The Art of Blessing
February 9th, 2007 by Joe
To bless someone is to communicate one’s life, strength, and authority to another. To be blessed by God is to share in God’s life, strength, and authority. In this Sunday’s Gospel, we hear Luke’s version of the Beatitudes (Luke 6:17, 20-26) in which Jesus describes those human conditions in which God’s life, strength, and authority are truly found.
As catechists, we need to remind those we teach that they are blessed by God - through Baptism, they share in God’s life, strength, and authority. When humans bless other humans, it is a way of communicating our deepest desire that they continue to be filled with God’s life. Without this reassurance, people seek “life” in all the wrong places, usually in material goods (”Woe to you who are rich…”). To be blessed is to be fortunate. Let’s remind those we teach how fortunate they are to have God’s life, strength, and authority. Let’s re-capture the art of blessing and bless our students this week, reminding them that they are fortunate to share in God’s life - a treasure far more valuable than any earthly riches.
We can pray a blessing over our students. We can trace the Sign of the Cross with our thumb on their foreheads as they are leaving. Any other suggestions for how we can bless those we teach?
