What was I thinking?

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gs17459

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Like many of you today our diocese had a special mass in honor of Life. Well everything was fine until the end of mass. The bishop was at the back of the cathedral shaking hands and such. Well on my way out I stopped to shake hands and I said,”God bless you” to the bishop! I have no idea what I was thinking! I am neither a stupid nor arrogant person by nature. I was horrified by what I had said. I was taught and know better than this. The bishop smiled and was very gracious about the whole thing. The only thing I can think is that I had temporarily lost my mind. This has really been bothering me all day. I hope my feelings of guilt and stupidity will prevent this from ever happening again.
How bad of a breach of protocol is this?
Am I overreacting?
Has this sort of thing happened to anyone on this list?

Thanks
 
Welcome to the forum. I don’t think you did anything wrong, but maybe some other people will know more than me.
 
How can it be a bad thing to wish the blessings of God on a bishop? I’d bet he’d like it if a lot more people did so. Think what a difference it might make for our bishops if every member of each diocese prayed for God to bless them every day.
 
I’m sure he hears it all the time when he sneezes!

Laity can say “God bless you” to people all they want. The only difference is that yours is a request, not an authoritative statement. Nothing wrong with requesting God’s blessing upon your bishop.

Josh
 
Right you can ask God to bless anyone you wish. A priest can give God’s blessing.
 
Oh, my, gs17459, I’d say that, quite the opposite, you did a GOOD thing!

Asking God to bless your bishop is a wonderful prayer, and, IMHO, more people should be doing just that!
 
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gs17459:
I said,”God bless you” to the bishop!
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There is nothing wrong with saying God bless you to the bishop.
 
I am sure the bishop needs and desires God’s blessing as much as anyone, besides what would you say if he sneezed?
 
Thank you all so much for your comforting and supportive replies. I feel much better seeing this as an act of kindness and well wishing than ignorance or irreverence.

threej_lc, your reply about it being a request and not an authoritative statement really helped me understand.

Again…Thank You
 
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gs17459:
Thank you all so much for your comforting and supportive replies. I feel much better seeing this as an act of kindness and well wishing than ignorance or irreverence.

threej_lc, your reply about it being a request and not an authoritative statement really helped me understand.

Again…Thank You
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God :blessyou:!!!
😛
Josh
 
God’s blessing is a wonderful gift to send the bishops way. But i understand where you are coming from. I do it often and then think about it afterwards. But no wishing God’s blessing on anyone is a gift.🙂
 
God Bless you is appropriateto say to anyone that you wish Gods blessings upon…I loved the question about the sneeze. It reminded me of that movie, OH GOD! When God sneezes he says “I bless me” or something like that.
 
You can say God Bless You to the Holy Father if you want to! It’s good Christian compassion. You did nothing wrong and actually something very good.

Watch out for scrupulosity, that’s a terrible psychological affliction.
 
Who could possibly need God’s blessing more than a bishop?

As Bishop St. Augustine of Hippo said, “When I think of what I am* with* you, I rejoice. But when I think of what I am *for * you, I tremble”…
 
I am sure the bishop apprecited that you wished Gods blessing upon him…Who wouldn’t?
 
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