You're a priest (or a deacon or an EMHC) and someone comes up during communion for a blessing. What would you do?

[Lepanto]

Imagine you’re a priest (or a deacon or an EMHC) and someone comes up during communion for a blessing. What would you do?

Would you impart a blessing? Would it matter if you were ordained or not?

-OR-

Would you politely decline the blessing? If so, how? And how would you do so without embarassing or angering the person?

 

[anamchara]

Imagine you’re a priest (or a deacon or an EMHC) and someone comes up during communion for a blessing. What would you do?

Would you impart a blessing? Would it matter if you were ordained or not?

-OR-

Would you politely decline the blessing? If so, how? And how would you do so without embarassing or angering the person?

huh? I have no idea where you are going with this one Lepanto. if I was a priest I would give the blessing…that seems like a very silly question. can you explain what you are getting at here? Just curious.

 

[kristie_m]

Imagine you’re a priest (or a deacon or an EMHC) and someone comes up during communion for a blessing. What would you do?

Would you impart a blessing? Would it matter if you were ordained or not?

-OR-

Would you politely decline the blessing? If so, how? And how would you do so without embarassing or angering the person?

If I understand things correctly, if you are a priest then you impart the blessing. But I don’t believe lay people are supposed to do the same. (Although I’ve seen them do it.)

 

[Shoshana]

We are allowed to bless the children…but an adult? I would send him/her to the priest.

 

[PhilotheaZ]

Everyone gets a blessing from the priest at the end of Mass. It’s really not necessary to go up for one. Did this originate with people being too embarrassed to stay in their seats if they are unable to receive Communion?

 

[anamchara]

If I understand things correctly, if you are a priest then you impart the blessing. But I don’t believe lay people are supposed to do the same. (Although I’ve seen them do it.)

yes, this is what I understand as well. A priest gives a blessing but EMHC does not. Then why not ask the question “do you give blessings as an EMHC”?

I am an EMHC at my parish. We do not give blessings. That is for the priest. I don’t know about deacons. I know they can baptize infants.

 

[anamchara]

We are allowed to bless the children…but an adult? I would send him/her to the priest.

You can give a blessing shoshana? I am asking because in our parish we can hold our hand over the child’s head and say a quick prayer but an actual blessing is for the priest. We were not told to do anything different for adults. I guess it would be the same.

 

[Joannm]

I have never seen anyone in our parish come up for just a blessing.

 

[THurifer2]

We are allowed to bless the children…but an adult? I would send him/her to the priest.

Laypersons should NOT be blessing anyone. If I was blessed by a EMHC i would immediately bless them back and then tell them that their blessing is no different than a blessing from the person sitting next to me back in the pew. HOWEVER the blessing from a deacon, priest or bishop is actually different.

 

[Carolinagirl411]

A lot of people in my parish go up to get blessed during communion. Mostly it is people from the RCIA class who haven’t received confirmation/baptism yet and can’t take the Eucharist but would like to be involved and get a blessing. I did it often but I always made sure i was in the line with the priest. I have seen EMHC give something…they would place their hand on the person’s hand and whisper something. Not sure if it was a blessing or a prayer. The priest would make the sign of the cross then place their hand on the person.

 

[THurifer2]

A lot of people in my parish go up to get blessed during communion. Mostly it is people from the RCIA class who haven’t received confirmation/baptism yet and can’t take the Eucharist but would like to be involved and get a blessing. I did it often but I always made sure i was in the line with the priest. I have seen EMHC give something…they would place their hand on the person’s hand and whisper something. Not sure if it was a blessing or a prayer. The priest would make the sign of the cross then place their hand on the person.

So in the context of the HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS is it a blessing line or is it a line COMMUNION line?

 

[Shoshana]

Laypersons should NOT be blessing anyone. If I was blessed by a EMHC i would immediately bless them back and then tell them that their blessing is no different than a blessing from the person sitting next to me back in the pew. HOWEVER the blessing from a deacon, priest or bishop is actually different.

Well, you are right about the blessing being different. But children or babies we are allowed to bless. As I said, I would refer the adult to a priest…or if the parent brings the child to the priest is great with me. But that is not always the case. They just want you bless their babies and such. I am not taking the place of the priest…the parishioners choose to go to me instead of the priest to bless their little ones.

Nothing wrong with that.If you have a link that says the opposite, please post it. Thank you.

 

[THurifer2]

Nothing wrong with that.If you have a link that says the opposite, please post it. Thank you.

