What does it mean to "bless" something?

[pineapplebunnybounce]

I am a Deacon in the Roman Catholic Church so I'm asked to give formal blessings to all sorts of things. At least among Catholics and the Orthodox to bless something means to say something good, wish good and impart that which is good on to something. It is what we call a Sacramental. That is, it isn't a sacrament in that it imparts God's saving grace, but it has the ability to lead one to that grace. It's real affect is probably psychological, in that one knows that they or an item have been set apart or had good thoughts wished upon them. It certainly isn't magic (although I suspect some of my parishioners think it is) and of course, we live in a world where bad things happen, so bad things are going to happen no matter what. For example, I blessed a car the other day. That doesn't mean the driver will never get in an accident or get a ticket. That's probably more information than you wanted.

So blessing something is to give someone psychological comfort, that's all? Is this what you tell your parishioners as well?

[rexbeccarox]

From UrbanDictionary.com:

Bless: V. To smoke cannabis. To have a smoking session (sesh). The full version of the tem is "Bless Jah", Jah being common Jamaican for "God". This makes perfect sense seeing as the god of the rasta movement might best be defined as cannabis smoking. To "Bless", as of posting, isn't very widely known, and as such it has several advantages to just saying "Let's toke".

1) It can be said in front of authorities or people opposed to cannabis smoking without them understanding the meaning.
2) It implies the spiritual aspect of cannabis smoking, which is a great way to think of smoking.
3) It separates the speaker from lesser smokers who use such conventional terms as "smoke"




So, there you have it. Who would like to bless with me?

Bless me please, oh Clean Shaven one!

[Max_Kolbe]

I am a Deacon in the Roman Catholic Church so I'm asked to give formal blessings to all sorts of things. At least among Catholics and the Orthodox to bless something means to say something good, wish good and impart that which is good on to something. It is what we call a Sacramental. That is, it isn't a sacrament in that it imparts God's saving grace, but it has the ability to lead one to that grace. It's real affect is probably psychological, in that one knows that they or an item have been set apart or had good thoughts wished upon them. It certainly isn't magic (although I suspect some of my parishioners think it is) and of course, we live in a world where bad things happen, so bad things are going to happen no matter what. For example, I blessed a car the other day. That doesn't mean the driver will never get in an accident or get a ticket. That's probably more information than you wanted.

So blessing something is to give someone psychological comfort, that's all? Is this what you tell your parishioners as well?

I would certainly tell my parishioners of the psychological benefits of a blessing , but I also do believe that a blessing, as a sacramental, can lead to the grace of God in the sacraments.

[Minimalist]

Isn't that special.

[pineapplebunnybounce]

So blessing something is to give someone psychological comfort, that's all? Is this what you tell your parishioners as well?

I would certainly tell my parishioners of the psychological benefits of a blessing , but I also do believe that a blessing, as a sacramental, can lead to the grace of God in the sacraments.

What effect does that have on the item/person/groups of people/animals?

[Brakeman]

I am a Deacon in the Roman Catholic Church so I'm asked to give formal blessings to all sorts of things. At least among Catholics and the Orthodox to bless something means to say something good, wish good and impart that which is good on to something. It is what we call a Sacramental. That is, it isn't a sacrament in that it imparts God's saving grace, but it has the ability to lead one to that grace. It's real affect is probably psychological, in that one knows that they or an item have been set apart or had good thoughts wished upon them. It certainly isn't magic (although I suspect some of my parishioners think it is) and of course, we live in a world where bad things happen, so bad things are going to happen no matter what. For example, I blessed a car the other day. That doesn't mean the driver will never get in an accident or get a ticket. That's probably more information than you wanted.

Do you think one can really "impart that which is good on to something.?" If I take two cookies and bless one of them, then put them in a bag and shake, is there any way in science or christianity that we could tell the two cookies apart?

Why not?

[Brian37]

Nothing.

On another atheist website a thread was started "What is your best definition of religion?" My response "Bullshit". No need for a Hitchen's lexicon to state the obvious.

I like your response as well to "bless". Quick, precise and to the point.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

The bible is not full of useless crap

Genesis 36:12 Of what possible use is it to anyone to know that Timna was concubine to Eliphaz?

Numbers 3:17 What use can one make of the information that Gershon, Kohath and Merari were the sons of Levi?

Joshua 13:1 'Now Joshua was old and stricken in years; and the LORD said unto him, Thou art old and stricken in years'. Isn't the Lord saying what has just been said pretty much useless and redundant?

1 Chronicles 1-54 is a completely useless (and mind-numbingly dull) geneaology.

2 Chronicles spends an awful lot of text describing the mythical temple of Solomon. Strikes me as useless crap, almost by defintion.

Almost the entire fourth chapter of Nehemiah concerns the building of a wall. A wall. It doesn't even tell you HOW to build a wall, just that a wall was built.

Matthew and Luke both contain false (and therefore useless) geneaologies of Jesus.

So, the Bible may not be 'full' in the perfect sense of the word, of useless crap, but there's plenty of it to be had.

Boru

[Max_Kolbe]

I am a Deacon in the Roman Catholic Church so I'm asked to give formal blessings to all sorts of things. At least among Catholics and the Orthodox to bless something means to say something good, wish good and impart that which is good on to something. It is what we call a Sacramental. That is, it isn't a sacrament in that it imparts God's saving grace, but it has the ability to lead one to that grace. It's real affect is probably psychological, in that one knows that they or an item have been set apart or had good thoughts wished upon them. It certainly isn't magic (although I suspect some of my parishioners think it is) and of course, we live in a world where bad things happen, so bad things are going to happen no matter what. For example, I blessed a car the other day. That doesn't mean the driver will never get in an accident or get a ticket. That's probably more information than you wanted.

Do you think one can really "impart that which is good on to something.?" If I take two cookies and bless one of them, then put them in a bag and shake, is there any way in science or christianity that we could tell the two cookies apart?

Why not?

---

Do you think one can really "impart that which is good on to something.?" If I take two cookies and bless one of them, then put them in a bag and shake, is there any way in science or christianity that we could tell the two cookies apart?

Why not?

The one that tastes better.

[Minimalist]

"Lord, we cleared this land. We ploughed it, sowed and harvested it, and we cooked the harvest. It wouldn't be here and we wouldn't be eating it if we hadn't done it ourselves. We worked dog-bone hard for every crumb and morsel, but we thank the Lord just the same for the food we're about to eat. Amen."
-- Jimmy Stewart, Shenandoah