Blessing of Grandchildren

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sacristan1

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I have a question and I don’t know if I am addressing it on the correct thread but here goes:
Can a grandmother (catholic, of course) bless her grandchildren (also catholic) with holy water or is that something only a priest can do. If it can be done, what words should be said for this blessing. Thank you in advance for your assistance.
 
I was sorry to see no one jumped in with an answer to your question.

I don’t know if we grandmas can Bless (with a capital B) our grandchildren, but we can and should certainly bless them (with a “small b”), as should their parents. No holy water required. 😉

I regularly make the sign of the cross on a child’s forehead – as they left for school, at the sign of peace during mass, when they went to bed – and said something like “Go with God, sweetie, have a good one,” “Peace be with you,” “Sleep tight, pumpkin” whatever was appropriate. I did it for my children, I do it for my grandbabies.
 
Thank you. That is so sweet. I will do that. I have this blessing that says:
May the Almighty God, Father, son and Holy Spirit bless you, my child, for time and eternity and may this blessing remain forever with you.

I don’t know where it came from or if only a Priest can say those words. I would like to use it for blessing my grandchildren. I don’t want to do anything that is not acceptable to the Church. I am an EMHC and know I can’t do it in that capacity but just as their grandmother, I would like to make the sign of the cross and ask God to bless them.
 
Oops. forgot something in that last post. I meant to say I would like to make the sign of the cross on their forehead and ask God to bless them.
 
Sacristan1,

Every Catholic Church I know has a container of Holy Water [usually blssed by the priest weekly] from which parishioners can take Holy Water home. Many people have Holy Water fonts in their homes so they [and their guests] may bless themselves upon entering and leaving their homes…

It is appropriate for parents [grandparents, aunts uncles, god-parents and others to bless chiuldren and utilizing the sacramental [holy water] is good. A lay person cannot bless the holy water…

As for special blessings you can get the book called the Shorter Book of Blessinga * This book has blessings for a great variety of special occassions. It contains the words to be used by priests and deacons and the words that can be used by lay persons [there are differences].*
 
My mother gave each of her grandchildren (and, now, each of her great-grandchildren) a holy water font for their room at Baptism. She collected Hummel figurines – designed by Sister Greta (I think) Hummel – so she gave them Hummel holy water fonts. They are lovely.
 
I bless my children each morning and night. We now have a font by our front door, so I bless them with holy water each morning. I hope to bless my grandchildren the same way.
 
Before bed for DD:
Good Night, Sleep Tight, Angles watch over you through the Night, Keep you safe til Morning Light.

She’s begun to repeat it.

As soon as I get my font, everyone is getting blessed when they are coming and going.
 
Elders giving blessings to their children and grandchildren is a tradition which goes back to our Jewish roots.
By all means sprinkle with holy water and pronounce the words of blessing. It is a way of demonstrating your care for them.

Matthew
(Grandfather of one)
 
My parents used to conclude the family evening prayer by bringing the holy water to me each night, we all watered our forehead and say together- God Bless Us. Then we hugged each other. and say Amen
I liked it
 
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