AND YOU THOUGHT THE GRACE THAT AUNT MATILDA SAID WAS LONG . . .

B has requested a post on the tradition of the “Blessing of the Food” which takes place in many parishes usually in the afternoon of Holy Saturday. “Being a convert, I have no history on this. I have never done it. Do you bring all the food you are going to eat for Easter dinner? Does it have to be cooked already? Do you bring it in a nice basket or a grocery bag? WHY do you do this?”

SO HERE IS A SPECIAL EMERGENCY EPISODE OF SYMBOLIC SATURDAY (Since by Saturday it will be too late!)

I hate to admit it, but this has always been one of my favorite services performed by the church though its significance is really quite trivial compared to what happens the rest of the Easter season. Remember that the faithful used to take Lenten fasting much more seriously. Most importantly there was a Triduum fast and Easter morning was the first day when meat, eggs, and other foods could be eaten again. Remember also that an absolute fast used to be in place from midnight until after you received Communion. That is where we get the word “breakfast”, we are breaking the fast.

So you can imagine that first meal after going to Easter mass was quite significant. You had not eaten in quite a spell! Now we are rejoicing because Christ is risen; indeed He is risen! All is made new! New food stuffs are brought into our homes and we are able to celebrate as we begin by satiating our hunger with the same relish (pun intended) and joy that we experienced in the Resurrection of Christ, being fed by His Word and Body. This is not just any food! This is the food of our celebratory feast! This is our new nourishment after a period of want! Our cup runneth over and we want to pay tribute to that in a special way. So we have our food of Easter blessed in a ceremonial fashion.

There are different thoughts on exactly what one should bring to the Blessing of the Foods. My Mother was a strict observer of only having exactly that with which we would break our fast (and different ethnic groups might have specific things that must be included.) Our Easter breakfast was quite simple and the basket we brought to be blessed would reflect this. There would be generally a potica (a type of coffee cake), zaludits (I may not have spelled that correctly), Easter eggs, puhanja (I’m sure I didn’t spell that correctly) and some other simple Slovenian delights – ooooh, such as sausage!) Others have a more generous idea about what it is that is blessed. They take the foods of the main Eater meal when the whole family will be together and so have hams and wine and butter and cakes and, well, (lip smack) everything you can imagine. You decide what it is you want to do.

The foods are usually placed in an appropriately sized basket and covered with a linen cloth, sometimes embroidered for just such occasions. But there is nothing wrong with using another type of container. Cooked or uncooked, it really does not matter.

At parishes where there is a Blessing of the Foods, the baskets are usually placed on the steps of the sanctuary or on the isle at the end of the pews. The official rite itself is actually quite short. After a reading and petitions there is a short prayer of blessings and you are done.

I try to always think with the mind of the Church, but this is one time I tend to go my own way. The blessing ceremony is a bit longer as I bless each of the food individually. What follows is each of the blessings to give you an idea of what you might bring and what each of the foods symbolize.

Father of all goodness, we bless You for this lamb and other meat products. You commanded our ancestors in the faith to prepare a lamb on Passover night. May these meats prepared for our celebration in honor of the Passover of Your Son from death to life remind us of the true Paschal Lamb by Whose blood we are saved . .

Father Almighty, may Your blessing be upon these breads and other grain products and all who partake of them. As with the many grains of wheat, which have combined to from these loaves, may we be mad one through the Bread of Life . . .

Heavenly Father, let Your blessing be upon our dairy products, especially these eggs, for in them we see a sign of Your Son rising to life from the tomb . . .

Blessed are You, Lord God, Who fill the hungry and satisfy the thirsty, and gave us wine to gladden our hearts. Grant that all who drink this wine in commemoration of the Passion of Your Son may rejoice in You and be invited to sit at your Heavenly banquet . . .

God of compassion, mercy, and love, in the midst of the pain and suffering of the world, Your Son came among us to heal our infirmities and soothe and heal our wounds. May all who this oil be blessed with health in mind and body . . .

Almighty God, we ask You to bless this salt as once You blessed the salt scattered over the water by the prophet Elisha. Wherever this salt is used, drive away the power of evil and protect us always by the presence of Your Holy Spirit . . .

God of power, Who enlightens the world and dispels the darkness of evil and sin, let the light of these candles illuminate our hearts and minds that they may reflect always the splendor of Christ . . .

We ask You to bless these flowers and other Easter decorations so that the faithful who use them to adorn their homes and this sanctuary to celebrate Your Son’s resurrection may praise You always for the beauty with which You clothed Your creation . . .

Loving Father, in joy we thank You for the Easter baskets, which these children ask Your blessing upon. May they enjoy these Easter eggs and candy and all that these baskets contain as they celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, Your Son and Our Brother. May we always appreciate the gifts we receive and the joy You give us in sharing them . . .

God of Glory, the eyes of all turn to You as we celebrate Christ’s victory of sin and death. Bless these fruits, vegetables, herbs, pastries, staples, and other foods of our Easter Meals. May those who gather at the Lord’s table continue to celebrate the joy of His resurrection and be admitted finally to His heavenly banquet . . .

If your parish does not have a blessing of the foods (and you cannot join us here at St. Clare Saturday at 1:00) you may of course bless your own food. The Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers Book (which I recommend for one and all) has a simple ceremony to perform.

God of Glory,
the eyes of all turn to you
as we celebrate Christ’s victory over sin and death.

Bless + us and this food of our first Easter meal.
May we who gather at the Lord’s table,
continue to celebrate the joy of His resurrection and be admitted finally to his heavenly banquet.

Grant this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

GOD BLESS YOU

I can’t shake this image.

