Family sacramentals / edited by Walter Sullivan.


Sacramentals

A GRAIL PUBUCATION

St, MAttrud Indiana





Family Sacramentals





Family

Sacramentals

âlien ^uUrnn, (0.^.^.

Price Fifteen Cents

A GRAIL PUBLICATION

St, Meinrad Indiana



Imprimi potest x

^ Ignatius Esser, O. S. B.
Abbot of St. Meinrad's Abbey

Nihil obstat:

Rev. Joseph D. Brokage, S. T. D.

Censor librorum

Imprimatur :

Paul C. Schulte, D. D.

Archbishop of Indianapolis

February 27, 1952

Copyright 1952 by

St. Meinrad's Abbey, Inc.

Note: Six of these ten chapters are by the Rev-

erend Walter Sullivan, O.S.B. The other four by

others as noted in the Contents.



CONTENTS

Introduction 1

The Christian Family’s First Sacramentals 3

Children are the Fruit of Love 10

Thanksgiving for Life 20

Sacramental of the Domestic Hearth 29

by Abbot Ignatius Esser, O.S.B.

The Little Church That A Home Is 36

Eat, Drink, and Be Saints 45
by Frances King

The Farmer’s Sacramentals 53

The Sacramentals of the Travelers 62

Praise The Lord, Ye Blast Furnaces 70
by Rev. Joseph M. Miller

Saints Around Our Deathbed 80
by Rev. Joseph M. Miller



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INTRODUCTION

I
THINK it was the Japanese missionary Toyohito
Kagawa who once said that a man reveals that

he is a Christian even by the way he lights the kitchen

fire. Kagawa was not so very wrong at that. For

it is obvious how a man reveals his Christianity by

attending Mass, or standing in line to go to confes-

sion, or making the sign of the cross in a restaurant;

but it becomes more difficult to distinguish the Chris-

tian from the infidel when the former sits at the

teller’s window in a bank, or blows his whistle as

a traffic cop, or plunges a hypodermic needle in a

patient’s body as a nurse or doctor.

Yet it is the genius of Christianity that it can touch

a man or woman not only at Church during Sunday
Mass, but even after they go home from church and

begin wading through the Sunday comics and society

news. It can touch them during the night when they

lie side by side in the intimacy of love; it can touch

the housewife on Monday morning as she bends over

the wash board, or flips the switch on the new elec-

tric washing machine. It follows the man to his office
or workship or the farm. For even in the way a

man transacts business in his office, or handles a rivet-

I



ing machine in his machine shop, or operates a com-

bine he can reveal himself as a Christian.

Christianity does this by unifying daily life by

the driving motive that God can be glorified in all

things ... in the changing of a baby's diaper, in

the playing of a rubber of bridge, or settling down

to a dish of orange ice and chocolate cake.

Christianity also touches the Christian and redeems

him not only by the Sacraments which confer sanc-

tifying grace and increase it in the soul, but by a

hundred lesser instruments of Christian holiness

known as Sacramentals.

By means of her blessings on machinery, on ani-

mals, on beer, automobiles and sick babies, the Church

does a greater thing than Cinderella’s fairy god-

mother who touched a pumpkin and mice and changed

them into a coach and four horses. For the Church

knows, wise mother that she is, that by touching the

homely and intimate things of a Christian’s daily life

she can change these poor things into instruments of

grace and personal holiness.

There are hundreds of these sacramental blessings

listed in the Roman Ritual—^which touch and sanc-
tify the Christian at home, in the workshop or field,

and during the hours of recreation, but we shall pass

over them all for the present and begin with the

sacramentals of the Christian Family . . . those bless-

2



ings which have for their purpose the sacramentaliz-

ing of domestic life.

Because the Church recognizes the integrity of

Christian life on earth, she knows that every action,

uncontaminated by the malice of sin, can be a step-

ping stone to holiness. The Church knows that by

means of the sacramental blessings bestowed lavishly

on the young married couple at the altar, they can

better fulfill their partnership in Christ.

The nuptial blessing which is read over the

newly married couple Is both a prayer and

a Christian manifesto on marriage.

The Christian family properly begins at the

altar during the marriage ceremony, we ought to con-

sider first of all the first family sacramental, the bless-

ing of the ring. As soon as the bride and groom have

exchanged their marriage vows and become thereby

husband and wife, the priest receives from the groom

the wedding ring and places it upon the altar. The

priest then blesses it with these significant words

taken from the ritual:

3



Let Us Pray

Bless, O Lord, this ring which we hiess in Thy
name, that she who is to wear it, keepting true faith
unto her husband, 7nay abide in Thy peace and obedi-

ence to Thy will, and ever live in mutual love, through

the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.”

Here in forty words the bride receives a working

philosophy of Christian domestic life which she

would do well to remember during all the days to

come. At moments of serious temptation when faith

unto her husband may become a difficult virtue to

practice let her touch the blessed wedding ring, and

deserve by her fidelity to abide in Christ’s peace and

obedience to His will.

In some religious orders of women a ring is blessed
and worn by the nun as a symbol of her mystical

marriage with Christ the Divine Spouse of the soul.

The brothers of Mary, also known as the Marianists,

wear blessed rings as symbols of their love and ser-

vitude to Our Lady. In the case of religious the

blessed ring is a symbol of their service and union

with Christ and Our Blessed Lady. In holy marriage

the bride’s blessed wedding ring is also a symbol

—

a sign of her love and fidelity to her husband. In the

double-ring ceremony where bride and groom both ex-

change rings, the ring then becomes for both partners

a constant reminder of their love and loyalty to each

other until death do them part.

4



During the Mass on the day of marriage the cele-

brant interrupts the prayers after the Pater Noster

to give the nuptial blessing to the couple kneeling be-

fore the altar. This blessing is directed particularly

to the woman. Here the priest asks that the woman’s

marriage may be a "yoke of love and peace," that she

may be faithful, chaste, long-lived, virtuous, fruitful

in offspring. The blessing asks that the couple may

see "their children’s children unto the third and

fourth generation."

This powerful family sacramental which is read

over the newly married couple is both a prayer and

a Christian manifesto on marriage. It is unfortunate

that being read in Latin during the nuptial Mass, and

not being carefully studied before or afterwards in a

translation, its message is lost upon the marrying

couple and their friends in church. It is a program

for the Christian wife’s entire married career, and if

it seems to ignore the husband and spotlight all the

Lord’s attention upon the woman there is a very good
reason for this; for the husband and children share

in the wife’s or mother’s well being, physical or

spiritual; if she collapses, who is the temple of human

life in the home, the family will disintegrate. If she

responds to grace, and this grace of matrimony is flow-

ing into her constantly as a perpetual blood transfu-

sion, then the husband and children are blessed in her,

and the home becomes what Saint John Chrysostom

once called it, "ecclesia domestica", a little church.

