Just The Right Things To Do
Bear with us, please.
Some stories for perspective.
Almost forty years later, Father Roger’s eyes close as the memory floods in. He was a fairly new priest when the call came: “Come to the hospital!” A young couple needed him.
Expecting twins, they had already been devastated by the news that one baby’s heartbeat had weakened and faded into undetectable. That day, Mom had delivered: A healthy child and a baby whose heart had given out perhaps hours, maybe days, possibly weeks earlier.
Would Father Roger bless and baptize both babies.
Seminary training, Church rules and regulations, liturgical practices never prepare a priest for that moment.
Of course, he would. Of course, he did – baptize and bless both twins.
For Father Skipper, the call came just days before Christmas past.
Todd (no longer kid Skip knew four decades ago) was calling from Nashville and at the bedside of his father, who had “just died, right now.” If he placed his cellphone on speaker and next to his father’s ear, would “Skipper” pray for and bless Bob.
Of course, he would. Of course, he did – pray for and bless his grade school classmate.
In both cases, it was just the right thing to do. “I don’t now any self-respecting priest who would not do the same thing,” one of us observed.
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Historian Ted Widner describes a moment on April 2, 1865, two days after the fall of Richmond, Virginia, when President Abraham Lincoln visited the still smoldering ruins of the Confederate capital:
“There was a touching scene as an elderly man
came over to address the president of the United States.
Raising his crownless straw hat, he said,
‘May the good Lord
bless you and keep you safe.’
With tears in his eyes
Lincoln lifted his own hat and bowed to him,
one citizen acknowledging another.”
Ted Widmer
Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington
Lincoln was shot twelve days later - on the evening of April 14 - and died at 7:22 a.m. the following day.
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“May the Good Lord bless those who love you,
so that they will love you more.
May He touch the hearts of those who do not love you,
so that they may love you.
And, sure now, if they still refuse to love you,
may the Lord break their legs,
so that we will know them by their limp.”
An Irish Blessing
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French priest blessing an aircraft on the Western Front in 1915.
Orville Wright completed the first powered flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft on December 17, 1903, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. It covered 120 feet, lasted twelve seconds, and reached a top speed of 6.8 miles per hour.
We have a battlefield photograph – taken twelve years later - of a French Roman Catholic priest blessing an aircraft (presumably purposed to drop very small bombs on German forces) on the Western Front in 1915.
By 1920 the Vatican’s Congregation of Sacred Rites had published a blessing for aircraft:
“God, who made all things for your glory, yet destined every lower being in this world for man’s service, we beg you to bless + this airplane (these airplanes). Let it (them) serve to carry far and wide the fame and glory of your name….”
Simply stated: While Icarus and Daedalus didn’t get “Father’s blessing” before they took off on their fatal fight, priests have been blessing aircraft since shortly after the Wright Brothers went airborne at Kill Devil Hill.
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American poet John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) offered “The Barefoot Boy” one of our favorite blessings:
Blessings on thee, little man,
Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan!
With thy turned-up pantaloons,
And thy merry whistled tunes;
With thy red lip, redder still
Kissed by strawberries on the hill;
With the sunshine on thy face,
Through thy torn brim’s jaunty grace;
From my heart I give thee joy,—
I was once a barefoot boy!
… Cheerily, then, my little man,
Live and laugh, as boyhood can!…
Ah! that thou couldst know thy joy,
Ere it passes, barefoot boy!
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Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) was really big on blessings, greeting everyone with the words with “May the Lord grant you his peace.”
Almost eight-hundred years after his death, in some of the churches of our Churches, October 4 can be a time of unmitigated chaos as we celebrate the Feast of St. Francis with the “Blessing of Pets” – complete with a sprinkling with Holy Water:
“Blessed are you, Lord God, maker of all living creatures.
You called forth fish in the sea, birds in the air, and animals on the land.
You inspired St. Francis to call all of them his brothers and sisters.
We ask you to bless this pet.
By the power of your love, enable it to live according to your plan.
May we always praise you for all your beauty in creation.
Blessed are you, Lord our God, in all your creatures! Amen.”
Franciscan Father Kevin E. Mackin tells us,
“As the prayer is offered, the pet is gently sprinkled with holy water. Believe it or not, most pets receive this sacramental spritz with dignity, though I must admit I have seen some cats flatten their ears a bit as the drops of water lightly pelt them. But the owner is happy, and who knows what spiritual benefits may result?”
Yup!
Parakeets and parrots, cats and dogs of all sizes and colors (those are givens), snakes and turtles. Iguanas and fish (in bowls).
You name it (them?). We bless pets on the Feast of St. Francis.
We also bless homes and factories and other workplaces. Tractors, trucks and (of course) family cars – new and old. Farm animals and fields. Hospitals and school buildings.
