Are blessings wrong?

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CuriousInIL

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The thread entitled “Blessings by Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist” forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=5066 got me thinking.

Is it wrong for a lay person to use the phrase “God Bless You” during the Mass at the Sign of Peace or just before Mass when, in my Parish, we are instructed to great those around us?
 
CuriousInIL said:
The thread entitled “Blessings by Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist” forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=5066 got me thinking.

Is it wrong for a lay person to use the phrase “God Bless You” during the Mass at the Sign of Peace or just before Mass when, in my Parish, we are instructed to great those around us?
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This is my personal take and so I might be completely wrong!

It is fine to bless people before Mass simply because it is not part of the liturgy. We bless people on several occasions during the day. However, during Mass the use of blessings is quite well defined by GIRM and other documents.

In the case of the exchange of the sign of peace I think that people are confused/ignorant of what the sign of peace means. That is why some people bless each other and they shake hands with half of the people in the pews. That is not a time of blessing people or wishing to someone that the peace of Christ be with them (as in “I wish you good luck”) but of us acknowledging that we truly forgive all the people that offended us. If I shake the hand of my son that means that I do not only forgive him, but also the person that cut into my parking spot when I was trying to make it on time for Mass.
 
Why would saying…God bless you be wrong? We say it even when we sneeze. We say as a sign of thanksgiving. We say it in conversation as a congratulation as well.

So saying God bless you is totally appropriate for anyone to say. It’s much better than the opposite which people don’t seem to have any difficulty shouting out…
 
Well, it’s not called the Sign of Blessing or Rite of Blessing. It is called the Sign of Peace or Rite of Peace. Therefore if anything is said it should be an expression of Christ’s gift of peace. (We are calling to mind John 20:21 ) The GIRM instructs us to give a sign which is part of our culture as defined by our Bishops.Ours is to say Peace be With you with a nod or handshake .

archden.org/archbishop/docs/12_25_02_liturgy_peace.htm
 
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with saying “God bless you” to someone as a greeting. The problem arises when a non-ordained person makes a gesture (such as a cross with the hand) that resembles a priest’s blessing.
 
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