Is my priest blessing things wrongly?

[Danielcpb]

Hi to everyone!

I live in Mexico City and went to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe today after work. I bought a few sacramentals to keep on my person and in my home such as a scapular, a statue of the Virgin and a candle. I also brought a bottle of water to have blessed as well.

At the Basilica they have a station set up where one and all can have their belongings blessed by a priest. While the grounds of the Basilica are open there will be a priest there to offer blessings.

So a group of people and myself walked up to the priest at the same time and the priest said a quick prayer sprinkled everyone and their belongings with holy water and then he sent us on our way.

Here’s my question(s):

I understood that scapulars, water and icons all have different and very specific prayers. Did the priest take a short cut? Should I consider my new treasures unblessed? Can I go back and ask him to do it properly?

Your advice and expertise will be greatly appreciated.

Daniel

 

[john_manuel]

DanielCpb-i would suggest u consult the office of the Catholic Diocese there? I would guess there should be someone to assist u from the Bishops office?? Write to the Pastor of that particular parish in Mexico City stating ur question??

 

[LilyM]

I don’t know about icons, but having a brown scapular blessed is different to being enrolled in the brown scapular. You only need to be enrolled once in your lifetime, so after that if you get a new scapular to replace your old one you would only need a simple blessing.

And if you are buying scapulars for others it is up to them to get themselves enrolled (btw I think enrolment might need a priest who is actually Carmelite, whereas I think any priest can bless a scapular. I may be wrong about that).

Blessing water? You mean taking ordinary water from a tap to the priest, to turn it into holy water? I do think that requires a special prayer.

It is far easier to get holy water simply by filling a clean bottle from the holy water font - or some churches have a container with a tap on it that looks like a tank or barrel, labelled ‘holy water’, that you can fill containers from. If a priest sees water in a bottle, he might think that that is what you have done, and might not know that the water in your bottle is not holy water.

 

[marymary1975]

Hi to everyone!

I live in Mexico City and went to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe today after work. I bought a few sacramentals to keep on my person and in my home such as a scapular, a statue of the Virgin and a candle. I also brought a bottle of water to have blessed as well.

At the Basilica they have a station set up where one and all can have their belongings blessed by a priest. While the grounds of the Basilica are open there will be a priest there to offer blessings.

So a group of people and myself walked up to the priest at the same time and the priest said a quick prayer sprinkled everyone and their belongings with holy water and then he sent us on our way.

Here’s my question(s):

I understood that scapulars, water and icons all have different and very specific prayers. Did the priest take a short cut? Should I consider my new treasures unblessed? Can I go back and ask him to do it properly?

Your advice and expertise will be greatly appreciated.

Daniel

You should probably consult a priest but I have to say that I have seen the same thing being done at the Basilica of Lourdes in France when I went there.

 

[edward_george]

Usually at large shrines a priest will do a common blessing of all the religious articles, this is not terribly unusual. As for scapulars, as has been mentioned, one has to be individually enrolled in the scapular–and the enrollment is what carries the blessing (enrollment, by the way, does not have to be done by a priest of the order from which the scapular came, as most devotional scapulars are now allowed to be enrolled by all priests, including the Brown Scapular). So don’t sweat it, your items are blessed, and the priest did the right thing.

-ACEGC

 

[LilyM]

You should probably consult a priest but I have to say that I have seen the same thing being done at the Basilica of Lourdes in France when I went there.

See I think of places like Lourdes differently. The water there is holy because it is capable of miraculous healing, not because it has been blessed by a priest. So I can imagine a priest not blessing Lourdes water in the same way as he would ordinary tap water.

 

[oldfashcathgirl]

Blessing water? You mean taking ordinary water from a tap to the priest, to turn it into holy water? I do think that requires a special prayer.

It is far easier to get holy water simply by filling a clean bottle from the holy water font - or some churches have a container with a tap on it that looks like a tank or barrel, labelled ‘holy water’, that you can fill containers from. If a priest sees water in a bottle, he might think that that is what you have done, and might not know that the water in your bottle is not holy water.

