Blessings

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Two questions:

Can a Eucharistic Minister or any lay person other than a priest bestow a blessing during Mass?

Is there any biblical passage which gives authority to a priest to bless someone or an object. If not, by what authority is this given?

These questions came up in my discussion with a non-Catholic.

Thank you for any responses.
 
Laity can bless, but not in this rite: I bless you almighty Child of God in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…
Only a priest can bless like that.

But laity can simply say, Bless you, and you will be blessed.
Laity cannot bless objects, only a priest.
 
JD27076 said:
Laity can bless, but not in this rite: I bless you almighty Child of God in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…
Only a priest can bless like that.

But laity can simply say, Bless you, and you will be blessed.
Laity cannot bless objects, only a priest.
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…and deacon and bishop…

If the priest calls you an “almighty child of God” as he gives you a blessing, please direct him to the book of blessings…😃 sorry, I had to write that.

The authority comes from his ordination. All three members of the hierarchy are given authority by God, each with a certain level of authority. Deacon being the lowest of the hierarchy, then priest, then of course the bishop. Each participates in that Priesthood of Christ, again on the level of the office. The bishop is that fullness of the priesthood.

Jesus Himself ordained the Apostles and gave them the authority to bind and loose. As God’s minister, when I bless objects or people it is God conferring the blessing through His lowly minister.

Deacons are authorized to bless most sacramentals, water, salt, etc. Some of the blessings particular to certain orders can be blessed only by priests of that order, although not many of these particular situations still exist. Most orders like Benedictines have relaxed that requirement.

Priests and deacons, for the most part, can bless anything that is not reserved for the bishop specifically.

One point to mention, I a person comes up to me and asks me to bless an article for them and a priest is next to me, I should defer to the priest, because he is of higher authority. I do this often after Mass, I simply tell them yes I could but Father is here so he should be the one to bless. They seem to understand the hierarchy.
 
JW55 said:
Two questions:

Can a Eucharistic Minister or any lay person other than a priest bestow a blessing during Mass?only as part of the Mass is the priest to bless, the closeing blessing. We should not bless people who come up and cross themselves, especially not laity, you have no authority to do so unless the person is your child or spouse. It would still be inapropriate in the Mass. Its tough though, because the people come up expecting the blessing…what to do???

Is there any biblical passage which gives authority to a priest to bless someone or an object. If not, by what authority is this given?

These questions came up in my discussion with a non-Catholic.

Thank you for any responses.
Click to expand...
 
JW55 said:
Is there any biblical passage which gives authority to a priest to bless someone or an object. If not, by what authority is this given?
Click to expand...
The office of sanctifying is one of the three offices of Christ that all the baptized share in, although to different degrees. (Teaching, governing, and sanctifying are Christ’s three offices as Prophet, King, and Priest; all the baptized share in His three-fold ministry.)

Deacons, priests, and bishops exercise the sanctifying office in various ways; all three may bless persons or objects, while priests and bishops may also consecrate the Eucharist and celebrate other sacraments like Confirmation and Confession.

All the baptized may offer prayers of blessing: “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.” (Rom 12:14)

There is also the blessing of the Eucharistic elements: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?” (1 Cor 10:16)

The patriarchs blessed their children (Heb 11:20-21), so in like way spiritual fathers may bless their spiritual children; i.e. priests may bless the faithful.
 
While going through training to become an EMHC we were instructed not to cause hard feelings, miss understanding or any other ill will by not acknowledging the request for a blessing. We were also informed that we could not offer a blessing anyway, so as Deacon Lapey has said what to do.
We were instructed to not say anything simply touch the top of the persons head quickly with the back of hand and smile.
I have not had to do this myself but have seen others have to do it. So that would be one way to address this issue.
Another would be for RE and othe religious educators to teach this in their class rooms. Growing up I went to Catholc Schools and in grade school they were teaching us to ask for a blessing if you were not to recieve. It boils down to education.
 
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