Is it proper to go up for a blessing when not receiving Communion?

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FrDavid96 said:
Parents cannot “bless” their children or anyone else. They can say a prayer for the children. Sometimes we use this word “bless” in a very general way, and there’s not necessarily anything wrong with that. The problem arises when we think that parents in that situation are indeed “blessing.”

The one word bless can have different meanings. A supervisor in a factory can “give his blessing” to a new safety regulation. We all know that’s not the same thing as what we’re talking about.

The distinction to keep in mind is that parents may offer prayers for children, but cannot “bless” them in the proper sense of the word. Likewise, EMHCs cannot bless anyone. The problem here is that given the context of the situation, it is very easy for people to misunderstand and think they the EMHCs are “blessing people”.
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You’re saying that the Laity cannot confer a blessing (outside of the liturgy)?
 
FrDavid96 said:
Actually, it’s the reason why so many Protestants are joining the Church. Because they see stability; they see a Church that does not give-in to arbitrary innovations.

They leave the place of “I do what makes me feel good” and come to the place of “we do as Christ commanded us to do.”
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I am so thankful for this thread. On my journey home I have been attending Mass since Feb. 2008. I have been going up for blessing as suggested by one of the RCIA leaders. I have felt very very very blessed just being that close to Christ’s body and soul, blood and divinity as represented…

BUT since this is a practice that should not be done, I will discontinue doing so and will remain in my pew. It slows things up also, especially when also there IS a blessing by the priest at the end.

I am now teaching my sister, husband and son who are starting to attend Mass. Now I can teach them the right way. We will sit in our pews and pray. When we are confirmed, then we can go up to receive WHO, instead of WHAT.

And you are right, it isn’t what a person should be doing that feels what they want,. Receiving our Lord should not be based on feelings, but intellect and belief…as Michael Voris said last night in #56 on New Age and Spiritualism.

Great thread – thank you Benedictgal and FrDavid and others for enlightening me.

And as to the poster who said too many rules?:?? I thank God I belong to the One True Church (well almost belong – i’m swmming that rigver as fast as I can)that does have some rules…during my lifelong wandering through protestant churches I used to alw3ays think “Who’s in CHARGE HERE?” “Somone should be in CHARGE of this.”

sorry for typos – nails are too long :o
 
The obvioius answer to the first question is “NO”. It is abundantly clear. Having studied this in depth you are grossly mistaken. But I won’t argue with you. It would not be productive.

Peace and blessings.

Vocatio
good luck with that.
 
Newbie2 said:
You’re saying that the Laity cannot confer a blessing (outside of the liturgy)?
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No. I am saying that the laity cannot bless anyone or anything; whether within or without the Liturgy.
Not bless in the proper sense of the word. Anyone can “bless” in the sense of giving thanks to God, asking Him to watch over someone, etc. etc. That doesn’t mean that the person is “blessing” or making something “blessed.” We even have biblical examples of people “blessing God”–that doesn’t mean that they are making God (more) holy than He already is, but that people are thanking God for the blessings that He has given them. Again, the problem is one of vocabulary. One word “bless” has so many different meanings. It even exists in our secular vocabulary. The problem is that we don’t have a word to adequately describe the reality. The Church sometimes says “sacerdotal blessing” to refer to what a priest does, but even that has its problems because that might be taken to imply that someone else can likely “bless.” It’s a vocabulary problem, but when we go around talking about laity “blessing” people or things, it is much too easy to misunderstand that. In that case, we don’t realy mean “to bless” we mean “to pray for.”
 
so…benedictgal mentioned above that a “spritual communion” is no longer taught in rcia – wha5t is a “spiritual communion”?
 
FrDavid96 said:
Sarcasm isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
It’s just a literary tool.
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For some time I thought Saint Paul must have made a mistake when he left sarcasm out of the list of gifts of the Holy Spirit. On the other hand the great saint was sarcastic, Cut the whole thing off. So Father David must be correct, it is a literary tool.

I was so good at it, it has to at least be a virtue, but checking the great theologians of all time, encyclicals and various catechisms, there is not a mention.

What a pity to be good at something that is spiritually useless.
 
FrDavid96 said:
No. I am saying that the laity cannot bless anyone or anything; whether within or without the Liturgy. ."
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What about when we bless ourselves with holy water and sign of the cross, in the name of the Holy Trinity?
 
FrDavid96 said:
As another poster aptly described it, it comes from the “trophy mentality” that everyone has to be recognized in order to feel “validated”

The purpose of the “Communion line” is to receive Communion. There is no other legitimate reason to come forward (unless there’s some legitimate necessity like parents carrying small children or someone helping an elderly relative).
We don’t have a “Communion line” for the purpose of everyone feeling like they get to do something at that moment. The whole practice is a corruption of what Liturgy is all about.

