What are we doing when we bless animals, backpacks, bikes … and each other?
Within the liturgical life of the church, various things are “blessed,” including (every week) God’s people at the end of the eucharist. Occasionally, someone will ask the question “why do we bless things?” or “what exactly is a blessing?” It’s a fair question, and blessing as a concept seems to be a bit like trigonometry: it’s good that we have it, but no one really understands how it works.
We bless because it is biblical
In the fall, many congregations gather to bless all kinds of things: backpacks, bicycles, animals, etc. The practice is not without biblical precedent, and the list of things blessed (including God) in the Hebrew Scriptures is long. Suffice it to say that yes, indeed, blessing as a concept is biblical, a two-way street between the divine and humanity. At times, people bless God. At other times, God blesses people; and still at other times, some object or person is blessed by another person.
Depending upon what is being blessed, the meaning of that act might change. For example: blessing God has a different meaning than blessing a bicycle. Why? Because God does not need blessing—God already exists in eternal and infinite blessedness. And yet the Psalms (and numerous other scripture passages) bless God repeatedly: “Bless the Lord, O my soul” (Psalm 103).
The bicycle, on the other hand, exposes its rider to risks as it heads off into the world, and so a blessing in that case means something different (bicycles also do not appear in the Psalms, but do appear in the Apocryphal 152nd Psalm). In this case, blessing is an intention for good: for safety, for enjoyment, for health.
Blessing is worth doing
To be sure, seeking an exact definition for a blessing is a fool’s errand. It is more art than a science, and those who would seek a mechanical definition for blessing will search in vain. Without a precise definition, is blessing still a thing worth doing? Yes, it is. And this “yes” seems to be in the affirmative for two reasons (though there could be more). First, “blessing” something is an example of the lex orandi, lex credendi (“the law of prayer establishes the law of belief”).
For a very long time Christians had a greater capacity to hold mysterious things that were in tension with one another in their daily religious life. Blessing is a good example. We search for a definition, when the definition is more rightly in the doing (the lex orandi), not the explaining. Through doing, the various meanings (and there are many) become clear. Blessing God might mean something different in grief or in joy; blessing a bicycle may mean something different to a teenager than to an elder; holding an object that has been blessed might mean something very different to one who is struggling as opposed to one who is not. In this way, the definition is subjective and should be, because God (the fount of all power in every blessing) is not confined by any single explanation.
Words of blessing carry power
Secondly, it is important to remember that in the Hebrew Scriptures and in Jesus’ own Judaism, “speaking” a thing brings it into being. “Guard the door of my lips” (Psalm 141) isn’t just advice on how to be a nicer person. It is a warning that the words that cross our lips have power: the power to build up or destroy, the power to influence the future (and, in Jesus’ resurrection, the past, too). The child’s rhyme “…sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” is simply wrong. Words do carry power. Words influence who we are, how we are shaped, how we are formed in faith and held in love.
In the positive, God the Father speaks the ultimate Word: Jesus himself. Christ Jesus is the freeing and liberating Word of the Gospel, a Word that carries unlimited power for good. Jesus—this Word—speaks blessing (an intention for life) into the cosmos and is himself the blessing that the Father speaks.
Practical tips for blessing
So, some practical tips as you bless things and people:
- Explain what you are doing and invite people into worlds they cannot see. “Blessing” is a vague concept, but one that can invite imagination, creativity, and expanded understandings of what God is doing. Why are you blessing some particular thing or person? Explain. Why does the church believe in the power of God’s blessing? Explain. Why do we take seriously things that we only partly understand? Explain. In short: catechesis, catechesis, catechesis!
- The “Blessing of the Animals” is not a standalone event. It is tied to the observance of St. Francis of Assisi. Again, explain how the blessing of saints and of the creation are intertwined. Take some time to actually delve into the life of Francis, understanding what he said (and what he didn’t say).
- Invite people to bless one another and help them explain to the person whom they are blessing why they are blessing them, what their hope for them actually is, and how they see God working in the life of the other person.
By blessing things in the regular rhythm of a congregation’s life, people are reminded of this blessing, a “tapping into” the blessing of Jesus himself who—at the Ascension—raises his hands in blessing to the world that God so dearly loves. So, bless away! Bless early and bless often! Most of all: receive the blessing (the intention of life) from God to you.