A blessing – of a car, a factory, or “Michael” (Father Skip’s “wonderbird” parrot) - offers no protection. It does not impart health and, despite the Irish “blessing” cited above, it doesn’t cause enemies to suffer broken legs “so we’ll know them by their limp.”
A blessing is an expression – a celebration – of our Hope, our Faith that all Creation is beloved of God and worthy of His Mercy when sought. In blessing we declare out loud what is already true: God loves His Creation and waits – patiently and with open arms – for all Creation to turn to him.
Blessings, especially of children and men and women created in the “image and likeness of God” (Genesis 1:26) are an invitation – a call to live fearlessly in that image.
In his “Canticle of Brother Son and Sister Moon,” St. Francis captures the essence of blessing.
Most High, all-powerful, all-good Lord, All praise is Yours, all glory, all honor and all blessings.
To you alone, Most High, do they belong, and no mortal lips are worthy to pronounce Your Name.
Praised be You my Lord with all Your creatures,
especially Sir Brother Sun,
Who is the day through whom You give us light.
And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendor,
Of You Most High, he bears the likeness.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,
In the heavens you have made them bright, precious and fair.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air,
And fair and stormy, all weather's moods,
by which You cherish all that You have made.
Praised be You my Lord through Sister Water,
So useful, humble, precious and pure.
Praised be You my Lord through Brother Fire,
through whom You light the night and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong.
Praised be You my Lord through our Sister,
Mother Earth
who sustains and governs us,
producing varied fruits with colored flowers and herbs.
Praise be You my Lord through those who grant pardon for love of You and bear sickness and trial.
Blessed are those who endure in peace, By You Most High, they will be crowned.
Praised be You, my Lord through Sister Death,
from whom no-one living can escape. Woe to those who die in mortal sin! Blessed are they She finds doing Your Will.
No second death can do them harm. Praise and bless my Lord and give Him thanks,
And serve Him with great humility.
St Francis assures us that - in that hospital so many years ago, on the phone call just hours before the celebration of the Incarnation by which our humanity was made holy - even Death is part of God’s Creation and holy because it brings us into a unique and new relationship with the Creator.
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Including changes and variations that result from geographic isolation and a lack of standardization, linguists estimate there are more than 7,000 languages spoken around the world. But none is as challenging as the Florid Theological Opaqueary and Gobbledygook (FTOG) of Roman Catholic theological documents.
On Monday, December 18, Pope Francis approved the publication of the document “Fiducia Supplicans” (“Supplicating Trust”) by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, head of the Dicastery [a Gobbledygook word for “Vatican Office”] for the Doctrine of the Faith. (In FTOG papal documents have Latin names.)
At almost 5,000 words and with thirty-plus footnotes (twenty from the writings of Pope Francis), FS is not a radical shift in Roman Catholic Church policy. It simply states that, when requested, a priest may offer a prayer of blessing on men and women – regardless of their sexual identity or the nature of their relationship – and instructs that this blessing should be spontaneous and brief and should, in no way, by appearance or statement, be construed as a marriage ceremony. The blessing cannot use set rituals or involve clothing or gestures that are part of marriage ceremonies.
And FS repeats and affirms the Roman Catholic Church’s theology and teaching that marriage is a lifelong union between a man and a woman.
FS allows a blessing of real, live human beings made in the image and likeness of God. Nothing more.
A blessing. Quick. Spontaneous. Hopefully a heartfelt imploring of God’s Mercy and Grace on those who receive it. (God knows, we can all use more than a little Mercy and Grace.)
“Short and sweet” – to use an old phrase. Not the 1174 words of the blessing of a shop or office. Probably closer to the 73 words of “a Blessing for Fishermen and those who travel by Sea” or the 82 words of the “Blessing of Pets.”
In part, FS explains that a blessing can express and nurture "openness to the transcendence, mercy and closeness to God in a thousand concrete circumstances of life, which is no small thing in the world in which we live. It is a seed of the Holy Spirit that must be nurtured, not hindered.”
In the days and weeks that followed Francis’ December 18 document, some bishops and priest have rejected or objected to the document and practice – particularly in parts of Africa where homosexuality is culturally anathema and homosexual actions and relations can incur incarceration or the death penalty. That’s their right. If we are to make our Faith incarnate – real, living, “in the flesh” – we must respect the culture, while urging all cultures and all people to respect the differences that are a part of every child of God.
For the moment, let us remember that a blessing is simply – and profoundly – “"openness to the transcendence, mercy and closeness to God in a thousand concrete circumstances of life.”
And cruel must be the heart of anyone who would deprive an honest, searching and beseeching soul “the transcendence, mercy and closeness to God” of a simple blessing.
Now
“May the Lord bless you and keep you;
may the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
may the Lord turn His face toward you
and give you His peace.”
Numbers 6:24-26
And thank you, Pope Francis.