None. It did not come from Rome, it is not to be found in any liturgical books or document coming from Rome or having the approval of the Holy See.

Yes, they are being misled. Only a priest or deacon can impart a blessing, properly speaking; especially in a liturgical context. Not only are people being misled into believing that they are being blessed, but this problem carries over into other moments outside of the Mass when laity take it upon themselves to imitate the clergy by going around saying that they are “blessing” people or things. The problem just keeps snowballing.
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I am very surprised to read about blessing being called into question. My non-Catholic children attend a Catholic School. At the weekly Mass, the non-Catholic children do cross their arms across their chest to receive a blessing during Communion. With this information presented here, what should I do?

Do you really want to the say the following?
“Non-Catholic kids, you are not welcomed to Communion and now you are not welcomed to get a blessing either?”

God Bless!
 
Junebug999 said:
so…benedictgal mentioned above that a “spritual communion” is no longer taught in rcia – wha5t is a “spiritual communion”?
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Spiritual communion is when a person who cannot receive Holy Communion for a variety of reasons spends some quiet time in prayer, asking Jesus to come spiritually into his heart. While there are prayers written specifically for this, the prayer can simply be something like this: “Lord Jesus, even though I cannot receive You in Holy Communion, I invite you to come into my heart and be with me” or something similar. Although someone may not yet be able to receive Him, there is no barrier to inviting Him into their hearts until such time as they can go and receive Holy Communion.

If you are able to, catch a broadcast of the Mass from Our Lady of the Angels Monastary on EWTN. They have a Spiritual Communion prayer that the faithful may pray along while the folks on TV are receiving Holy Communion.
 
emeraldcoast said:
I am very surprised to read about blessing being called into question. My non-Catholic children attend a Catholic School. At the weekly Mass, the non-Catholic children do cross their arms across their chest to receive a blessing during Communion. With this information presented here, what should I do?

Do you really want to the say the following?
“Non-Catholic kids, you are not welcomed to Communion and now you are not welcomed to get a blessing either?”

God Bless!
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No. However, you should try looking at it from the Church’s perspective. As I’ve stated in several posts, we line up to receive Holy Communion, not a blessing. The early Church certainly didn’t see it as being “unwelcoming” since no one who had not been initiated was allowed to partake in the Holy Sacrifice.

I went to a Catholic school, having attended from 1973 to 1982. From time to time we would have non-Catholic students attend Mass with us. However, the parents understood that Holy Communion was not open. It was only for those Catholics who were already pre-disposed. Heck, even the little ones who hadn’t received First Holy Communion remained at their places during Communion. We were taught to make a spiritual Communion instead.

The fact of the matter is that, and I have stated this before, when the priest holds up the Sacred Host and says “Behold, the Lamb of God, behold He who takes away the sins of the world. Happy are those who are called to the supper” this invitation is extended to those who are already prepared to receive Holy Communion, that is to say practicing Catholics who are free from the pains of mortal sin.

We are not called to come forward to receive a blessing. We are called forward, so long as we are prepared, to receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus. Your child is certainly not “unwelcome” because he will receive the blessing at the end of the Mass, just like everyone else will.
 
Pandora’s Box was opened. The real question is how are we going to stuff this back in along with all the other things that escaped?
 
benedictgal said:
We are not called to come forward to receive a blessing. We are called forward, so long as we are prepared, to receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus. Your child is certainly not “unwelcome” because he will receive the blessing at the end of the Mass, just like everyone else will.
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I think that it is very hard for Catholics, especially cradle Catholics, to fathom how unwelcoming the Catholic Church is perceived to be by other Christians. My children do believe that the Eucharist is the body and blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Your Church denies them the body and blood of Christ at Mass, even though it is Jesus’ invitation to the Lord’s Supper. Now I read that they should be denied a simple individual blessing as well. I also have read on this topic that the laity can’t bless anything. Do laity in the Catholic Church not have the gift of healing? The gift of the healing is a blessing!

Peace!
 
emeraldcoast said:
Do you really want to the say the following?
“Non-Catholic kids, you are not welcomed to Communion and now you are not welcomed to get a blessing either?”