I agree with what you said… I think he said “the priest said a quick prayer sprinkled everyone and their belongings with holy water and then he sent us on our way.”
I don’t think people brought water to be blessed…

 

[fred_conty]

I saw in one of the posts here on CAF that lay people do not have the power to put the church’s blessing on objects. But the priest, by virtue of his ordination powers, has that power to bless things in the name of the church. Now if the church lays out a certain blessing he should be using, then he should use that blessing. But if he dosen’t, the object is still blessed in the name of the church because he has that power thru his ordination and what prayer he uses dosen’t change that. So everything is blessed.

I believe that certain things are required to be blessed using the prayers specified by the church, such as an altar, chalice, oils, and other things used in sacraments and the liturgy.​

“Give me nothing more than your love and grace. These alone, O God are enough for me.” (hymn)

 

[LilyM]

I agree with what you said… I think he said “the priest said a quick prayer sprinkled everyone and their belongings with holy water and then he sent us on our way.”
I don’t think people brought water to be blessed…

The poster said ‘I brought a bottle of water to be blessed as well’.

 

[Danielcpb]

I don’t know about icons, but having a brown scapular blessed is different to being enrolled in the brown scapular. You only need to be enrolled once in your lifetime, so after that if you get a new scapular to replace your old one you would only need a simple blessing.

Ok! Thanks for that! I was unaware of being enrolled in the brown scapular. I will look into that…Meanwhile it is blessed!

God bless!

Daniel

 

[Danielcpb]

Usually at large shrines a priest will do a common blessing of all the religious articles, this is not terribly unusual. As for scapulars, as has been mentioned, one has to be individually enrolled in the scapular–and the enrollment is what carries the blessing (enrollment, by the way, does not have to be done by a priest of the order from which the scapular came, as most devotional scapulars are now allowed to be enrolled by all priests, including the Brown Scapular). So don’t sweat it, your items are blessed, and the priest did the right thing.

-ACEGC

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond! Having looked into the Brown Scapular a little more I understand the difference between having it blessed and being enrolled into it.

As for the rest of the stuff I was confused. If you look online often they talk about special blessings for candles etc. i was expecting that those prayers would apply…I see now that that is not necessarily the case all the time. Everyday I’m learning something new.

Lord bless!

Daniel

 

[Danielcpb]

I saw in one of the posts here on CAF that lay people do not have the power to put the church’s blessing on objects. But the priest, by virtue of his ordination powers, has that power to bless things in the name of the church. Now if the church lays out a certain blessing he should be using, then he should use that blessing. But if he dosen’t, the object is still blessed in the name of the church because he has that power thru his ordination and what prayer he uses dosen’t change that. So everything is blessed.

I believe that certain things are required to be blessed using the prayers specified by the church, such as an altar, chalice, oils, and other things used in sacraments and the liturgy.​

“Give me nothing more than your love and grace. These alone, O God are enough for me.” (hymn)

This was exactly my concern…if there’s a prayer of blessing for a candle I assumed that it would be used. But having read some of the responses and talked to a few people about it; it seems that there are also general blessings that in order to save time at some of the larger basilicas and churches a priest can use these blessings and therefor serve more people.

I was unsure if these general prayers of blessing are less effective…but the say the power of the church’s blessing is as powerful as always whether said blessing is general or specific.

God bless and thanks for taking the time to respond.

Daniel

 

[Danielcpb]

The poster said ‘I brought a bottle of water to be blessed as well’.

Yes it’s true…I had a large bottle of water in my hands along with my other sacramentals assuming the priest would know what’s up. That was my bad…

Once I go back I will ask specifically for my water to be blessed!

At the Basilica, because they have this “Blessing station”, there aren’t any large Holy Water fonts to fill bottles. We have to go and have our bottles of water blessed if we wish to take some home with us!

I’m still kinda dumb right now while I’m learning how things are done…soon I’ll be ontop of my game! Hahaha!

God bless

Daniel