Blessing (Roman Catholic Church)
Blessings in Roman Catholicism come under the category of sacramentals. A sacramental is a special prayer, action or object which, through the prayers of the Church, prepares a person to receive grace and to better cooperate with it. Among sacramentals blessings (of persons, meals, objects, and places) come first. Every blessing praises God and prays for his gifts.
In a wider sense blessing has a variety of meanings in the sacred writings:
- Synonymous with praise; thus the Psalmist, "I will bless the Lord at all times; praise shall be always in my mouth."
- A wish or desire that all good fortune, especially of a spiritual or supernatural kind, may go with the person or thing, as the Psalmist says, "Blessed art thou, and it shall be well with thee".
- The sanctification or dedication of a person or thing to some sacred purpose; e.g, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it....
- A gift, as when Naaman addresses Eliseus: "Now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing of thy servant".
Read more about Blessing (Roman Catholic Church): The Old Testament, Types, Priestly Blessing, Efficacy, Liturgy
Famous quotes containing the words blessing and/or catholic:
“A deep man believes in miracles, waits for them, believes in magic, believes that the orator will decompose his adversary; believes that the evil eye can wither, that the heart’s blessing can heal; that love can exalt talent; can overcome all odds.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“You do not mean by mystery what a Catholic does. You mean an interesting uncertainty: the uncertainty ceasing interest ceases also.... But a Catholic by mystery means an incomprehensible certainty: without certainty, without formulation there is no interest;... the clearer the formulation the greater the interest.”
—Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889)