5



Let Us Pray

appeased, O Lord, by our humble prayers,
and in Thy kindness assist this institution of
marriage which Thou hast ordained for the

spread of the human race; so that what is here

joined by Thy authority may be preserved by

Thy help. Through Jesus Christ Thy Son.”

Having asked God to preserve this marriage which
His authority has made into a life-time union, the

Church reviews the history of marriage and its natural

origin in Eden, and then reveals how marriage from
the beginning foreshadowed the close union of

Christ with herself. The Church then proceeds to ask

special blessings for the bride, protection and strength,

fidelity and chastity, etc.

Let Us Pray

”0 God, by Thy mighty power Thou didst make all
things out of nothing.' First, Thou didst set the be-

ginning of the universe in order. Then Thou didst

make man to Thy image, and didst appoint woman
to be his inseparable helpmate. Thus Thou didst

make woman^s body from the flesh of man, thereby

teaching that what Thou has been pleased to institute

from one principle might never he lawfully put asun-

der. O God, Thou has sanctified marriage by a
mystery so excellent that in the marriage union Thou

didst foreshadow the union of Christ and the Church.

O God, Thou dost join woman to man, and Thou dost

6



endow that partnership with a blessing that was not

taken away in punishment for original sin nor by the

sentence of the flood. Look, in Thy mercy, upon this

Thy handmaid, about to be joined in wedlock, who
entreats Thee to protect and strengthen her. Let

the yoke of marriage be to her one of peace and love.

Faithful and chaste, let her marry in Christ.”

In the next place the Church will set before the

bride the examples of three holy women of the Old
Testament, Rachel, Rebecca, and Sara. Rachel is the

model of all wives who treasure the love of their

husbands, for this lovely woman so endeared herself

to her husband, Jacob, that he served his father-in-

law, Laban, seven years for her, and as the Holy

Scripture says: ''they seemed but a few days because

of the greatness of his love.” (Genesis, Ch. 29, verse

20) Rebecca, the wife of Isaac, is the model of all

mothers who wisely plan a blessed future for their

children. Finally, at a time when women consider
the best years of their life on the sunny side of fifty,

and stop counting birthdays after their thirty-ninth,

Sara is set before the bride as a model wife who grew
old in the love of her husband, Abraham, for of her

the Scripture simply says: "Sara lived to a hundred

and twenty-seven years.” (Gen., Ch. 23, v. 1)

”Let her ever follow the model of holy women; let

her be dear to her husband as Rachel; wise like

Rebecca; long-lived and faithful like Sara.”

1



Finally the Church asks God to protect the young
bride from the devil’s evil influence, and help her

to keep the faith and the commandments. Remember-

ing that penance and discipline strengthen character,

the Church like a wise mother asks God to give the

bride firmness in the hour when she is tempted to

break her marriage vows; let her, the Church prays,

be serious in behavior, reverenced for her modesty,

well instructed in heavenly doctrine, and fruitful in

children. After this the Church brings this long bless-

ing to a close with the following words:

^^Let her life be good and innocent. Let her come

finally to the rest of the blessed in the kingdom of

heaven. May they both (husband and wife) see
their children's children unto the third and fourth

generation, thus attaining the old age which they de-

sire. Through the same Lord Jesus Christ. AmenJ^

If the bride understood only a part of these good

things invoked upon her by the Church what a glow

of thankfulness and joy would fill her soul, and what

happiness and pride would fill the soul of the groom

who knows that his wife’s blessings will overflow

into his own life and the life of his family. Yet the

Church is not yet finished with her well-wishing for

the marrying couple. Before the Last Blessing of the

Mass, the priest once more turns to the bridal couple

and concludes the nuptial blessing with these words

addressed to both bride and groom:

S



*^May the God of Abraham, the God df Isaac, and

the God of facob be with you; and may He fulfill
His blessing in you; that you may see your children's

children even to the third and fourth generation, and

thereafter may you have life everlasting, by the grace

of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who with the Lather and
the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth forever and ever.

AmenJ^

Although the modern world takes a dim view of

the blessings of old age, and expects love and happi-

ness to diminish with physical vitality, the Catholic

Church still regards growing old as a special favor

of God. Else why does she place on the lips of her

children who sing Compline these words of the

psalm: will fill him with length of days; and I will

show him my salvation”?

But the blushing young bride in her fresh beauty

may find it difficult to picture herself as a grayhaired

nonagenarian dandling her great-grandchildren on

her knees, and we cannot blame her lack of perspec-

tive at such a moment . . . when the world seems full

of romance and adventure. Yet Holy Mother Church

still insists on reminding her and her young husband

that old age is the harvest time of life and that grand-

mas and grandpas get a thrill out of life unknown

to the bride and groom . . . the thrill of the nuptial

blessing fulfilled at last in themselves.

9



Children may be considered as the fruit
of love, or as hindrances to freedom de-

pending upon v/hether the parents have

been united as “children of the saints’* or

as . . . “heathens that know not God.”

NN had just shocked her fifteen-year-old girl
friends. They had told her it was brazen to

say such things—to admit having such an ambition.
And Ann frankly didn’t understand why.

When I heard her story I was glad that she couldn’t
understand why they were shocked, and I hoped that

she never would. All she had told her friends was

that some day she wanted to get married because she

wanted to have children—four of them—two boys
and two girls.

I hoped with all my heart that Ann would marry
some day, for to her, children would be the fruit of

10



love and not mere hindrances to parties, new dresses,

or new houses. I hoped that she wouldn’t lose her

vision about the purpose of marriage, because I knew

she would be the sort of young woman who would

wrap the family sacramentals of Mother Church pro-

tectively around her and her family. I think she

would approach marriage as a young man approaches

ordination to the priesthood. She would foresee its

trials and its sufferings as well as its pleasures and

consolations. And she would embrace it, not for the
sake of the pleasures alone, but because she desired

to offer herself to God as an instrument for peopling

His heaven.

She would suffer to have her children. She would

suffer to rear them as Christians. And, yes, she prob-

ably would suffer in her old age at being bruised by

them. It would be her life’s work, though, which she

had done for God’s sake and for love’s sake. Her

children would be the harvest which she would lay at

God’s feet as the fruit of her love for Him and for
her husband.

