Rosary and Chaplet blessing

[Mr_Richie]

This might sound kind of stupid, but I recently had a Rosary and Chaplet blessed by a priest, while they were in the package. The priest seemed ok with it, and its not that i don’t trust his judgment, and im sure the blessing isnt “blocked” by the plastic (that wouldnt make much sense) but the fact that the holy water didnt come into direct contact with the rosary and chaplet is on my mind. Does this even matter?

 

[Mtatum1958]

No.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

It does not matter.

I have had sacramentals blessed while in a huge group, like standing with the crowd in St. Peter’s Square at the papal audience, and they weren’t even out of my purse (they don’t need to be), and the Pope was so far away from us he looked an inch high and any holy water he threw was not going to reach anyone in the crowd. Our sacramentals are still blessed.

Same for blessing of sacramentals while in a crowd at other large shrines.

 

[MrsAngelala]

No. The intent matters (which also means you don’t have to dispose of the plastic carefully!). I once knitted a blanket for a teacher and wrapped it before bringing it to a priest for a blessing. The blanket itself was blessed.

Hopefully you share my sense of humor about these things, because otherwise I’m opening a can of worms – I once knew a priest who saw a ladybug on the ground and tossed it in the toilet. Too late, he realized it was a bead from a blessed rosary that had broken some time before. He had a thing about germs and didn’t want to reach into the toilet to pull it out, so he quickly blessed the toilet water… And then stood there in confusion, gazing at his handiwork in dismay. He wound up fishing out the bead for proper disposal, flushing the toilet, and thanking God for his merciful goodness: sacramentals are not the same thing as sacraments.

And the toilet was still okay to use. He was able to bless the water within the toilet without affecting the toilet itself because of the intent. Which, to be fair, he argued was only halfway there anyway because it all happened in a few seconds of confusion, and God is aware he is only human.