The Blessing Bombshell, yet again

Seeing similarities between blessings and sacramental

02/06/2024

I hope you are able to tolerate yet another homily on the subject of the Blessing Bombshell. I want to revisit the Vatican document Fiducia Supplicans allowing Catholic clergy to spontaneously bless everyone, regardless of their moral uprightness or marital status. Fiducia Supplicans, as you may recall, was promulgated on December 18, 2023, and its subtitle was “On the Pastoral Meaning of Blessings.” This homily will continue to explore that “pastoral meaning” and try to show it is not new or unorthodox. In the month of February we celebrate special liturgies that offer us fresh insights into the nature of blessings because the Church employs the frequent use of sacramentals. How do sacramentals help us better understand blessings? Just as we distinguish between big-B Blessings from small-b blessings – that is, between formal, liturgical Blessings and informal, spontaneous blessings – so the Church draws a similar distinction between big-S Sacraments and the small-s sacramentals, like holy water, blessed candles, etc.

Before we go any further, are you familiar with the sacramentals? Think of sacramentals like mini-sacraments. They are like the sacraments because they use some visible sign to communicate God’s love, mercy, and grace, but they are unlike the sacraments because they do not reach the same degree of efficacy as one of the seven sacraments. For example, holy water is a sacramental, and we use it to bless ourselves every time we walk into church. Notice how the use of the sacramental of holy water allows someone to bless themselves without the involvement of a priest or deacon. Another sacramental is the blessing of throats with blessed candles on the feast of St. Blase, which is imparted by both clergy and lay ministers. And another wildly popular sacramental employed around February is the distribution of ashes on Ash Wednesday. Incidentally, no one misses Mass on Ash Wednesday! It’s like that church billboard that said emphatically: “It’s Ash Wednesday: get your ash in church!”

Now, here is the critical difference between a sacrament and a sacramental. A sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Christ; whereas, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, sacramentals “are sacred signs instituted by the Church” (Catechism, 1677). The sacraments come straight from Christ, the Head, while the sacramentals are creations of the Church, his Body. In a sense, sacramentals have a derivative value insofar as they are smaller and simpler expressions of the seven principal sacraments properly so-called. And further, every sacramental should inspire people to a fuller and more faithful celebration of the major sacraments themselves. We might compare sacramentals to appetizers that make us hungry for the main course of the seven sacraments. For example, blessing ourselves with holy water should remind us of Baptism and being born again as children of God by water and the Holy Spirit. Ashes on the forehead remind us to repent of our sins and the need to receive the absolution of a priest in sacramental confession. That is, sacramentals are not intended to be substitutes for the sacraments but rather should serve as a segue to a more robust participation in the sacraments.

The point at which sacramentals begin to overlap with blessings is in the sense that they have a universal application, that is, they can be received by absolutely anyone, even non-Catholics. Sometimes on Ash Wednesday I turn on the television to watch the national news. Some news anchors appear on live television with ashes displayed on their foreheads. Growing up I thought that must mean they are Catholic. But not necessarily. They may simply find that sacramental of ashes especially meaningful as a Protestant, or even as a non-Christian. Canon 1170 of the Code of Canon Law reads: “Blessings, which are to be imparted first of all to Catholics, can also be given to catechumens (those in RCIA) and even to non-Catholics unless there is a prohibition of the Church to the contrary.” Fiducia Supplicans is making it clear that there is no such “prohibition to the contrary.”

In other words, nothing prohibits a non-Catholic from receiving ashes on Ash Wednesday, as long as they respect the spiritual significance of the sacramental as a sign of repentance and a reminder of our mortality. In this same vein, therefore, couples who are divorced and remarried and even same sex couples could receive these sacramentals – ashes, holy water, blessing of throats, etc. – as long as they respect the inherent meaning imbedded in them, namely, drawing closer to God (conversion) and loving our neighbor as ourselves. This is why we blessed throats after Masses on the weekend of February 3, the feast of St. Blase. Everyone in church, from baby to octogenarian, from renowned saint to wretched sinner, could all come forward to be blessed by this powerful sacramental.

So, how do sacramentals help us understand blessings better? I think we can detect three ways. First, we see the same stark line of demarcation between big-B Blessings and small-b blessings also delineating big-S Sacraments and small-s sacramentals. Interestingly, the Code of Canon Law treats of blessings in the subsection called “Sacramentals.” That is, blessings and sacramentals are the same species of animal in the canon law jungle. Second, we discovered that big-B Blessings, like big-S Sacraments, require the administration of qualified clergy who distribute them exclusively to Catholics properly disposed to receive them. On the other hand, small-b blessings, like small-s sacramentals, are the prerogative not only of the clergy but also of the laity. Small blessings and likewise sacramentals do not require the power of ordination. And third, small-b blessings, like sacramentals, have a wide reach, spilling over the borders of the Catholic Church, and even the farthest corners of Christianity, to embrace the whole world. That is, while the seven sacraments have a rather limited distribution list, the sacramentals have no distribution list at all. They are for everyone everywhere.

In other words, the spirit in which the Church treats sacramentals is the correct lens through which we should understand the Vatican declaration Fiducia Supplicans. Try to see blessings like we deal with sacramentals, and you will appreciate the pope’s pastoral perspective, which is simply his exercise of the Petrine ministry of interpreting and applying the deposit of faith.

Praised be Jesus Christ!