The Church always has held out the protective

cloak of her sacramentals to newly married couples

in the hope that they might understand at the begin-

ning of their new life that their homes are to be
sacred workshops of God and should be kept as holy
as convents —that they might realize that their bodies
which co-operate with God to bring new life into the
world are sanctified for that purpose by marriage

—

11



just as the priest’s hands are consecrated for Mass

—

and that they might offer their sufferings and sacrifices

of rearing a family to God as contritely as the strictest
monk offers his penances.

Just as all things which belong to God’s house are

blessed consecrated vessels, so should be the bodies,

the home, and the nuptial chamber of the newly wed.

If the activities which are to be carried on in their

new life are to give honor and glory to God, they

should all be blessed by Him. And so, the Church
does not unite a couple, bless them at the nuptial

Mass, and then stand like a prude at the altar while

they proceed alone to make their new home. The

Church is not a prude; many of her children are.

Through ignorance, or prudery, many of them shut

her out of their new home and out of their nuptial

chamber. They bid her stay at the altar and wait

there until they seek her again on Sunday. They want

to be alone—and so they bid Christ, the Silent Partner
of their marriage, to be quiet, and they ignore the

blessing which would reassure them of His interest

in the partnership.

At the altar they have been reminded of their duties

to one another. These duties are not all physical,

not all material. The most important duty is spiritual

:

to help each other become saints. If they fail in that,

then they have failed in everything. With that duty

foremost in mind, it would be well if every couple,

approaching the beginning of their married life, could

12



be confronted with the words of Tobias to his newly

wed Sara

:

^^Sara, arise, and let us -pray. . . . For we are the chil-

dren of saints, and we must not be joined together

like heathens that know not GodJ^ (Tobias 8, 4-5)

Tobias had been instructed on the difference be-

tween such unions by the archangel Raphael. Sara

had been betrothed seven times before and each time

her husband had died, killed by the devil, as her

husband and she approached the nuptial chamber.

Tobias feared that he would meet a similar fate, and

he asked the archangel how to escape the power of the

devil. The instructions of the archangel to Tobias are

still good counsel

:

"They who in such manner receive matrimony, as

to shut out God from themselves, and from their
mind, and to give themselves to their lust, as the horse

and mule, which have not understanding, over them

the devil hath power. . . . Thou shalt take the virgin

with the fear of the Lord, moved rather for love of

children than for lust, that in the seed of Abraham

thou mayst obtain a blessing in children.” (Tobias

6
,

17 : 22 )

BLESSING OF A NUPTIAL CHAMBER

When one reflects upon the evils which have cursed
the family through the abuse of the nuptial chamber,

one can come to better understand why Mother

13



Church wishes to hover over that room with ^ special
blessing as the couple starts life together.

If they will invite her in, the blessing which she

asks upon them is this:

^^Bless, O Lordj the bed chamber. Let all who dwell
in it stand firm in Thy peace and may they persevere

in obedience to Thy will; may they see many years

and a numerous posterity and finally attain to the

kingdom of heaven. Amen.”

Upon the new structure into which eventually will

come new souls to work out their eternal salvation,

the Church also asks a blessing for all the things

which so many homes today are ceasing to be. If

couples are to help each other become saints—and
their children with them—^then all the things which
they do together must have God’s blessing. They

must seek it, not only at Sunday Mass, but in their

home, in their love for each other, and in their

children, so that eventually their household will be

so permeated with God’s love that it will reflect peace

into a peace-hungry world.

Mother Church is anxious to follow couples into

their new houses and to ask God to help them make
the structures into homes. Her blessing for a home is:

”Bless, O Lord, God Almighty, this place, that they
may abide here in health, purity, victory, strength,

humility, goodness, and meekness, the fulfillment of

the law, and thanksgiving to God, the Father, the

14



Sotif and the Holy Spirit; and may this blessing re-

main over this place and on all those who dwell

here now and forever. Amen.”

Within every human being is an urge to create,

which may manifest itself in works of art, music, lit-

erature, inventions, or craftsmanship. But the great-

est of all creative powers is the creation of new life

—a new body with an immortal soul which will out-
live the greatest works any man ever produced. It is

significant that God has ordained that into the inti-
mate expression of the love of man for wife He would
pour the most wonderful of His creations—the im-
mortal human soul—^to be housed in a temple built
and shaped by the expression of love. Into the hands

of those who have appeared before Him and oflFered
themselves as His instruments of procreation, God
has entrusted this creative power which He might well
have reserved for Himself alone.

But in His own great love, God wanted man to
know the joy, the satisfaction of having created some-

thing out of love—something after one’s own image
and likeness. If man wants to use this power of pro-

'

creation, it must be asked from God; it must be

granted by God. God’s true authority comes only to

those who appear before His altar and pledge their
lives to Him as instruments through whom he may
people heaven if He sees fit.
When the young mother finds herself with child,

the feeling of shame should be as remote to her as

15



it would be to a farmer gazing at a field full of ripe

wheat waving in the autumn wind and glistening in

the sunshine. The farmer’s heart is not ashamed.

His face is radiant and the sight fills his heart with

humility and gratitude. He planted his field with
faith and he accepts his bountiful harvest as God’s

love.

And so, when faith and love have borne their fruit
in the young mother, she too should turn to God in
thanksgiving. There she will find Mother Church

waiting to visit her home and pray with her ‘'that

by the firmness of her faith she may be protected

from every evil.”

The liturgy blesses the mother and the growing life

within her. It also blesses the home, praying that the

angels may dwell therein and watch over the mother

and child. There is hardly a time when she will ap-

preciate such a blessing more than during pregnancy,

when she is filled with hope and also with fear, with

joy as well as sorrow.

The Blessing for an Expectant Mother

y. Our help is in the name of the Lord.

Who made heaven and earth.
Help Thy handmaid

]^. O my God, who trusts in Thee.
y. Be for her, O Lord, a strong tower

Against the enemy.

16



Let- the enemy not prevail over h^r . • .

Bf. And the son of iniquity not hurt her.

y. Send her, O Lord, help from Thy sanctuary
And protect her from Sion.

Let Us Pray

Lord God, Creator of the universe. Thou art strong

and fear-provoking, just and merciful; Thou art good

and gracious; Thou hast freed Israel from alT trials;-

Thou hast made our fathers Thy favorites; Thou hast

sanctified them through the hand of Thy Spirit; Thou

hast prepared body and soul of the Blessed 'Virgin

Mary through the co-operation of the Holy Spirit as

'

a digniped dwelling for Thy Son; Thou hast' piled

John the Baptist with the Holy Spirit and made him

rejoice for this in his mother’s womb: Receive the

offering of a contrite heart and the burning desire of

Thy handmaid N., who in humility prays for the

thriving of the child, which Thou hast entrusted to

her womb. Care for what is thine and protect it

against all persecution and spite of the enemy. Thy

merciful hand lend her help, so that the young life'

will safely come to see the light of the world, and be

saved for the sacred birth of Baptism. May it always
serve Thee and gain eternal life. Through Christ

our Lord. Amen.

