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What's wrong with blessings? A reflection on God bless you... A few years ago when I was still substitute teaching I would leave the various public schools where I had spent the day with the proverbial good bye greeting "God bless you". I know that it took a lot of secretaries and principals by surprise. And no one challenged me for saying that. But I also know it was somewhat controversial inside a public school system. Nonetheless I never strayed from that message. Nor do I today when I have finished with a in my handyman business. It's just me. So I am wondering now about these blessings. As a young Catholic boy I would serve Mass daily and on Sundays we always held a Benediction Service at the local Catholic church in the late afternoon. The priest would hold up the Eucharist and the bells would ring. The congregation would kneel down and worship God's presence in the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist. And they would recite what is known as the Divine Praises: Blessed be God. Blessed be His Holy Name. Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true Man. Blessed be the Name of Jesus. Blessed be His Most Sacred Heart. Blessed be His Most Precious Blood. Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete. Blessed be the great Mother of God, Mary most Holy. Blessed be her Holy and Immaculate Conception. Blessed be her Glorious Assumption. Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother. Blessed be St. Joseph, her most chaste spouse. Blessed be God in His Angels and in His Saints. Amen. I know that there are many reading this post who will be quite angered with some of the above text. I know from attending protestant churches in the last 10 years that Mary and the Eucharist are very controversial topics. But I always tell my Catholic friends to become more Protestant and my protestant friends to become more Catholic in terms of understanding and tolerating each other-- after all we do worship the same triune God. Frankly- the benedictions in many of the evangelical churches I attend are fantastic. They go on forever! The chanting of praise for God seems unending accompanied by guitar and drums and a lot of very loud music. And why not? I think we cannot sing enough praises to the Living God for all he has done for us. We should be praising God from the rooftops in this incredible world. And besides-- what is wrong with making such positive comments anyway? Our world does not get enough good comments. I always recall as a teacher how powerful a word of praise on an essay or an encouraging remark during class did such powerful things for . And contrast that with a nasty remark and then see where you get! Lol The best of modern psychology tells us to ignore bad behaviour and reward good behaviour. Not easy at times when dealing with teenagers. But it does work. Bless you all for visiting and may God bless every creature you encounter this day and always! |
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Hi GB and thanks for stopping by. So nice to see you! Well the Catholic Church as you know is going through tremendous change these days with a host of issues- a lot of them sexual. Sadly, really good leadership is lacking everywhere in our world both in church and state. I used to be a big admirer of Billy Graham but he too is getting old and tired. On Mary-- I think many people are lacking in knowledge about what Catholics really believe. Modern Catholic theology does not favour worshipping Mary. But they do respect her as Jesus's mother and show her a lot of devotion. You'd be very surprised to see what goes on at Catholic Charismatic worship places! The focus is on God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit-- were you to be brought into the meetings blindfolded you would truly believe you were in a Pentecostal or Baptist Church setting. They're not afraid to mention Mary but the focus is definitely on the TRINITY. There are as many theologies within the Catholic Church as there are priests-- but most Catholics let alone anyone else know only a smattering of one. I find it equally repulsive listening to fundamentalists who know nothing about the Hebrew or Greek languages and the culture in which the documents were written. So they lift the text verbatim and attempt to apply it literally. It was meant to be understood in the context of faith-- and that is why the stories are so beautiful because they apply universally for all times. Jesus was well aware of that. His parables are irreplaceable. The speak to the heart not the mind. Many people have had sudden conversions just reading the story of the widow's mite, the prodigal son, the loaves and fishes. The only thing in life that made any sense to me at the time of my divorce was the book of Job. That story is phenomenal! He too lost everything but refused to curse God. What a powerful message of faith and love of the Lord!! I challenge anyone to show me better literature anywhere which compares with some of the great stories of the Bible. Paul's letters from prison are without any doubt in my mind the best literature ever recorded in the history of language. God went to work in that man in a way that very few will ever comprehend. And it all came out in the form of language and love. Look at what he did when he came out. Now that is missionary activity! God bless GB!!
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