Blessed Items

  • Thread starter Thread starter mVitus
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

mVitus

Guest
What is needed for something to be blessed? Does it need to be done by a priest or is Holy Water all that’s needed? I’m asking because after a Church retreat, Kairos, I received a blessed cross, but unfortunately lost it when gardening outside. My mother purchased a replacement at a Christian bookstore, but I don’t think it’s blessed and as I’ve started wearing the cross recently, I’m thinking of whether or not there’s an easy way to have it blessed.
 
The Church blesses such sacramentals …setting them aside for the worship of God by the blessing of a Bishop, Priest or Deacon.

It can be a long prayer with the sign of the cross or simply the sign of the cross.

Care must be taken to avoid any superstition.

The good from using these signs comes from the intercession of the Church, the Saints, our Faith and prayer…ultimately from God.
 
mVitus said:
but I don’t think it’s blessed and as I’ve started wearing the cross recently, I’m thinking of whether or not there’s an easy way to have it blessed.
Click to expand...
Just ask a Priest - Father can you bless this…and he will…very easy.

Then use with faith and prayer…(see above)
 
Catechism

The characteristics of sacramentals

1668 Sacramentals are instituted for the sanctification of certain ministries of the Church, certain states of life, a great variety of circumstances in Christian life, and the use of many things helpful to man. In accordance with bishops’ pastoral decisions, they can also respond to the needs, culture, and special history of the Christian people of a particular region or time. They always include a prayer, often accompanied by a specific sign, such as the laying on of hands, the sign of the cross, or the sprinkling of holy water (which recalls Baptism).

1669 Sacramentals derive from the baptismal priesthood: every baptized person is called to be a “blessing,” and to bless.174 Hence lay people may preside at certain blessings; the more a blessing concerns ecclesial and sacramental life, the more is its administration reserved to the ordained ministry (bishops, priests, or deacons).175

1670 Sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the Church’s prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it. "For well-disposed members of the faithful, the liturgy of the sacraments and sacramentals sanctifies almost every event of their lives with the divine grace which flows from the Paschal mystery of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ. From this source all sacraments and sacramentals draw their power. There is scarcely any proper use of material things which cannot be thus directed toward the sanctification of men and the praise of God."176

scborromeo.org/ccc/ccc_toc.htm
 
mVitus said:
What is needed for something to be blessed? Does it need to be done by a priest or is Holy Water all that’s needed? I’m asking because after a Church retreat, Kairos, I received a blessed cross, but unfortunately lost it when gardening outside. My mother purchased a replacement at a Christian bookstore, but I don’t think it’s blessed and as I’ve started wearing the cross recently, I’m thinking of whether or not there’s an easy way to have it blessed.
Click to expand...
For religious items, what is needed is the priest/deacon, not holy water. Holy water is always ideal, but if none is available, a priest can still simply bless by making the sign of the cross over the object and say a simple prayer of blessing. With or without the holy water, the object is blessed.

You or I, however, can splash holy water all we want over the object, but it won’t be a blessed object as a result.

Simply see your priest and have the cross blessed.
 
The other posters are correct. Getting an item blessed is easy to do. Just ask your priest.

I’ll add, though, that if you bought an item at a bookstore (or anywhere else) it is not blessed. You cannot buy and sell blessed items. And if you do, the item loses its blessing. So even if it was blessed, it no longer is by virtue of the fact that you bought it.
 
I have certainly heard that splashing Holy Water on something does have the effect of blessing it, since a priest has already blessed the Holy Water. That’s what I did with a lot of my statutes and icons, just sprinkled some Holy Water on them. But where it matters more I suppose is something like a cross where you are actually wearing it.
 
peter26 said:
I have certainly heard that splashing Holy Water on something does have the effect of blessing it, since a priest has already blessed the Holy Water. That’s what I did with a lot of my statutes and icons, just sprinkled some Holy Water on them. But where it matters more I suppose is something like a cross where you are actually wearing it.
Click to expand...
No, this is not the case. What sets apart an item for religious purposes is the prayer of blessing and the sign of the cross from one in Holy Orders. This has always been, traditionally, a priest, but now a deacon has this power too. Your statues and icons do have value as you are using them for religious purposes, but they are not, technically, blessed.

In some cases, such as the St. Benedict Medal, the formula is even more involved, as there is a rite of exorcism in addition.