The expectant mother is sprinkled with holy water,,

and Psalm 66 is said. .

17-



y'. Let US praise the Father and the Son and the Holy

Spirit.

Let us praise and exalt Him in eternity,

y. His angels has He given command for your sake,
^7. That they may protect you on all your ways.

Let Us Pray

^^Visit, we beseech Thee, O Lord, this house and
drive away from it and from this Thy servant N. all

snares of the enemy; let Thy holy Angels dwell there-

in and protect the mother and her child in peace and

may Thy blessing remain with her forever. Save

them, O almighty God, and grant unto them Thy
perpetual light. Through Christ our Lord.”

It should indeed be difficult to forsake a Church

that follows her children and stays with them in their

most difficult hours, watching over them with mater-

nal care. It would be difficult if her sacramentals

were known to families and used as naturally in the

events of their lives as they once were used. These

beautiful traditions and ceremonies were not acad-

emically studied and forced into the regular pattern

of family living. They came forth organically from

the life of the Church, giving grace and peace to

those who united the joy and sorrow of their family

life with God. But as the world has reverted toward

pagan marriages, which first seek companionship,

pleasures, riches, an<L convenient living, the sacra-

18



mentals which regard children as the rightful fruit

of marriage have been almost forgotten.

If Ann’s little friends had known the liturgy of

their Church, they indeed would have been shocked

—at their own attitude and not at Ann’s. It is as
unnatural for a couple to present themselves to God
in marriage and not expect—or not want—children,
as it is to plant bulbs and never long for their flowers.

For love which seeks nothing but its own pleasure in

marriage is no love at all—is no marriage at all. Love
is sacrificing—as the plant sacrifices its energy for the
beauty of the blossom. Without the sacrifice, it can

have no real maturity because it is all vine, consum-

ing all the food and energy for itself. And it will
die consumed by itself, leaving no traces of love, for

it bore no fruit—it left no seed.

The full text for the blessing of an expectant mother, printed
on a card and suitable for mailing as a greeting, may be ob«
tained from the Pio Decimo Press, P.O. 63, Baden Station,
St. Louis 15, Mo.

19



3* Tlicwfesjfomj |(3t jL(|£

The new Christian mother’s first visit to

Church after the Baptism of her baby is

- to“ give thanks for the new life God has
brought info this world.

WHEN a Christian mother holds her new babyin her arms for the first time, she may not
actually say, "Thanks, God,” but her heart is praying

;it— T -

’ She has felt the breath of Death hot upon her neck,

but she has been delivered along with this new being

for whom she dared to embrace Death to deliver it to
life.

And as she looks at this bundle of mysteries, which

also can become an assortment of kicks, screams, and

contortions, she is tenderly awed. This she can never

understand—this mystery of life and death—but she
knows that this little thing which she calls her son

has enthroned within him an eternal force which

God has released into the world through her body.

20



He, upon whom she is happy to gaze and ponder
upon in her heart, started merely as a seed—an in-
visible seed—planted in love and brought to the full-
ness of life through a mystery of God. She doesn’t

hope to understand this seed, her son, because she

has never been able to comprehend the power

wrapped even in one tiny seed of her flower garden.

And this, she knows, is infinitely more mysterious
and wonderful, because into this seed was poured, a

human soul.

Since she doesn’t understand his natural birth, in

which she has played such an important role, she

doesn’t hope to understand this other more wonder-

ful mystery—his rebirth—in which God alone acts.
But she does know that just as it was necessary for

the child to be nourished and protected within her

own womb to bring it to natural life, so its soul must
be placed within the sacramental womb of the Church
at the baptismal font so that it might be reborn in

Christ. Although she never hopes to understand even

a flower seed, she knows it is not enough merely to

plant the seed; it must be given food according to

its nature. So also she knows that it is never enough

to introduce a child to life; it must be introduced to

wholeness of Life through rebirth.

Truly must she meditate on many things when her

baby is brought back to her arms as a baptized Chris-

tian. She is awed to think that this helpless . little,

fellow one day will become a man, capable of loving

21



and hating, of giving life or taking it, of doing good

or evil. And as she turns one of his tiny hands over
and places it within her own, she cannot imagine

that he can ever grow up to do anything but good.

He is her son.
Perhaps at this point she knows that the days and

missions of the Prophets have not all passed—^that
Christian parents are Prophets who prepare and make
ready the Way of the Lord in the hearts of their
children. Here are hearts, minds—souls to be shaped
into mature understanding of God and given to His
service in love. This is the sublime work of parents.

It is only natural, then, that as soon as she is able

the Christian mother goes to God's house to thank

Him for the natural and supernatural gifts of life,
to consecrate herself and her child to Him, and to ask

for His grace and guidance for her life's task.

The Church has provided a ceremony not only for

this natural desire to express thanks, but as an op-

portunity to welcome the mother back to an active

life and to bless both mother and child. This sacra-

mental is called "Churching of Women."
Occasionally we see a young mother kneeling with

her baby in her arms in the church vestibule before

Sunday Mass. It may be any day, but we will be sure
to see it some Sunday. The priest is sprinkling her

with holy water, and the conclusion generally is that

she is being "purified." But from what? Does a

mother ask her child to do an errand and then scold

22



it for having done as she asked ? After having united

a couple in matrimony, prayed over them for a fruit-

ful union, blessed their ring, their nuptial chamber,

and then rejoiced with the expectant mother, how

could Mother Church "scold” the delivered mother

by a penitential rite?

She doesn’t. She is joyful with the new parents.

She sends her priest to the church entrance to receive

the mother—not as an indication of penance, but out
of respect for her. The only other person who is hon-
ored by such a reception at the church entrance is the

bishop, visiting the church officially. Unfortunately,

this reception of the mother often is confused with

the rite before baptism when the unbaptized person

is not allowed to enter the church before answering

the questions and receiving the exorcisms.

But Mother Church always provides a barometer

for the onlooker who wants to know in what "mood”
she is on any occasion or day. The "barometer” is the

color of the vestments of her priest. For this occasion

the priest wears a surplice, and the key to the mood
of the occasion is the stole around his neck. He is
wearing a white stole—not the penitential purple of
the baptismal exorcisms or of the Sacrament of Pen-

ance; and it signifies that this is a pure and joyous

occasion. The Church rejoices; the mother, the fa-

ther, and their friends should join in the procession

and rejoice together.

