Tag: Blessings

6 min read

Sacramentals

What Are Sacramentals?

Eddie O'Neill

February 20, 2022 11:09 pm February 20, 2022

6 min read

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6 min read

While they are similar in name, sacraments and sacramentals have a unique and distinct role in the life of the Catholic Church. Sacraments are outward signs that give grace to…

While they are similar in name, sacraments and sacramentals have a unique and distinct role in the life of the Catholic Church. Sacraments are outward signs that give grace to those who receive them in a worthy manner.

Sacramentals, on the other hand, “are sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments. They signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature, which are obtained through the intercession of the Church. By them, men are disposed to receive the chief effect of the sacraments, and various occasions in life are rendered holy” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1667).

Blessings Come First

Sacramentals are often a stumbling block for non-Catholics who don’t understand their need or person. For instance, before his conversion to Catholicism, Dr. Scott Hahn was a staunch anti-Catholic Presbyterian minister. In his talks, Hahn often tells the story of how he discovered his grandmother’s rosary. His grandmother had just died and Hahn relates that he ripped the rosary beads to pieces pleading to God to set her free from the chains of Catholicism that had kept her bound.

Today, the internationally recognized Catholic author and speaker couldn’t be more of a supporter of the Blessed Virgin Mary and promoter of the Rosary.

When it comes to prioritizing sacramentals, the Church emphasizes the importance of blessings.

“Among sacramentals blessings (of persons, meals, objects, and places) come first. Every blessing praises God and prays for his gifts. In Christ, Christians are blessed by God the Father ‘with every spiritual blessing’” (Catechism, No. 1671).

Blessings of priests and bishops have the power, so to speak, to turn objects such as a new rosary or statue into a sacramental. While the laity can bless, their blessings are more of a prayer or a plea to God.

For example, the blessing at meals is a chance to offer God a prayer of praise and thanksgiving. It makes holy the mere need for nutrition and is a reminder of the most blessed meal, the Eucharist. In a similar manner, a parent’s blessing of their children serves as a petition to God to keep their kids safe from all evil.

Interestingly, exorcism is a sacramental. It takes place when the Church asks publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion.

Exorcisms may either be minor, also called simple exorcisms, or major, called solemn exorcisms. Minor exorcisms occur in the Rite of Baptism and during the RCIA process, where candidates are asked to rebuke Satan and all his evil ways. Thus if you have been baptized you have been part of an exorcism. A major exorcism, which attracts much attention and curiosity, is directed at the expulsion of demons or freedom from demonic possession through the spiritual authority which Jesus entrusted to his Church (see Catechism, No. 1673). Often used in a major exorcism are the sacramentals of holy water, blessed salt and a crucifix.

Are Sacramentals Found in the Bible?

While you will not find people in the Bible fingering rosary beads, wearing scapulars or donning Miraculous Medals, there are a number of passages of Scripture that support the use of sacramentals:

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* In the Old Testament, Naaman went to Elisha for a cure for his leprosy. Elisha told him, “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will heal, and you will be clean” (2 Kgs 5:10).

* When the man came in contact with the bones of Elisha, he came back to life and rose to his feet (see 2 Kgs 13:20-21).

* Jesus healed the blind man using mud (see Jn 9:6-12).

* The woman with hemorrhages was healed by touching Jesus’ garment (see Lk 8:44).

* In Acts 19:11-12, it is recounted that when face cloths or aprons that had touched the skin of Paul and were applied to the sick, diseases were healed and evil spirits released.

There are a number of sacramentals that are directly referenced in the Bible:

Holy Water — Numbers 5:17 states, “In an earthen vessel [the priest] shall take holy water, as well as some dust from the floor of the tabernacle and put it in the water.” Water was also used for ceremonial cleansing (see Ps 16:4).

Sign of the Cross — St. Paul states emphatically, “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified for me, and I to the world” (Gal 6:14).

In the Old Testament: “The Lord said to him, ‘Pass through the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and mark an X on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the abominations practiced within it. Old and young, male and female, women and children — wipe them out! But do not touch anyone marked with the X” (Ez 9:4,6).

Blessed Salt — Jesus referred to this sacramental in the Gospel of Mark: “Everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid, with what will you restore its flavor? Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another” (9:49-50).

In the Old Testament: “When you have completed the purification, you must bring an unblemished young bull and an unblemished ram from the flock and present them before the Lord. The priests shall throw salt on them and sacrifice them as burnt offerings to the Lord” (Ez 43:23-24).

Finally, although the Rosary was not yet created during the time of the Bible, repetitive prayer is mentioned. Yes, the Rosary is often criticized due to its repetitious nature, which is forbidden in Matthew 6:7: “In praying, do not babble like the pagans, who think that they will be heard because of their many words.” However, that is the only verse in Scripture that condemns such practice. There are several biblical passages that state otherwise on this issue.

