and moral condition, as also on the
usefulness or profit of the blessing to him. We should not, then, place
obstacles in its way by diffidence in God and the prayers of the Church or
by a sinful life, but should always be convinced that these benedictions
will serve for our benefit, if according to God's will they are used as the
Church intends, as a means to overcome evil, to sanctify ourselves, and to
honor God.

Why are salt and water blessed?

This is plainly shown in the prayer the priest says in blessing them; for he
asks, in the name of the Church, that God may pour the virtue of His
blessing over the water that it may conquer devils, prevent sickness, and
that everything which is sprinkled with it, may be preserved from every
injury, and that He may bless the salt, so that it may be salutary for the
body and soul of all who use it. The salt which Eliseus sprinkled into the
unwholesome waters of Jericho healed them (IV King. II. 20. 21.), and is a
type of blessed salt.

Why are the people sprinkled with holy water on Sundays?

To remind the people of the interior purity with which they should come to
divine service, and fulfill the duties of their calling; and to exhort them
to purify themselves from the stains of sin by tears of sorrow, and
repentance. Hence the priest in sprinkling the faithful recites the words of
the fiftieth psalm: Asperges me hyssopo, etc. Sprinkle me with hyssop, and I
shall be cleansed; to remind them to preserve the purity and innocence
procured by the blood of the Lamb of God, and communicated to them in
baptism. Finally, the people are sprinkled that the temptations of the devil
may depart from them, enabling them to attend with great fervor and with
more recollection to the holy service.

What else is to be remembered concerning the use of blessed things?

That they are to be used with faithful confidence for the purpose for which
the Church blessed them, and are to be treated with great reverence, because
they are blessed by the Church in the name of Jesus, a custom almost as old
as Christianity itself. The Christian must not believe that blessed things
which he possesses, carries, or uses, will make him holy, for he should
always remember that things blessed are only a means of sanctification, and
are only effectual when the faithful have the earnest will to die rather
than sin, to fight with all fervor against the enemies of their salvation,
to follow Christ, and be thereby received into the freedom of the children
of God, and into heaven.

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The above is taken from Rev. Fr. Leonard Goffine's The Church's Year -
INSTRUCTION ON THE SIXTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
available online at

http://www.sspxasia.com/Documents/The_Church_Year/index.htm

Sincerely in Christ,
Our Lady of the Rosary Library
"Pray and work for souls"
http://olrl.org

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