Just to make sure that this is no penitential occa-

23



sion, we draw closer to the mother who is kneeling
in the vestibule holding a lighted candle, and we hear
the priest saying to her:

According to a very laudable custom, you have come

to request the blessing of the Church upon yourself

and the child that has been committed to your care.

While you return thanks to God for the many favors
which He has bestowed upon you, at the same time
fervently consecrate yourself and your offspring to

His holy service.

'^Be careful, both by word and by example, to im-

press upon its youthful heart the principles of solid

piety, that you may correspond to the views of Divine

Providence in placing it under your charge, and may

have the happiness of seeing your children attentive

in their duties to God, and zealous for their own

eternal welfare. You hold a lighted candle to sig-

nify the good works by which you should express your

thanks to God for the benefits which He has be-
stowed upon you, and the pious examples by which

you should lead your children, and all around you,

to the love and practice of virtue. Endeavor to enter

ifito the disposition needed to cultivate the blessings

which I am about to ask for you in the name of the

holy Church.”

He has said nothing about 'purifying” her, nor
of cleansing her of any sin, before sprinkling her with

holy water. But this sprinkling with holy water.

24



which is merely another indication of respect for the

new mother, has been misinterpreted by the casual

onlooker to mean that she has been cleansed of some

guilt.

Although this sacramental has its roots in Jewish

tradition, its significance to the Christian far surpasses

the imperfection of that ritual origin. In keeping with

the Jewish law of purification the mother had to visit

the Temple forty days after the birth of a male child.

The Law of the Old Testament proclaimed the uni-

versal reign of sin, and all men—even the just

—

were subject to the law. But the manifold legal puri-

fications of the Old Testament were a promise of

the universal absolution to be brought by the Redemp-

tion of Christ—the freedom of the sons of God from
the reign of sin.

So the "Churching of Women” has its Christian
origin in the first visit of the Blessed Virgin to the

Temple forty days after the birth of Christ. Just

as there was no need for purification from corporal

or spiritual defilement on the part of the spotless

Virgin, so in the Christian Church the mother’s visit

suggests nothing of purification or penance. It is ra-

ther a visit of thanksgiving and a consecration of the

mother and child to God, just as in the case of our

Lady.

The priest, having sprinkled the mother with

holy water, is now reading Psalm 23 over her. This
psalm is wholly joyous over the mother’s coming.

25



*'Who shall go up into the mountain of the Lord and

who shall stand in His holy place ? The one who is in-

nocent of hands and pure of heart ... he shall receive

a blessing from the Lord. . . .’* And seemingly glimps-
ing Christ in this new-formed member of the Mystical

Body, the psalm exclaims: ’’Who is this King of

glory, the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty

in battle. Ye gates lift up your heads and open wide

ye ancient doors, the King of glory would enter in.”*

The antiphon which follows the psalm echoes the

first theme, saluting the newly delivered mother with:

’’She shall receive a blessing from the Lord and mer-

cy from her Savior; for this is the generation of those

who seek the Lord.”

Placing the left end of his white stole in the moth-

er’s hand, the priest then invites her into the church.

The mother, carrying a lighted candle and her child,

follows the priest to the altar where she kneels while

the priest prays:

''Almighty, everlasting God, Who through the de-
livery of the Blessed Virgin Mary hast turned the

pains of the faithful at childbirth into joy, look merci-

fully upon Thine handmaid, coming in gladness to

Translation from “The Blessing of Mothers after Childbirth”
as given in The Christian Observance of Candlemas—^booklet
of suggestions for the Christian observance of Candlemas in the
parish, in the family, in the apostolic group ; with literature

and songs for the feast. Grailville, Loveland, Ohio, publishers.
“The Blessing of a Mother After Childbirth” can also be ob-
tained on a beautifully decorated card suitable for congratulatory

greeting, from Pio Decimo Press, St. Louis, Mo.

26



Thy temple to offer up her thankss and grant that

after this life, by the merits and intercession of the

same blessed Mary, she may merit to attain, together

with her offspring, to the joys of everlasting happi-

ness. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.^^

The priest then sprinkles her again with holy

water in the form of a cross pronouncing a blessing

over her: ''May the peace and blessing of God Al-

mighty, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit des-

cend upon you and remain with you always. Amen.’*

Remembering the exhortation of the priest at the

church entrance, the young mother’s heart must be

praying many things as the priest blesses her. In the

flickering, leaping light of the candle she holds with

her child she may look into his face and see some

resemblance between their purity and their newly

lighted lives.

Noticing that the candle started to consume itself

from the moment it was first lighted, she is impressed

with the incessant war which life and death wage

from the start. Death, she knows, is not something

one should prepare for in old age only, but from the

beginning, since "the last hour in which we cease

to live does not bring death but only completes it.”

The candle’s flame, feeding on the purest beeswax

is very like the light and example shed from the

flame of God’s love feeding in a pure soul. Perhaps

she prays that her infant son’s pure soul may always

27



be pure, and that the flame so recently lighted by bap-

tism may never be snuffed out by mortal sin.

Perhaps she’ll dream a dream too about what he

may become—a doctor ... a statesman ... a father . . .
perhaps a priest. But deep in her heart she has just

one prayer: that he will be a faithful son of his

eternal Father—a saint, and that she, his mother,
may not fail to show him how.

28



^aciamental the

Domestic HeahAx

You may not be rich, but one thing you
can give your children, the heritage of

your blessing.

OUR LORD used to gather little children aroundHimself and bless them. ''SuflFer the little
children to come unto Me,” He said. ”And embrac-
ing them, and laying His hands upon them. He
blessed them.” Parents of today love their children.

They embrace them. Why do they not lay their hands
upon them and bless them? Jesus wants children to

be blessed.

Certainly the blessing bestowed on children by

This chapter is by Abbot Ignatius Esser,

O.S.B., and is available in pamphlet form

under the title: BLESS YOUR CHILDREN,
10^ a copy postpaid. Order from The

Grail Office, St. Meinrad, Indiana.

29



Jesus was more efficacious than that which is bestowed

on them by their parents. So also is the blessing im-

parted by a priest more efficacious than the parental

blessing. Even so the parental blessing is something

so holy, so efficacious, that it deserves to be called the

^^Sacramental of the Domestic Hearth” How beauti
ful is the picture of a young mother, imposing hands

of benediction on a child of tender years and spotless

innocence. No less beautiful is the picture of an aged
parent, bestowing with trembling hands, a blessing on

a full-grown son and daughter.