God Bless!
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What we say is we would very much like you to be Catholic so that you can fully participate with us in this sacred act. It is up to you. If you are not Catholic Jesus is present here and is blessing you and everyone present. There is nothing any person who happens to be the building with you who can do or say anything to you that would surpass what Jesus is giving you.
 
grandfather said:
What we say is we would very much like you to be Catholic so that you can fully participate with us in this sacred act. It is up to you. If you are not Catholic Jesus is present here and is blessing you and everyone present. There is nothing any person who happens to be the building with you who can do or say anything to you that would surpass what Jesus is giving you.
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Oh grandfather–I have read your post in the non-Catholic forum and you are not my cup of tea since I like mine sweet…😉

Yes, Jesus is present! We agree!:extrahappy:

Here is the thing that you are not going to agree with—Jesus is present in my Church as well. We will not turn away baptised Christians from the Lord’s Supper and we surely won’t have an issue with laying a hand on someone to offer them a blessing!

Is it Christ-like to not bless children that aren’t receiving Communion? Do you really believe that Jesus wants it that way, or are you too hung up following the rules of Man? Something to think about…

Mark 10:13-16

God bless!
 
uscatholic.claretians.org/site/News2?abbr=usc_&page=NewsArticle&id=5787

traditionalcatholicism83.blogspot.com/2007/03/bless-your-children.html

domestic-church.com/CONTENT.DCC/reviews/reviews.19980301/CATHMGDE.HTM

It is funny. I didn’t know about blessing my children before 2 years ago. It surprised me and scared me at the same time. I love to impart a blessing on my children before they go to bed or during the day or something special. Like lighting a candle or blessing ourselve walking into the church. I splash holy water throughout the house. I incense the home from time to time. All of these rituals are very Catholic. I’ve watch several movies on EWTN. I noticed in at least 2 parents or a Carmelite Mother imparting blessings upon the nuns/sister. I believe in the movie “Therese” her father blessed her as well. It’s something we parents should all do as a sign to our children.
 
emeraldcoast said:
Oh grandfather–I have read your post in the non-Catholic forum and you are not my cup of tea since I like mine sweet…😉

Yes, Jesus is present! We agree!:extrahappy:

Here is the thing that you are not going to agree with—Jesus is present in my Church as well. We will not turn away baptised Christians from the Lord’s Supper and we surely won’t have an issue with laying a hand on someone to offer them a blessing!

Is it Christ-like to not bless children that aren’t receiving Communion? Do you really believe that Jesus wants it that way, or are you too hung up following the rules of Man? Something to think about…

Mark 10:13-16

God bless!
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Please let me try again. If you were standing in front of two people, one was Jesus Christ and the other was me. Would you turn to me so I could put my hand on your head and bless you?

At Mass the Lord who ascended to heaven in His body becomes present to us. The same person who was born of the Virgin, was crucified and died for our sins, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, comes into our presence and we worship Him. The manner in which we do that is determined by Rome, not me. Rome is not your cup of tea. It is mine.

Please do not be offended. I don’t care what you do in your church. It’s none of my businss. It is your business, and Rowan Williams’s, Robinson’s and Shori’s. Have at it. God bless you all in your church. I wish you every blessing, but we are separated, gone our separate ways, for better or worse.
 
grandfather said:
What about when we bless ourselves with holy water and sign of the cross, in the name of the Holy Trinity?
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That’s just another example of one more definition of the word “bless” and it’s an appropriate word in that context. As I’ve said, it has many meanings–there are more meanings that we haven’t even listed here.

When we use the word “bless” in reference to a priest or deacon actually “blessing” someone or something, that has a particular meaning. In that sense of the word bless (what I’m calling a “proper blessing”) only a bishop/priest/deacon can do this. Laity cannot impart a blessing. When this happens, there is no blessing as such, it is a prayer for someone. We might use the verb “to bless” in reference to that prayer, and certainly there will be examples of where that word is used, but it doesn’t change the fact that laity, cannot impart a blessing. Parents do not “bless” their children, they offer a prayer asking God to watch-over, guide, and bless them. But there is no blessing imparted.
 
vocatio said:
It is funny. I didn’t know about blessing my children before 2 years ago. It surprised me and scared me at the same time. I love to impart a blessing on my children before they go to bed or during the day or something special. Like lighting a candle or blessing ourselve walking into the church. I splash holy water throughout the house. I incense the home from time to time. All of these rituals are very Catholic. I’ve watch several movies on EWTN. I noticed in at least 2 parents or a Carmelite Mother imparting blessings upon the nuns/sister. I believe in the movie “Therese” her father blessed her as well. It’s something we parents should all do as a sign to our children.
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In your public profile, you say that you are a bishop. Therefore you can impart a blessing. If you were not a bishop, then you would not be able to impart a blessing.
 
So, bottom line…(here we go again 😉 )

Bishop and Priest are OK with the practice; what are the EMHCs in that parish supposed to do?

I can think of three things:
  1. Keep on doing it.
  2. Quit being an EMHC
  3. Start writing letters (and maybe 2) as well)
 
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