Spin off thread: what is the purpose of having an item blessed?

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Jennifer132

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I saw another thread where the person was asking about how to get an item blessed. I’m just wondering, what is the purpose of getting an item blessed? If the item itself does not impart grace whether blessed or not, and I can certainly use it without a blessing, what exactly is the blessing for? I hope my question comes out sincere; I really do want to know the answer, and if there’s a good reason to have something blessed, I might take my rosary and have it blessed.
 
I also wonder the same thing…why get it blessed if the object itself does not have any power? I do get my religious items blessed but in the back of my mind, I’m always wondering what the purpose is…
Hopefully, you will get an answer soon.
 
Emanuel = God is with us.

If we get an item blessed aren’t we trying to feel closer to God? To have holiness around us.?
 
When a sacramental item is blessed, it is blessed with the prayer of the Church. That is my understanding.

The item is set apart, and the reason for it is to lead us closer to the sacraments. Our faith is vital in the prayer of the Church.

In exorcisms the evil one knows the difference between blessed holy water, and plain water.

These things I remember being told of by priests, in the archives of my memory. 🙂
 
. . . :bible1: . . .
“And God wrought
by the hand of Paul
MORE
than common miracles.
So that even there were brought
from his body to the sick,
handkerchiefs and aprons,
and the diseases departed from them,
and the wicked spirits went out of them.”
- Acts 19:11-12

As I was pondering the original posters question I was reminded how . . . now-and-again . . . driving east on the street in front of our home in the very early morning . . . there are often banks clouds along the horizon that partially obscure the sun as it is ascending and rising over the clouds on the horizon . . . yet many . . . many . . . many . . . shafts of pure . . . warm . . . beautiful sunlight . . . often break through the clouds all over the place . . . and pour down to touch the earth below . . .

These sunlit shafts of warming light touching the earth . . . to my appreciative and learning soul. . . are very like the . . . blessings of our Wonderful God . . . called down upon earthly items or persons when pray:gopray2:erfully lifted up to the LORD to be blessed . . . which when so blessed retain the . . . *holy touch *. . . of God’s loving hand of blessing upon them . . . even as the previous poster . . . Dorothy . . . so clearly shared as to the very real difference between just . . . “plain water” . . . and . . . “blest holy water” . . . blessed by a priest . . .

In Sacred Scripture we are not only taught about the blest items of St. Paul’s mentioned in the above referenced Scripture . . . and their miraculous God blessed properties . . . but in the Old :bible1: Testament we are taught about the bones of Elisha and their miraculous properties . . . which forms the basis for our Holy Mother Catholic Church’s constant use of the treasured relics of saints throughout her churches in Christendom . . . and in the lives of so many of the lives of **God’s **children . . . *often with miraculous results *. . .

. . . :bible1: . . .
“And Eliseus died, and they buried him.
And the rovers from Moab
came into the land the same year.
And some that were burying a man,
saw the rovers,
and cast the body into the sepulchre of Eliseus.
And when it had
touched the bones of Eliseus,
the man
came to life,
and stood upon his feet.”
- 4 Kings 20-21

Pray:gopray2:erful blessing of persons or things . . . opens up the . . . doors and windows of heaven . . . to pour down from heaven’s abundance . . . heavenly touches of holy graces and holy gifts . . . upon the earth and the children of **God **and men . . .

For anyone interested in really immersing themselves in essentials and understanding the . . . profound depth . . . of the vast nature of very real heavenly blessings and blessedness . . . below is a link to the Douay Rhiems Bible which has a “SEARCH” feature. Just do a search on the words . . .

**blessing
  • blessed
  • bless**
and you will . . . immediately . . . be immersed in the realization that both the Old and the New :bible1: Testaments are . . . flooded with pages and pages . . . containing this holy terminology . . . and the reality of the meaning of this graced heavenly giftedness being freely available for the claiming from our . . . Gracious Heavenly Father . . . and the . . . holy wonder . . . that not only can and does God graciously “bless” us in so very many ways . . . but we are greatly and often encouraged also to “bless” God also in return . . . and that this returned blessing from His children . . . greatly pleases and warms the Dear Blessed Wounded ❤️ Heart . . . of our . . . Wonderful God and our Saviour . . . even as our human hearts are incredibly warmed and sweetened when our own kids freely turn their hearts in love toward us as we parent them . . .

These shafts of . . . heavenly light and grace . . . are openly available . . . living . . . two-way communion channels of heavenly grace flowing with eternal blessings . . . back and forth between heaven and earth . . . and a very real portion of heavenly reality available here on earth . . . and both of the referenced scriptures in this post highlight the “extra” blessedness of an annointed genuine holy man of God’s own choice’s ability to extraordinarily bless . . . which guides us to the richness of priestly blessings so available to us in this day and age of grace . . .

. . . all for Jesus+
. . . thank You Sweet Spirit of Our Holy God+​
 
blessings may be commendable, but I have never heard of a requirement for them to be blessed.