In the Agony of the Garden, Jesus prays three times that the cup would pass from Him (see Mt 26:39-44). Similarly, in Psalm 136, God is praised numerous times, and in Revelations 4:8, the four living creatures cry out day and night, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty.”

Eddie O’Neill writes from Missouri.

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5 min read

Prayer

Prayer as Blessing

Barb Szyszkiewicz

February 19, 2022 11:19 pm February 19, 2022

5 min read

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5 min read

“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and brought redemption to his people” (Lk 1:68). The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that blessing “is…

“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited and brought redemption to his people” (Lk 1:68).

The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that blessing “is an encounter between God and man. … The prayer of blessing is man’s response to God’s gifts: because God blesses, the human heart can in return bless the One who is the source of every blessing” (No. 2626). Blessing, as prayer, most fully exemplifies how prayer is a two-way street. We see and acknowledge the good gifts God has given to us, gifts we frequently refer to as “blessings.” In doing this, we give to God the honor of our worship, both in our private prayer and while praying as a community.

The Hebrew word that is translated as “to bless” also means “to kneel,” a posture of adoration that demonstrates the adorer’s humility before the One being adored. Frequently in the psalms, we see references to this prayer posture in the context of blessing God: “Enter, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord who made us. For he is our God, we are the people he shepherds, the sheep in his hands” (Ps 95:6-7). Prayer of adoration “exalts the greatness of the Lord who made us and the almighty power of the Savior who sets us free from evil” (CCC, No. 2628).

Sometimes we use the words “bless” and “praise” interchangeably, but these are actually different types of prayer. To distinguish between them, it might help to think about who is listening to us when we bless or praise. We can praise God to others, describing to someone else how good God has been to us, and we can praise God with others — but when we bless God, that is directly addressed to God: describing to God how good he has been to us.

Extolling God’s goodness, power and majesty in our prayer of blessing and adoration underscores our own dependence on him and our position of lowliness compared to God. The psalmist proclaims, “Appear on high over the heavens, God, your glory above all the earth!” (Ps 108:6). Prayer of blessing and adoration is our way of lifting God up, acclaiming him as our savior and Lord.

Praying in blessing and adoration is our deepest communication with God. We’re not asking for anything, confessing anything, or even thanking him. We simply worship him for the sake of worshipping him. A prayer of blessing and adoration can stem from thanksgiving; that prayer of gratitude moves into simple contemplation of God’s greatness. Prayers of blessing and adoration can even be wordless prayers: a kneeling posture (or bowed head if you are unable to kneel) and the silence of contemplation and adoration can sometimes express more than our words.

Prayer of blessing and adoration comes from our own need to remember that God is God, and that God is the source of all life and all goodness. By praying in this way, we put our spiritual priorities in order.

Where do we see this in the Mass?

We bless God many times throughout the Mass, beginning with the Gloria, which is both a prayer of blessing and praise. Just before the Gospel is proclaimed, the congregation acclaims, “Glory to you, O Lord.” The Liturgy of the Eucharist begins as the celebrant prays, “Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation.” In the Eucharistic Prayer, the “Holy, Holy, Holy” is a prayer of blessing, as is the doxology at the conclusion to the Lord’s Prayer, “For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever.”

Our posture during certain times of the Mass signifies moments of adoration: we kneel during the consecration and again after the Lord’s Prayer until the tabernacle has been closed after Communion. By the prayerful posture we show, even without words, our humility in the very presence of God in the Eucharist.

3 practical ways to pray this way:

Visit an adoration chapel and silently contemplate the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ in the Eucharist.
In your journal, write a poem or song of blessing, using your own words to express your thoughts about God’s greatness.
Next time you sing or recite the Gloria at Mass, pay close attention to the words.

What do the saints say about blessing and adoration?

“The happiness of man on earth, my children, is to be very good; those who are very good bless the good God, they love Him, they glorify Him, and do all their works with joy and love, because they know that we are in this world for no other end than to serve and love the good God” (St. John Vianney, On Salvation).

Barb Szyszkiewicz, a Secular Franciscan, is editor at CatholicMom.com and author of “The Handy Little Guide to Prayer” (OSV, $5.95). Read more from the prayer series here.

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2 min read

Sacramentals

Holy Water By Your Bed?