Great could you please provide me with a document that says its proper to bless people in the line reserved for recieving the EUCHARIST? I suggest you refrain from asking where it says one cannot…

The ruberics refer to things that are to be done not the things that are NOT to be done…which would encompas thousands of pages of things we are not supposed to do.

 

[anamchara]

Great could you please provide me with a document that says its proper to bless people in the line reserved for recieving the EUCHARIST? I suggest you refrain from asking where it says one cannot…

The ruberics refer to things that are to be done not the things that are NOT to be done…which would encompas thousands of pages of things we are not supposed to do.

This has me thinking. I know we were told that we can not “bless” those who come up for a blessing. We have a newly ordained priest in our parish now and he is the one who gave the coordinator the instructions. I’m going to ask him what if anything it does say about this.

 

[SMHW]

If I understand things correctly, if you are a priest then you impart the blessing. But I don’t believe lay people are supposed to do the same. (Although I’ve seen them do it.)

All these "ought to"s and "have seen"s and "have never seen"s kind of get away from the point.

What should a distributer of communion (say an EMHC) do if someone (say an adult) comes up with arms crossed in order to get a blessing? Stand there and look confused? Say, “Sorry, I’m not allowed to do this”? Put a hand on the persons head and say, “God bless you”?

 

[Carolinagirl411]

So in the context of the HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS is it a blessing line or is it a line COMMUNION line?

Well frankly I’m sorry if that puts you out so badly but I think it was a good thing. NO they did not reserve that line for blessings, the Eucharist was given and YES I got your sarcastic tone. However for those of us who were not allowed to take the Eucharist yet…I felt more part of the church and more part of the communion being allowed to go for a blessing. Excuse me for wanting to join in the Lord’s Supper, the Communion. I felt part of the Lord’s family which helped me deal with having to wait a year before I could fully commune with the Lord. I would walk up, cross my arms, and get blessed, then walk back to my seat, kneel and pray with the rest of the congregation my thanksgiving. I may not have been able to take part of the Lord’s body in the physical sense with the Eucharist but I felt I took part in a spiritual sense.

I’m new to the Faith so if I said anything blasphemous please let me know but I don’t see anything wrong in this.

 

[John_Lilburne]

Out of respect for the liturgical books I would not bless them, whether I was a priest, deacon, or EMHC.

According to the Book of Blessings:
“28. Because some blessings have a special relationship to the sacraments, they may sometimes be joined with the celebration of Mass.
This book specifies what such blessings are and the part or rite with which they are to be joined; it also provides norms that may not be disregarded. No blessings except those so specified may be joined with the eucharistic celebration.”
(Book of Blessings, Liturgical Press, Minnesota, 1989, ISBN 0-8146-1875-8, page xxx).

Of course the Book of Blessings does not include a blessing for those in the Communion procession.

How should this be communicated to people? Some ideas: Notices in Mass sheets.
Part of the RCIA classes.
Letters by bishops.
Announcements by priests before Communion.

But unfortunately people are often not provided with this correct information. They are given the wrong instructions, that it is appropriate for them to come forward in the Communion Procession for a blessing.

Pretending to bless the person does nothing to correct the situation. So my approach would be to say a greeting, like “Good Morning”. If they start discussing the blessing, to suggest seeing them about it after Mass.

The parish priest decides who the EMHCs are to be (General Instruction of the Roman Missal, n. 107, assuming there are no instituted acolytes). So it would make sense to make him aware of what the Book of Blessings says and of one’s intention to follow it.

 

[lak611]

Nobody in my parish (priest or EMHC) gives blessings in the Communion line. The Communion line is for the reception of the Eucharist. Everybody in the church gets a blessing at the end of Mass. My pastor explained this once. If one cannot receive the Eucharist, he is to remain in his pew and make a spiritual Communion.

 

[Carolinagirl411]

Well if that is the case then something major needs to be done since every parish I have been to, and I have visited several different ones, people go up for blessings. I was ENCOURAGED to do so by our priests and RCIA instructors and OTHER Catholics…

Something is definitely lacking in the Catholic rule department if there are so many disagreements and people going against law like you say.

 

[Phemie]

I have never seen anyone in our parish come up for just a blessitng.

I’ve never been in a parish where that was routinely done. But I know that it happened just this past Sunday in our parish because someone’s uncle told her to do that since she hasn’t made her First Communion yet.

If someone is going to go receive a blessing from the EMHC, he/she might as well turn to their neighbor in the pew and ask for a blessing from them – same difference.