Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Blessings

Hey! I have a question for you - must items that are considered sacramentals be blessed by a priest? Out of all the things of a religious nature on my computer desk, only two have been blessed. The holy water, obviously, and the monstrance pin.
I recently heard a priest say that such items ought to be blessed. I've never had a statue blessed. Does that mean that the 30 of so statues that we own are somehow "unholy." Gads, I hope not. Am I committing some sort of sin of omission? Ought I gather them with the holy cards, pictures and medals - perhaps, fill a car trunk - and take them to our parish rectory so that they might be properly blessed. I can just see my pastor's reaction. "Ah, Mary..." He'd say, not knowing that I wanted to remain anonymous in this blog - I really don't mind, because, after all, there has to be more than just one Mary to every parish.

To continue:

"Ah, Mary..." he'd say, "What do we have here?" Trying to look as innocent (read "simple" here) as I could, I'd respond, "Sacramentals, Father." He'd pause, realize that he had paused too long and then give a thoughtful, "Hmmmm," while stroking his newly acquired beard. "And what might they be for?" "Well, Father I think of them as holy reminders. They are of or about people or things to which I feel a connection or wish to emulate. In general."

Yes, I know that my spoken language has some serious flaws, but anyway...

A momentary flash of irritation would cross his face because I had given a standard reply for a few sacramental, not a trunk load, but that look would quickly turn noncommittal. "Ah, yes, I see," he'd say hesitatingly, but not so hesitantly as he would have when he was first stationed at our parish a year and a half ago, "but why is it that they are here," he'd pause before continuing, "in your trunk?" The poor man. I don't think it would be much better if I went about it by getting ten items blessed everytime I attend Mass for the next few years either.
Perhaps, I could covertly travel throughout our diocese, and the neighboring one in the next state, having random priests blessing whatever I bring before them. I'd bow my head and ask for a blessing, give thanks and turn, never to be seen again. That just might work. I'd be surreptitiously righting the nature of my chatchkes and bobbles; ridding my relics of wrongfulness. OOOOooooo! Might I have come upon my mission in life?! Double "OOOOooooo!!" Peace.

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