Father Francis Hoffman

September 28, 2021 7:59 am September 28, 2021

2 min read

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2 min read

Normally, a Christian might keep a very small bottle of holy water on his night table and bless himself and his family with a few drops at bedtime and when…

Normally, a Christian might keep a very small bottle of holy water on his night table and bless himself and his family with a few drops at bedtime and when rising in the morning. That is a praiseworthy practice. Remember what St. Teresa of Avila said:

“From long experience I have learned that there is nothing like holy water to put devils to flight and prevent them from coming back again. They also flee from the Cross, but return; so holy water must have great virtue. For my own part, whenever I take it, my soul feels a particular and most notable consolation. In fact, it is quite usual for me to be conscious of a refreshment which I cannot possibly describe, resembling an inward joy which comforts my whole soul. This is not fancy, or something which has happened to me only once. It has happened again and again, and I have observed it most attentively.

It is, let us say, as if someone very hot and thirsty were to drink from a jug of cold water: he would feel the refreshment throughout his body. I often reflect on the great importance of everything ordained by the Church and it makes me very happy to find that those words of the Church are so powerful that they impart their power to the water and make it so very different from water which has not been blessed.

“One night, too, about this time, I thought the devils were stifling me; and when the nuns had sprinkled a great deal of holy water about I saw a huge crowd of them running away as quickly as though they were about to fling themselves down a steep place” (Autobiography, Chapter 31).

Rev. Francis Hoffman, J.C.D., Executive Director of Relevant Radio. Follow him on his Facebook page “Father Rocky.”

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7 min read

Saints

The blessing of St. Blaise

D.D. Emmons

September 1, 2021 11:30 pm September 1, 2021

7 min read

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7 min read

Although separated by customs, language, politics and more, Catholics around the world celebrate many of the same God-inspired devotional acts, practices and rituals handed down through the centuries by Holy Mother Church. Such a devotion is the optional memorial celebrating St. Blaise and the blessing of throats every Feb. 3 in the Western Church and Feb. 11 in Eastern Church.

Facts and legends

There are few facts known about St. Blaise except that he was a fourth-century bishop in the city of Sebaste, Western Armenia, and died as a martyr. A physician, he was regarded as a righteous man and, at an early age, elected bishop by the citizens of Sebaste. Beyond those few facts, much of what we know of Blaise comes from legends. He became, during the Middle Ages, one of the most popular of all the saints and today remains highly esteemed, especially in Armenia. He is the patron saint of Dubrovnik, Croatia. His relationship with Dubrovnik is unique in that he never visited the city. In 971, he appeared in a vision to a local man warning that a Venetian force was about to invade the town. The townspeople responded with defensive measures and the Venetians, having lost the element of surprise, departed.

St. Blaise. The Crosiers

During the fourth century, the Roman Empire was separated between Emperor Constantine in the West and Emperor Licinius in the East. While frequently at odds, they came together in February 313 at Milan, Italy, to sign the Edict of Milan, intended to end all religious persecution. While this document always has been heralded as essential to Christian history, it did not end a long-simmering tension between the two emperors. Indeed, historians have recorded that Licinius was filled with greed and only signed the agreement for political purposes. There would be repeated conflicts between the East and West, mostly caused by Licinius, who was quick to continue the persecutions of Christ’s followers despite signing the Edict of Milan. In the year 316, St. Blaise would become a victim of Licinius’s hostility against Christians.

At first, Blaise avoided being arrested by escaping into the hill country near Sebaste, where he hid in a cave. His only visitors were said to be wild animals that seemed drawn to Blaise, and a special relationship allegedly developed between man and beast, similar to St. Francis centuries later. Eventually, Bishop Blaise was found out, arrested and brought before Agricolaus, the local Roman governor. He was scourged for his Christian beliefs and thrown into prison. Legend holds that either en route to prison or after he was incarcerated, two miracles attributed to Blaise occurred. A woman came to the bishop upset that a wolf had carried off her pig. Blaise offered up prayers, and the wolf returned the pig. Another incident, one for which he is most known, occurred when a mother pleaded for Blaise to cure her son who was dying from a fish bone lodged in his throat. Blaise prayed over the boy, and the child was healed.

Agricolaus soon confronted Blaise, demanding he deny Jesus or be tortured. Blaise refused, and one of the instruments of torture was an iron comb used to painfully scrape his skin. No amount of torture brought a denial of Christ, so in 316 Blaise was beheaded. The circumstance of Blaise reminds us of another holy man, St. John the Baptist, who was likewise jailed and eventually beheaded for his faith. Every three years, the Gospel read on St. Blaise’s optional memorial is from Mark 6:14-29, which tells of John’s martyrdom. Both John the Baptist and Blaise gave up their lives rather than deny Christ; Blaise was tortured and then beheaded, and John was beheaded in return for a dance.

Cult of St. Blaise

The miraculous cure of the boy suffering from the fish bone — and because Blaise had been a physician — created the belief that St. Blaise could cure most illnesses but especially those of the throat. As early as the ninth century in the Western Church, he was invoked for throat ailments, and by the 15th century, the blessing of the throat ritual had begun.