Parental blessing is as old as the human race. It

began with the oldest patriarchs. Throughout the

Old Testament it was the usual method of transmit-

ting divine favors. The blessing conferred on their

children by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are known to

all that read the Sacred Scriptures. These same Scrip-

tures give us an authoritative statement on parental

blessing.
*

'Honor thy father, in word and work, and

in all patience, that a blessing may remain in the

latter end. The father’s blessing establisheth the

houses of the children; but the mother’s curse rooteth

up the foundation.” (Ecclus. 3, 9. 11)

Many are the Scriptural instances whereby the
efficacy of a parent’s blessing, and also a parent’s

curse, is proved. We know the interesting story of
Tobias, how he made a long journey with the Angel

Raphael, who in disguise acted as a travelling com-
panion. That fir most successful and profitable

30



journey. Besides a safe return it included: the collec-

tion of money, the deliverance of the young Tobias

from the dangerous fish, the winning of an excellent

wife for the son, and the curing of the father s

blindness. Before setting out, the young Tobias re-

ceived his father’s blessing in words: "May you have

a good journey, and God be with you in your way,
and His angel accompany you."

Nowadays a person so rarely sees parents bless their

children, that he is inclined to think the privilege no

longer exists. Has the parental blessing lost its effi-

cacy in the New Testament? Has Christ’s coming
changed the essential relations between parent and

child? Has matrimony, elevated by the Savior to the

dignity of a Sacrament, been lowered in spiritual

values ? Most certainly not
!

Jesus, in the New
Testament, has increased the number and capacity of

the channels of grace, of which the parental blessing

is one.

Parental blessing is parental blessing still. The

scattered family and the empty home are but the

concomitant of parental blessing neglected. If this

"Sacramental of the Domestic Hearth’’ were more

frequently administered, there would be more happy

and contented families. Two indispensable factors of
happiness in a home are amiable authority on the part

of parents and loving obedience on the part of chil-

dren.

Parents that bless are more keenly conscious of their

31



responsible dignity. In their power to bless they rec-

ognize the channel of grace that they do not want to

obstruct by disedifying example.

It is easy for a child to see God’s representative in

a parent before whom it frequently kneels for bless-
ing. With this recognition come the love, reverence

and obedience that children owe to their parents.

In the lives of the saints and the saintly, we find

many beautiful examples that help to spur us on in

fostering this worthy custom. The last words of the

mother of St. Gregory of Nyssa were her words of

benediction pronounced over her ten children, some

of them absent, some present. The dying mother of

St. Edmund called her boy from Paris to England to

bestow on him her blessing. The Blessed Thomas

More, even when a married man, advanced in years

and official dignity—he was Lord Chancellor of Eng-
land—never left his father’s house without that aged
parent’s blessing.

The Little Flower of Jesus, whose charming child-

like sanctity has made her so popular, undoubtedly

owes some of her exalted holiness to her parents’

blessing. The custom of blessing the children pre-

vailed in the home of the Little Flower. In her auto-

biography she expressly mentions the blessing re-

ceived from her father on one momentous occasion.

It was the day she entered the convent. Hear her

speak for herself: ‘'The next morning, after a last

32



look at the happy home of my childhood, I set out
for the Carmel, where we all heard Mass (April 9,
1888). I embraced all my dear ones, and knelt for
my father’s blessing. He, too, knelt down and blessed
me through his tears.”
A little more than two years ago our Catholic pa-

pers attracted the attention of readers with the head-

line: "Bishop Kneels for Mother’s Blessing.” It was

the Right Reverend F. T. Roch, D.D., Bishop of

Tuticurin, India. He met his mother at the railway
station. There, in presence of a multitude of people,

he "knelt before his mother to receive her blessing,

and the grand old lady, placing her wrinkled hands

on the head of her illustrious son, moved many a spec-

tator to tears.”

You may wonder when parents ought to bless their

children. They ought to bless them often. At night

after evening prayers is a very good time to bestow a

daily blessing. Before going on a journey or under-

taking an important or dangerous occupation; also

during sickness, sons and daughters ought to get their

parents’ blessing. At the more important turning

points in life, fathers and mothers ought solemnly to

bless their children, thus, upon their entering school,

on their First Communion day, on their wedding day,

or when they leave to enter military service, the con-

vent or monastery, or the holy priesthood. Send a

blessing even to your absent children. Before you

go to bed at night, think of the absent son or daugh-

33



ter. They may be in sore need of your help. Your

blessing is the most powerful help that you can

give them. Protect them with the Sacred Cross that

you make over them. Include a "God bless you, my
child,” in the letters to your children. Your last bless-

ing should be given to all your children, when you are

at the point of death.

How is the parental blessing given? In the most
simple, yet impressive manner. Place your hands on

the head of the kneeling child. Say: ^7 bless you^ my
child, in the name of the Father,’^ etc., make the

sign of the Cross upon the forehead with the thumb

of the right hand. If you bless all your children at

once, simply extend your right hand over all, and

trace a cross over them, while you pronounce the

above words. Any other appropriate words of your

own choice may be used. Vary them to suit the occa-

sion. The words of Tobias quoted above are beauti-

ful words of blessing for one about to make a long

journey. Simply let the words of blessing indicate

what you wish your children.

After reading this, what will be the attitude of

parents, sons, and daughters towards the practice of

parental blessing? Young parents will welcome this

happy privilege of which they perhaps knew absolute-

ly nothing. With joy will the proud young father and

the jubilant young mother lay hands of blessing

upon their precious baby. The practice once begun

will be easily kept up.

34



But what about older families, where through ig-

norance of this beautiful custom, the parental blessing

was never given ? Rather reluctantly will aged parents

make this start in the evening of their married life.

Yet they surely will not refuse their blessing if their

grown-up sons and daughters ask for it. Nor ought

they to hesitate in asking for a gift that surpasses all

natural gifts that parents can give them.

St. Ambrose says: *'You may not be rich; you may

be unable to bequeath any great possessions to your

children; but one thing you can give them; the herit-

age of your blessing. And it is better to be blessed
than to be rich.”

35



5* T/tfi Spittle (3ku\cli T^Lat

G Home Cs
By their very vocation to Christian mar-

riage, a husband and wife make their

home a sacred place; for the marriage

contract has three partners, husband, wife

and God.

I
T IS A FACT that people usually become holy or
worldly by living in a holy or worldly place; since

it is not possible for the Christian family to remain

night and day in the parish church, the home itself

where most of life is lived must become a sacred

place ... a little church where the members not only

feed the body, but where they also nourish the life

of the soul.

