Ceeboo wrote:Hey honor
Great to see you on the board. I always enjoy reading your contributions.
Likewise, thank you.
Mumbo jumbo or sacred communication from the divine - neither describe it in a way I would comfortably agree with today.
Well, being that it is "today", how would and/or do you describe it?
I said this in another thread, but I'll share it again here because it explains things better than I could with my own words:
William Desmond - "When I am in Love, I sing the beloved. When I analyze and ask if I am in Love, I am no longer in Love....We search for clarity against ambiguity, but the search for clarity is itself ambigious, so it drags it's own lack of clarity with itself, lack of clarity about itself."
The not-so-easy answer is I am ambiguous regarding how I'd explain it. While I don't see the hand of an external divine other that has it's own circumscribed identity playing a role in this, I do see something that was bigger than just myself, the stake patriarch, and my parents who were all present at the time. In the NOM thread I linked to, one of the posters has a quote by His Holiness the Dalai Lama for their signature that I happen to enjoy:
"We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without human affection."
Whatever it is, I try to keep as much of it in my life as I can get.
I'm curious about blessing rituals within Catholicism. Have you ever received a blessing of any kind?
Yes, I have had items blessed by a Priest (Bible, Cross, wedding ring).
If you don't mind my asking, could you explain the significance blessing this objects has or had for you? I'm interested.
As far as I know (I could be wrong) I have never heard of anything that would be similar to a LDS Patriarchal blessing being done or performed by a Priest/Bishop/Cardinal/Pope within Catholicism. Again, and to be fair, I could be wrong.
One thing I realize I appreciated in Mormonism was the concept of blessing. My father would frequently give us "father's blessings" which were some of the most honest, loving communications he ever gave me. As a missionary, we often blessed one another when we felt a need or someone was having a hard time. While serving in the Bishopric some of my best memories are of being called to a member's home to give them a blessing. In the ward I grew up in, when ordained an Elder we'd often be asked to go to the local hospital and give blessings to people we didn't know who asked for them. While I don't see the priesthood the same way today, I do think the interaction between all of us involved on these occasions touched something "divine" or higher than the mundane of everyday life. It was a good practice, in my opinion.
So, a second question - setting aside patriarchal blessings or their exact equivalents, are there other types of blessings you've been a part of? Or anything that might not be called a blessing but might be similar to what I described above?
Thank you in advance for your consideration. I appreciate hearing about other's experiences. It helps broaden and deepen my own.