I was sitting in my place in the unused choir loft during mass a few months back at which was celebrated the Rite of Acceptance for RCIA. This is when the catechumens express their desire to enter into more fully the process of becoming one with Christ’s Church. As part of the ritual the sponsors make the sign of the cross on their person’s forehead, ears, eyes, lips heart, shoulders, hands, and feet. During this time the pastor is reading such things as, “Receive the sign of the cross on your forehead. It is Christ himself who now strengthens you with this sign of His love. Learn to follow Him. Receive the sign of the cross on your ears that you may hear the voice of the Lord. . . .”

Now, in RCIA there is a young couple who is preparing for marriage. He is coming into the Church and she is his sponsor. How moving it was to see her signing and blessing the man she intended to vow her life to and make the father of her children. The priest may have been saying, “Receive the sign of the cross on your lips that you may respond to the word of God,” but it seemed she was saying, “bless these lips with which you show me love, may they be chaste and may the bless our children.” When she blessed his shoulder the priest may have read, “Receive the sign of the cross on your shoulders, that you may bear the gentle yoke of Christ,” but it was as if she were blessing “the shoulders that will bear the labor of man to support the new home we establish in Godly order.”

A desire burned in me then. It was a passionate desire that all couples would love each other to such a degree that not only would they want holiness for each other but that they would take the initiative to manifest that prayer in such a fashion. I don’t have a lot of confidence in many of the things that we do in marriage prep but I do emphasize prayer and especially praying together. But this is even a step further.

I make this plea particularly to men (probably because they can be the least comfortable with it.) As spiritual head of the household do you pray daily for yourself as husband and father, and your family that they may be close to the Lord? Do you fathers bless your children? Unsure of how to do it? Get a copy of the Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers. An example can be as easy as tracing the sign of the cross on your child’s forehead and saying, “May God bless you and protect you.”

If you are not with someone and hope to be, start praying for that person now. Pray that God may bless them and that He may prepare you to be a good partner. And if you are single and plan on staying that way (like me) pray for those who enrich your life, especially your friends. How precious they are.

And finally may God bless you.

OH, THE PLACES YOU'D NEVER BELIEVE YOU WOULD GO! III

Sorry folks! No pictures today. There is NO WAY that I was going on image search for today’s story.

People invite priests out to bless all sorts of things. There are the usual things; houses, buildings sites, fields. There are the slightly unusual things, hops for beer, the grape harvest for wine, and boats. And then there are days like the one that follows . . .

A parishioner was opening a new business and asked that the building be blessed. Nothing so unusual there. I was given the address and we set up a date and time to meet.

I showed up at a very unassuming building and was greeted by the owner. He took me into his office and we chatted for a little spell. With great pride (as well he should) he explained the nature of his business. It was (the world’s?) largest indoor salvage yard. He provided donuts and industrial strength coffee before we got started. “You’re going to need it Father.” I thought he was joking.

So we start walking through room after incredibly large room saying prayers and splashing holy water about. One room had all car doors neatly stacked and arranged. The next had front quarter panels, the next axils, so forth and so on. I didn’t know cars had so many parts. Finally we reached the back of the building. I turned to the man and said, “Well, that looks like that’s it!”

“Yep,” he said, “Shall we start the second floor?” I should have realized there were some integral parts of cars missing even from my limited knowledge of such; bumpers, tail lights, wheel rims . . .

We got to what I thought was the front of the building (and good thing because I was beginning to run low on holy water) when the gentleman said, “Now you are gong to see the real reason we brought you down here Father. Behind this door is where we would like to have our new offices but we can’t do anything in here until you bless it.”

To bless: to make holy, to sanctify, to claim and set aside for the kingdom of God.

He opened the door to another long hallway. It was in stark contrast to the rest of the building. Where most of the building had been old and dirty, the walls here were relatively new and they were painted deep red and purple, and blue. Each room had a theme. One looked like a little girls room. One was filled with mirrors. One had winches and D bolts on the walls and so forth. There was a room in which it was obvious there had been all kinds of electronic equipment. This is where I started to catch on. If you have not the slightest idea what is going on at this point, count yourself lucky and perhaps stop reading.

Of all the places that the priesthood would take me I would have never, NEVER guessed a place like this. We prayed and blessed the rooms and claimed territory back for use in the kingdom.

Not too long ago, the street that the building is on was shown in a news segment about traffic. Seeing it on T.V. brought to mind the people who were effected by what happened there. It makes me sad to think what went on in those rooms, how many people gave themselves up to be treated as objects, dragging their greatest gifts through the mud. With the Internet, those images will never be lost. The models have perhaps a near immortal record of their activities. Will they never be able to escape their past if they should so desire? (Saint Augustine lived a rather lascivious lifestyle before his conversion. Would he have been taken seriously and would his cause for canonization been damaged if we could pull up images of him on our computers showing off his assets?)

Could any of the tormented confessions I’ve heard been a result of what went on in that building?

About a minute walk from my last assignment there was a so-called “Gentleman’s Lounge.” I sometimes pictured Jesus going down there and talking to some of His lambs and encouraging to embrace their dignity. I never had the nerve to do it. Quite frankly, I didn’t want the publicity and such ministry was fraught with all kinds of dangers and there are areas in which I admit to being coward.

Driving through town I will see an occasional statue of Mary or Saint Francis in someone’s yard and think how nice and offer them a blessing. But then again, they are perhaps not the ones who need it, it is rather the people in the topless bar, the guy who threw his cigarette butt out the window, or the people with “Pro-Choice” bumper stickers that really could use our prayers.