This is the teaching of one of the greatest apostles

of the Christian family, St. John Chrysostom, who

once said: "After the public worship of God (in

church) we will spread two tables in our houses, one

36



with the food of the body, and the other with the

food of Holy Scripture; one with the fruits of the

earth, and the other with the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Prayer and teaching in the church are not enough;

they must be accompanied by prayer and reading at

home: for the home is a family church.”

If this idea sounds fantastic to Christian ears today,

it is only because the virus of secularism has deafened

them to the advice of Holy Mother Church. If the

words of the holy doctor sound far-fetched, it is not

because he is old-fashioned, but because twentieth-

century Christians no longer think of religion except

as a matter of church-going.

Of course, the Christian home is more than a little

church where mother and father and children serve

and worship God; it is a school of perfection, the best

and most hallowed of all academies; it is a workshop,

a love nest for husband and wife, a house of hospi-

tality, a playhouse, a little theater, a music-lyceum,

a quick-lunch counter for hungry kids and a univer-

sity of hard knocks; above all, home is a place where

the father’s love and the mother’s faith glow like a

beacon in the midst of a dark night ... or at least a

place where love and faith shine most of the time,

even if storms of passion sometimes bring a momen-

tary blackout.

If the name, "family church,” used by St. John

Chrysostom for the home, seems a pietistic exaggera-

37



tion to the reader, it is because moderns are forgetting

the deepest meaning of marriage and the family: to

add to the population of heaven by bringing up new

children of the saints. The highest purpose of the

family is not material security, helpful as it is; rather

the God-intended purpose of family life is to help

the members become holy. Married folk and their

offspring are not to be half-Christians simply because

they live in the world and in a state of life surround-

ed by carnal consolation and tenderness. Married

folks and their children are called to the same holi-

ness as the barefooted Carmelites who spend their

hours in contemplation and work, or the cowled

monks treading the silences of their cloisters. The

home must be for the family an instrument of holi-

ness, a domestic temple of God.

A home is as much a school of perfection as a
monastery, and as much a place of prayer as a chapel

for the little ones are to be brought up in the family

as children of the saints. This task is doubly hard

when the parents themselves are not strong in the

faith, and ill-prepared to be father and mother of

devout children. It is doubly hard also when there is

no environment or atmosphere of the faith inside the

walls of the home to reinforce the parental care.

This atmosphere of faith in which mother and

father and children develop spiritually does not mean

that the home has to be a religious picture gallery,

or a monastery with a round of pious exercises all

38



day long. This atmosphere of faith doesn't mean a

crucifix on the parlor wall, or grace at meals, or vo-

tive lamps blinking before an image of Christ or the

Virgin Mary; it doesn’t mean the generous use of

holy water and the saying of night prayers in com-

mon . . . though it supposes some of these things.

This atmosphere of faith is part of the life of

the family; it is their life; it is their sense of the pres-

ence of God; it is their charity for one another and

for the stranger in their midst; it is a reverence and

love for God’s word welcomed as family reading; it

is a turning to the crucifix or the image of Christ in

hours of deep distress and in moments of unexpres-

sible bliss; it is a deep trust in God’s providence

even when the pantry is bare and the family bread-

winner is without work. It is all of these things and

more which change a house into a little church.

Perhaps no priest of our times worked harder to

make the Christian home a little church than Father

Mateo Crowley-Boevy of the Congregation of the

Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. Wisely, Father Ma-

teo, as he was affectionately called, went to the heart

of the matter by enthroning Christ in the home by
means of a simple ceremony.

In a letter addressed to Father Mateo April 27
,

1915, Pope Benedict XV wrote: "Beloved Son, we
have read your letter with interest and scanned the

documents. They give proof of the untiring zeal with

which you have devoted yourself for many years to

39



the work of consecrating families to the Sacred Heart

of Jesus in this particular way: by placing an image

of Our Lord in the most prominent place in the

house as on a throne as a sign that Christ reigns

visibly in these families.”

The Pope, after reviewing the evils of the times

which direct their heaviest attack against the home

and family, continues his letter to Father Mateo:

. .You do well, then, to awaken and spread, above

all things, a Christian spirit in the home so that the

love of Jesus Christ may permeate the families, and

this love reign there as queen.”

By this ceremony called the Enthronement of the

Sacred Heart in the Family, Christ Jesus is placed

as it were, on a throne as the King of Love, as the

very center of domestic life, and there He exercises
His benign influence: By the enthronement, Christ

has become not an overnight guest, but a member of

the family, forever the invisible witness of all that

happens there. From His throne of honor, the Sacred

Heart of Jesus extends to the tired father just returned

from his shop, to the mother busy about the home,

and to the babies romping underfoot. His graces and

blessing.

The enthronement is more than a mere veneration

of the image of the Sacred Heart; it is more even

than a transient act of consecration; it is really a per-

manent state of devotedness and love, full of grace

and joy.

40



The enthronement of the Sacred Heart is not an

elaborate ceremony. It consists simply in the erection

of a throne of love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus in

the house, and the avowal of His sovereign rights

over the family. A picture or statue of the Sacred
Heart is then set up in a place of honor in the home,

and before this image the family daily assembles for

their prayers. Thus the house is placed under the

mild and secure influence of the Divine Heart, which,

in a benediction-bringing manner, asserts itself in all

the joyful and sad occurences of family life.

The father or mother of the family may read the

act of consecration together with their children. All

the members of the immediate family should be pres-

ent. Pictures of the deceased members of the family

may be placed beside the image of the Sacred Heart

to indicate that, in Christ, the living and the dead are

one. For the more solemn ceremony of the enthrone-

ment of the Sacred Heart the parish priest should be

asked to preside. A leaflet with the prayers and rite
of enthronement may be obtained from the Academy

of the Sacred Hearts, Fairhaven, Massachusetts. This

is the national center of the enthronement for the

United States.

The consecration of the family to the Sacred Heart

is especially appropriate during the month of June.

But there are other ways of dedicating to God the lit-
tle church that a home is. If we turn to the Roman
Ritual we shall find several house blessings for var-

41



ious occasions of the year. For instance, there is the

little-known blessing of homes on January 6, Feast

of the Epiphany. After entering the house the priest

prays the antiphon, canticle of the Blessed Virgin (the

Magnificat) and two beautiful prayers which refer

to the mystery of the feast. In conclusion this lovely

prayer is said over the house: "Bless, O Lord, Al-
mighty God, this house that it become the shelter of

health, chastity, self-conquest, humility, goodness,

mildness, obedience to the commandments, and

thanksgiving to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
May blessing remain for all time upon this dwelling
and them that live herein, through Christ Our Lord.