Whoever made this claim is unfortunately incorrect. Blessings are not “contagious”. The priest has blessed the water, not the object.
 
mVitus said:
What is needed for something to be blessed? Does it need to be done by a priest or is Holy Water all that’s needed? I’m asking because after a Church retreat, Kairos, I received a blessed cross, but unfortunately lost it when gardening outside. My mother purchased a replacement at a Christian bookstore, but I don’t think it’s blessed and as I’ve started wearing the cross recently, I’m thinking of whether or not there’s an easy way to have it blessed.
Click to expand...
After Mass just hold the cross in your hand and ask the priest to do a blessing takes 10 seconds . 🙂
 
I recently read about the significance of having sacramentals blessed. I called our Parish Office and scheduled a time for our priest to bless our home, which I had never done before, plus several sacramentals.

I found it very beneficial and essential. I can only say that afterward I felt peace in our home like never before and it has continued that way.

My priest blessed all of the many items I requested. We grouped them (rosaries, crucifixes, medals, pictures, St. Benedict items, etc.) because there are specific prayers he said according to what the item was. He said some of the blessings in Latin.

Now if I obtain a new item, I will bring it to Mass to be blessed afterward. It doesn’t take long at all and the priest is happy to do it.
 
Joe_5859 said:
The other posters are correct. Getting an item blessed is easy to do. Just ask your priest.

I’ll add, though, that if you bought an item at a bookstore (or anywhere else) it is not blessed. You cannot buy and sell blessed items.

Thank you for this. I used to get asked at my market stall if the rosaries I make were blessed and used to explain that to people and that yes I pray with and on them all but that is not a blessing,
Click to expand...
 
One of the liturgical books is “Book of Blessings”. The title for the Latin book is De Benedictionibus. In the USA edition, chapter 44 is “Order for the Blessing of Religious Articles”. “1442 The present order is to be used to bless medals, small crucifixes, statues …”.

It can be done used by a Priest or Deacon.

Three ceremonies are given. The first has introductory rites, reading, psalm, intercessions (optional), prayer of blessing, concluding rite and concluding song (preferable). The shorter rite has a greeting, reading and the prayer of blessing.

The third is:
1462 In special circumstances, a priest or deacon may use the following short blessing formulary.
May this (name of article) and the one who uses it be blessed,
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Spirit.
R. Amen.

The instructions for these ceremonies have “the celebrant should adapt the celebration to the circumstances of the place and the people involved”. Also that the two shorter ceremonies are “When a single religious article is to be blessed …”.
 
Sorry to disappear from the thread.

Thanks for all the answers. Now I’ll just have to see if I can muster up the courage to ask.
 
mVitus said:
Sorry to disappear from the thread.

Thanks for all the answers. Now I’ll just have to see if I can muster up the courage to ask.
Click to expand...
Oh, there is no need to be anxious. The priest usually greets folks leaving after Mass near the door at most parishes…just simply approach him and ask him to bless your cross. The priest just blessed my St.Benedict medal on Sunday and was pleased to do it, not surprised at all.

God Bless.
 
Bookcat said:
Care must be taken to avoid any superstition.
Click to expand...
Sorry if this sounds like a “snarky” question. I really don’t mean it that way. That said…

Where does one draw the line between “superstition” and “not superstition” where religious practices are concerned? Unless someone happens to be a practitioner of a particular religion, many of it’s practices and beliefs are going to seem like superstitions to non-believers.
 
WilliamE said:
Sorry if this sounds like a “snarky” question. I really don’t mean it that way. That said…

Where does one draw the line between “superstition” and “not superstition” where religious practices are concerned? Unless someone happens to be a practitioner of a particular religion, many of it’s practices and beliefs are going to seem like superstitions to non-believers.
Click to expand...
It becomes superstitious when the objects are treated like a charm, or as if they have powers of their own.

It’s not superstitious when the objects are used to foster prayer and devotion, or to be used as an “extension”, so to speak of your prayers.

It’s no more superstitious than laying on the ground waiting for Peter’s shadow to fall on you, or to touch a handkerchief used by Paul to receive healing. Or to receive life from the bones of Elisha, or to have a bleeding stop simply by touching a carpenter’s robe.

All of these are used with faith. This is where the line between sacramentals and superstition is drawn.
 
Gonna ask for some quick clarification on the superstition question since it confuses me a little too. Would I be correct to say it’s the difference between “This item will give me grace.” and “This item is a symbol of God who gives me grace.”? And what does blessing a sacramental do exactly? (I’ll admit what got wanting to have it blessed was more the original one having been blessed than knowing about blessings.)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top