Being Blessing
by Fr. Jim Costigan, CPM
God blesses us so that we can bless others. The Father, through His Son, blesses us with the Holy Spirit and the Spirit’s good gifts. When our words and actions and prayers answer God with praise of His Majesty and service to our neighbors, then our life takes on a sacramental value and we become the blessing in this world that He created us to be.
Sacramentals derive from the baptismal priesthood : every baptized person is called to be a “blessing,” and to bless (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1669).
Among sacramentals “blessings” (of persons, meals, objects, and places) come first. Every blessing praises God and asks for His gifts. In Christ, Christians are blessed by God the Father “with every spiritual blessing (CCC 1671 ).”
I’m afraid that most of us, most of the time, tend to think of blessing in some restricted, narrow, or derived sense : Father blesses my rosary – turns a storebought item into a holy Catholic prayer tool; an old aunt dies and leaves you a monetary legacy – a six figure blessing; “Atchoo!”/“Bless you; watch for pneumonia.” Taking our cue from Scripture or the Fathers of the Church we would do better to think of blessing as primarily our sacrifice of praise to God, first, because He is Who He is, and, second, because of His gifts to us. The idea of sacrifice is, according to the etymology of “bless” – from Old English bledsian, to consecrate with blood – that’s the root, in fact, of “blessing.”
In one paragraph of the Catechism ( CCC 1669 ), we are brought by five Scriptural citations to a fuller understanding of the riches to be found in that little word, “blessing.”
And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing ( Gn 12: 2 ).
. . . bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you ( Lk 6 : 28 ).
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them ( Rom 12 : 14 ).
Do not return evil for evil or reviling for reviling; but on the contrary, bless, for to this you have been called, that you may obtain a blessing ( 1 Pet 3 : 9 ).
Now I try to think of blessing in this larger context. As God has given to me, I want to give back to Him, give back in service to His little ones. Lord, make me a blessing to Your People. Let this be my vademecum.
The Reign of God is at hand! The gift you have received, give as a gift ( Mt 10 : 7, 8 ).