During the Middle Ages, his cult as a miraculous saint was widespread throughout Europe. He was one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, whom Christians believed could cure a variety of personal medical problems (see sidebar). Today there are Catholic Churches all over the world bearing the name of St. Blaise.

Throat blessings

The candles used in the blessing of throats may be those blessed on Candlemas, Feb. 2, or when blessed during the St. Blaise memorial, this beautiful prayer from the Roman Ritual is provided:

“God, almighty and all-mild, by your Word alone you created the manifold things in the world, and willed that the same Word by whom all things were made take flesh in order to redeem mankind; you are great and immeasurable, awesome and praiseworthy, a wonder of marvels. Hence in professing his faith in you the glorious martyr and bishop, Blaise, did not fear any manner of torment but gladly accepted the palm of martyrdom. In virtue of which you bestowed on him, among other gifts, the power to heal all ailments of the throat. And now we implore your majesty that, overlooking our guilt and considering only his merits and intercession, it may please you to bless and sanctify and impart your grace to these candles. Let all men of faith whose necks are touched with them be healed of every malady of the throat, and being restored in health and good spirits let them return thanks to you in your holy Church, and praise your glorious name which is blessed forever; through Christ our Lord.”

Most often as part of the Mass, all parishioners desiring a blessing of their throats typically proceed to the front of the church where the priest with the two blessed candles, tied with a red ribbon, holds them in the form of an X. He touches the candles to each side of the person’s neck and says: “Through the intercession of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr, may God deliver you free from every disease of the throat, and from every other disease. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” The red ribbon represents the blood of martyrs, and the candles held in the shape of an “X” represent the martyrdom of another saint, St. Andrew, who according to tradition was crucified on an X-shaped cross. Not only are we freed from disease but from everything keeping us from God.

Devotions like walking the Stations of the Cross during Lent, receiving ashes on Ash Wednesday, kissing the cross on Good Friday and getting our throats blessed on St. Blaise day are essential parts of our Catholic lineage. Each ceremony or ritual excites us, elevates our hearts; we come away refreshed and with a sense that something beyond the ordinary has just happened, not just to us but to thousands of the faithful that same day in every corner of the world. We can’t help but know that it’s good to be Catholic.

D.D. Emmons writes from Pennsylvania.

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3 min read

Blessings

Blessing Mothers After Childbirth

Msgr. M. Francis Mannion

February 22, 2019 7:49 am February 22, 2019

3 min read

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3 min read

Throughout Church history, mothers were very often not present for the baptism of their children for two reasons. The first is that there was a strong emphasis on early baptism…

Throughout Church history, mothers were very often not present for the baptism of their children for two reasons. The first is that there was a strong emphasis on early baptism of children. Baptism took place in a matter of days rather than weeks after birth. The second is that the time for the recovery of women after childbirth was, until recent times, a couple of weeks, so mothers were not physically able to be present.

By the early Middle Ages, a rite was developing for the blessing of women a couple of weeks after they gave birth. This rite, generally known as “churching,” was a blessing of women for the gift of new children, and marked their return to the Church’s liturgical life.

The development of the rite of churching was not unproblematic, however. Already in the early Middle Ages, some commentators linked the absence of the mother from the baptism of her child and her eventual churching to Old Testament notions of impurity and uncleanliness associated with childbirth. One of the principal texts used to interpret churching was Leviticus 12:2-9, which declares that women were to be considered unclean after giving birth, and that they could not touch anything holy or be in a holy place.

This teaching was not carried over into official Church teaching, but it was carried over unofficially by commentators and preachers trying to explain the rite. So the very practical absence of mothers from the celebration of baptism and the rite of churching began to take on a life of their own. The official rite was framed in simple terms of thanksgiving and blessing.

Unfortunately, the corrupt understanding of the rite of churching was carried over even into the 20th century. I can personally vouch for this, as my mother, who was churched after the birth of each of her six children, always spoke negatively of the experience, but never would explain why. It was only during my days of studying sacramental theology that I learned of the history that I have tried to explain here.

Many had a problematic understanding of this rite. The fault lay, however, not with the official ritual and theology of the Church, but with inadequate popular understanding and poor catechesis.

The liturgical reforms that came after the Second Vatican Council gave the old rite of churching a new expression. In the 1984 Book of Blessings, an Order for the Blessing of a Mother after Childbirth is provided.

The introduction states: “When a new mother has been unable to take part in the celebration of her child’s baptism, it is fitting to have a special celebration in order to provide the opportunity for her to benefit from the blessing that in the rite of baptism prompts the mother and all present to thank God for the gift of the newborn child” (No. 258).

This rite is rarely used nowadays, as modern medicine generally allows women to recover from childbirth in a matter of days, and the baptism of children generally takes place a number of weeks after birth, so mothers are able to participate.

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