Can a thing or an emotion bless you?

[Little_Mary]

I’m always learning here, so be patient with me…

A friend just sent me a video of a singer, she said, “…his singing blesses me…”

I’ve never heard the word “bless” used in such a way…

Is this a protestant thing?

 

[Belle10]

If I hear a song on the radio that’s about praising Jesus, I guess it blesses me to, because it puts my mind on Him, which is always a good thing!! I would think that’s what your friend meant. (I don’t think it’s a Protestant thing – I’m a cradle Catholic.) I think it’s more a conduit for blessings to flow, not that the song itself does the blessing, know what I mean?

Pssssst: we’re all always learning.

 

[GemmaRose]

I’d like to answer by giving a personal example.

Like so very many people, although confessed and forgiven, guilt can latch on like a case of the spiritual cooties.

I remember reading an answer on the EWTN forum that when we get to heaven, all the memories of our past sins which make us feel so unworthy of God’s love will transform our shame into victorious evidence of how much God has forgiven us.

I knew it. I understood it. But there was a part of me where it just wouldn’t “sink in.”

And then I discovered one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard. The name of it is *“Heal the Wound” * by a group called Point of Grace.

This is the song that “did it” for me. It was as though I had been hit over the head with a ton of bricks. This time, it finally sunk in.

I wish you could hear it as I type these words:

HEAL THE WOUND
by Point of Grace (“How You Live” CD)

I used to wish that I could re-write history.
I used to dream that each mistake could be erased.
Then I could just pretend I never knew the me back then.

I used to pray that You would take this shame away,
Hide all the evidence of who I’ve been.
But it’s the memory of the place You brought me from
That keeps me on my knees even though I’m free.

Heal the wound but leave the scar -
A reminder of how merciful You are.
I am broken, torn apart.
Take the pieces of this heart
And heal the wound, but leave the scar.

I have not lived a life that boasts of anything,
And I don’t take pride in what I’ve read;
But I’ll build an altar with the rubble that You found me in
And every stone will sing of what You can redeem.

Heal the wound but leave the scar -
A reminder of how merciful You are (how merciful You are).
I am broken, torn apart.
Take the pieces of this heart
Heal the wound, but leave the scar (don’t let me forget)
Everything you’ve done for me (don’t let me forget)
The beauty in the suffering.

Heal the wound but leave the scar -
A reminder of how merciful You are.
I am broken, torn apart.
Take the pieces of this heart
(And heal the wound, but leave the scar)

Heal the wound but leave the scar
A reminder of how merciful (You are), how merciful You are.
I am broken, torn apart.
Take the pieces of this heart
And heal the wound, but leave the scar.
Leave the scar.

(Parts in parentheses are an echo voice-over)

“I’ll build an altar with the rubble that You found me in, and every stone will sing of what You can redeem. . .” - if those words are not blessed, and if what they’ve done in me is not a blessing, then I don’t know what is.

That, my dear sister, is how a song can bless. I pray that one day you will hear this song and that it will bless you too.

:heaven: :harp:

 

[Little_Mary]

Those are beautiful examples and I can very much see how the blessing would flow.

But this particular message I got was a youtube performance of a guy trying out for “Britian’s got talent” with Simon Cowell and all that, and he did have a beautiful operatic voice, enough to even give you goose bumps, but I don’t see the blessing in that particular instance…

Different things work for different people, I guess.

 

[Little_Mary]

I’d like to answer by giving a personal example.

Like so very many people, although confessed and forgiven, guilt can latch on like a case of the spiritual cooties.

I remember reading an answer on the EWTN forum that when we get to heaven, all the memories of our past sins which make us feel so unworthy of God’s love will transform our shame into victorious evidence of how much God has forgiven us.

I knew it. I understood it. But there was a part of me where it just wouldn’t “sink in.”

And then I discovered one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard. The name of it is *“Heal the Wound” * by a group called Point of Grace.

This is the song that “did it” for me. It was as though I had been hit over the head with a ton of bricks. This time, it finally sunk in.

I wish you could hear it as I type these words:

“I’ll build an altar with the rubble that You found me in, and every stone will sing of what You can redeem. . .” - if those words are not blessed, and if what they’ve done in me is not a blessing, then I don’t know what is.

That, my dear sister, is how a song can bless. I pray that one day you will hear this song and that it will bless you too.

:heaven: :harp:

Gemma Rose,

Those words are beautiful. I would love to hear the song. I can say from personal experience that it is just as difficult to accept forgiveness as it can be to forgive. I can’t imagine what it will be like standing before God. I can relate to these lyrics!!

 

[CatsAndDogs]

I’m always learning here, so be patient with me…

A friend just sent me a video of a singer, she said, “…his singing blesses me…”

I’ve never heard the word “bless” used in such a way…

Is this a protestant thing?

To be “blessed” is to be “made happy” (in theory if not in acuality).

The “poor” are “blessed”, or “made (potentially) happy” in their “poorness/poverty”, because it SHOULD bring one happiness to be “free of dependency on material things”.

I’m “blessed” by a beautiful tune because it points me toward God who IS beauty.

To be blessed by “that which points you toward God” is a very Catholic thing indeed!

 

[Little_Mary]

To be “blessed” is to be “made happy” (in theory if not in acuality).

The “poor” are “blessed”, or “made (potentially) happy” in their “poorness/poverty”, because it SHOULD bring one happiness to be “free of dependency on material things”.

I’m “blessed” by a beautiful tune because it points me toward God who IS beauty.

To be blessed by “that which points you toward God” is a very Catholic thing indeed!

That makes sense

 

[BarbaraTherese]

I’d like to answer by giving a personal example.

Like so very many people, although confessed and forgiven, guilt can latch on like a case of the spiritual cooties.

I remember reading an answer on the EWTN forum that when we get to heaven, all the memories of our past sins which make us feel so unworthy of God’s love will transform our shame into victorious evidence of how much God has forgiven us.

I knew it. I understood it. But there was a part of me where it just wouldn’t “sink in.”

And then I discovered one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard. The name of it is *“Heal the Wound” *by a group called Point of Grace.

This is the song that “did it” for me. It was as though I had been hit over the head with a ton of bricks. This time, it finally sunk in.

I wish you could hear it as I type these words:

“I’ll build an altar with the rubble that You found me in, and every stone will sing of what You can redeem. . .” - if those words are not blessed, and if what they’ve done in me is not a blessing, then I don’t know what is.

That, my dear sister, is how a song can bless. I pray that one day you will hear this song and that it will bless you too.

:heaven: :harp:

… Great lyrics! Thanks for sharing them!

 

[brigid12]

I’m always learning here, so be patient with me…

A friend just sent me a video of a singer, she said, “…his singing blesses me…”

I’ve never heard the word “bless” used in such a way…

Is this a protestant thing?

I’ve heard people say that to mean that the song (or whatever) makes them think or feel positive about others (and/or humble). I’ve heard it from both Catholics and Protestants, probably a little more from Protestants - I don’t think it’s necessarily Catholic or Protestant but rather a saying that’s been “de-baptized”. A saying originally Christian that was re-oriented toward the secular world.