I would rather that my rosary was not blessed, because it raises questions about disposal if it breaks or is lost. The rosary beads in themselves are simply aids to saying the rosary.

I normally listen to an MP3 recording of the rosary without using beads. The priest in the recording undoubtedly has a blessed rosary. I am not superstitious or scrupulous about using a blessed rosary. I don’t think the prayers are invalid if the rosary is not blessed.

I’ve never seen the instructions for the rosary say that the rosary has to be one that was blessed.

I feel it’s OK to use the most beautiful rosary beads you want to say the rosary prayers. Someone left for free a leaded glass rosary that had been purchased in Rome. It had very good distinctive “beads” for the Aves and other prayers.
 
psalm90 said:
blessings may be commendable, but I have never heard of a requirement for them to be blessed.

I would rather that my rosary was not blessed, because it raises questions about disposal if it breaks or is lost. The rosary beads in themselves are simply aids to saying the rosary.

I normally listen to an MP3 recording of the rosary without using beads. The priest in the recording undoubtedly has a blessed rosary. I am not superstitious or scrupulous about using a blessed rosary. I don’t think the prayers are invalid if the rosary is not blessed.

I’ve never seen the instructions for the rosary say that the rosary has to be one that was blessed.

I feel it’s OK to use the most beautiful rosary beads you want to say the rosary prayers. Someone left for free a leaded glass rosary that had been purchased in Rome. It had very good distinctive “beads” for the Aves and other prayers.
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Of course the prayers are still valid when said on a rosary that is not blessed. I understand what you are saying.

I do believe that setting the sacramental apart (rosary, medal, etc.) with the prayer of the Church, the power of the Word that the priest blesses with is a sign of love and respect and setting apart for special use of that item for the glory of the Lord.

Water is blessed for use as holy water when we bless ourselves. The prayer is invisible, we cannot see its power descend on the item.

Altars in our churches are blessed and set apart for use in Holy Mass.

Blessings to you this Advent and always!
 
When a religious item is blessed, it becomes a sacramental. Sacramentals are outward signs instituted by the Church to give grace. The efficacy of a sacramental is related to the faith and fervor to the devotion of the person using it.
 
psalm90 said:
blessings may be commendable, but I have never heard of a requirement for them to be blessed.

I would rather that my rosary was not blessed, because it raises questions about disposal if it breaks or is lost. The rosary beads in themselves are simply aids to saying the rosary.
Click to expand...
I am not criticizing you not having your rosary blessed, but when blessings are viewed with such a mind to utility it seems like all the things that we do in our prayer lives are a bit like an RPG video game where you can custom and equip different items with different bonuses that you strategically must balance. Of course, that is not the case - we should look for as much as we can to be blessed to be dedicated to God. In the Latin Church in particular, as there are in many Churches, there is list upon list of blessings for particular objects. When easy disposability becomes the motivation to refrain from obtaining a blessing, that is troublesome. The blessing must not, in the first place, be of much value. That, however, is not correct. To make the acquisition of a blessing preferential is problematic. It is categorically a greater good than a non-blessed item.

New Advent lists four areas of efficacy of a blessed item:
-Excitation of pious emotions and affections of the heart and, by means of these, remission of venial sin and of the temporal punishment due to it.
-Freedom from power of evil spirits;
-Preservation and restoration of bodily health.
-Various other benefits, temporal or spiritual.

To discount the temporal benefits of a blessed item (i.e. preservation of physical self), or the efficacy of blessings in being anti-demonic are sadly all too often common. But to see the intent of a blessing, one needs to simply read the text.

Who do we ask to bless?
Lord, stretch out Your right hand full of mercy and bless + Your servant [or handmaiden]

What do we ask?
Be a rampart and guardian to him [or her] in night and day from the Evil One and his hosts, from all his snares and nets.

With spiritual efficacy:
Pardon his [or her] debts and sins if he [or she] has transgressed before You.

And physical:
Drive away from him [or her] temptations and difficult sicknesses of soul and body, and as he [or she] is sound in soul and body may he [or she] raise glory to You, now and at all times, forever.

That’s just an example using the Maronite blessing of a person who asks for a blessing from a priest, but lex orandi, lex credendi works in any Apostolic tradition.
 
MtnDwellar said:
When a religious item is blessed, it becomes a sacramental. Sacramentals are outward signs instituted by the Church to give grace. The efficacy of a sacramental is related to the faith and fervor to the devotion of the person using it.
Click to expand...
👍

I have all my religious items blessed.
 
Having an item blessed sets it apart as something other than a mere everyday object. It’s blessed by a priest to be a reminder of and useful to the service of God. We have to be careful that it doesn’t become supersititious…ie the item is not “magical”, but rather it is to remind us of God and His Blessings and to serve useful in prayer and for protection from evil.
usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/sacraments-and-sacramentals/sacramentals-blessings/index.cfm
 
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