Amen."

There is the blessing of homes on Holy Saturday

and during Eastertime. Since the average parish priest

is especially busy on Holy Saturday, it is not likely

that he will find time to visit the houses of his par-

ishioners. If he does wish to visit the homes of his

people between Easter and Trinity Sunday, he may

use this significant sacramental which begins with an-

tiphon, versicles, and the following Easter Collect:

^^Hear us, Holy Lord, Father Almighty, eternal God.

And as on their departure from Egypt Thou didst
guard the homes of the Israelites from the avenging

angel ... so likewise send Thy holy angel from

heaven to guard, cherish, protect, visit, and defend

all who dwell in this house. Amen.”

42



Then in the Roman Ritual under the heading,

’’Blessing of places destined for a sacred purpose,”

we find the blessing of homes outside of Easter time.

The translator of the Roman Ritual, Father Philip

Weller, has this to say concerning the sacredness of

the home: ”... the Christian home is a sacred place

in a broader sense. It is also a place of liturgical wor-

ship, and therefore very sacred. Often it witnesses

the celebration of great mysteries, the sacraments of

Eucharist, last anointing, and the perfection of matri-

mony. In a home worthy of the name of Christian

is continued the communal praise of God (family
prayer) begun in the church building and continued

in the home through family prayer. Here a soul fall-

ing asleep in Christ is commended to the merciful

hands of its Author . . . and to the Christian dwelling

the Church reaches out with her consecratory hand

and dispenses the sacramentals.” (Roman Ritual . . .

The Blessings, Vol. III. Translation by Rev. Philip

Weller. Bruce, Milwaukee.)

The prayer is very brief. After the usual greeting,

^^Peace he to this home, and unto all who dwell

herein,’' the priest prays the antiphon of the Asper-

ges and this Collect: ^'Hear us, O Holy Lord, Al-
mighty Father, Eternal God, and deign to send Thy

holy angel from heaven to guard, cherish, protect

and defend all who dwell in this house. Through

Christ Our Lord, Amen,”

For the apartment-dweller, or the humble renter of

43



a single room second floor back, there is this con-

soling benediction which may, in the absence of the

priest, be used by the lay person: ''Bless, O Lord,
Almighty God, this room {or apartment) that it be

the shelter of health, chastity, self-conquest, humility,

goodness, mildness, obedience to the command-

ments, and thanksgiving to God the Bather, Son, and

Holy Spirit. May blessing remain for all time on this
place and them that live here. Amen.^’ After all these

blessings the place is usually sprinkled with holy

water.

• There may be some who feel that all has been done
that is needful to make a home blessed and holy if

the priest blessed the house, or if the ceremony of

enthronement to the Sacred Heart takes place; but the

family must remember that there is no magic in the

rite of a house blessing or an act of consecration. A
simple blessing cannot transform a worldly house or

apartment into a little church where God dwells. It
is nothing if a parlor or kitchen are sprinkled with

holy water, and votive lights glow before the image

of Our Lord. ... It is nothing at all unless the ones

who live and work and play in these places sing God’s
praises by a Christian life.

44



6. &ai, anb (ie faints

A man is no less a Catholic at meals than
at Mass, for eating and drinking are also

a way of going to God.

P
ROBABLY the last part of a convert to enter the
Catholic Church is his stomach.

Long after he has renounced heresy and confessed

to believe in everything in the Creed from "'in unum
Deum” to 'Vitam venturi saeculi/’ he still hasn’t a
Catholic stomach. It lags behind like a school boy re-

luctant to enter into the discipline. It’s still Metho-

dist, or Baptist or pagan—for it rebels at getting
up on a frosty morning and going to Holy Commun-

ion without the warming aid of a cup of coffee.

Every woman recognizes that there is a ''romantic”
route from the stomach to the heart of a man. There

is also a direct route between the heart and the Cath-

olic stomach, but it’s the heart which is the gateway

to the stomach and not vice versa. The praise of

God’s goodness springs from the heart, and it is

This Chapter was written by Frances King.

45



through the heart the Catholic comes to understand

the practice Holy Mother the Church’s attitude to-

ward food and drink—both in the joyful, wholesome
use of it and in the penitential abstinence from it.

People can never ignore the flesh to the advantage

of the spirit any more than they can ignore the spirit

to the advantage of the flesh, because man is a com-

posite of spirit and flesh. Man is a microcosm—a lit-
tle universe in himself—made of minerals like salt
deposits, gall stones and calcified tubercles, as well

as vegetable growth like hair, and animal life like

sex and hunger.

The ancient Manicheans taught that matter and

flesh were evil in themselves and that only the spirit

was good. But this oversimplification could never

lead to true holiness because it ignores the kind of

thing a man is—a composite of spirit and flesh.
The modern materialists, on the other hand, believe

that only the flesh is true and lasting joy is to be

found in food, sex and sleep. So we read hundreds
of pages of advertising copy dealing with Mix-mas-

ters, Mojud nylons and Beauty-rest mattresses. Head-

lines with their description of lust and crime scream

at us. The materialist ignores the greatest life within

man—the immortal spirit which makes him a little
less than the angels.

The Catholic Church’s attitude toward worldly

things is realistic. She knows that men have to live

46



in a world that is material on all sides and spiritual

within, so she reaches out and sacramentalizes matter

with the sign of the cross. Her attitude toward sex

is to sacramentalize it by marriage. Her attitude to-

ward food is to revive within the home the notion of

the quasi-sacramental nature of eating and drinking.

For a Catholic is no less a Catholic at meals than at

Mass, and perhaps he reveals the real depth of his

understanding of the Catholic faith more readily by

his attitude toward food and drink than he does by

a perfunctory attendance at Mass.

Before the Reformation the silence, reverence and

good manners, which today are reserved only for

monastic refectories and very few homes, were ob-

served by all Christian households. It was only in

the wake of the Reformation that reading of Scrip-

ture at the family table was abandoned. Without

God’s word being read during meals, the family table

has become no more than a corner hamburger joint

where a certain group dashes to eat just because they

live in that vicinity.

Only in the aftermath of the Reformation could

such a movement as Prohibition have been successful.

Instead of condemning food or drink or anything in

itself as evil. Mother Church instructs Her children

that all things are good when used for the honor and

glory of God. She prays over them—from beer to
lard—that they may be used for God’s glory and
man’s benefit. Her warning to Her children is to

47



guard their own evil tendencies which prompt the

misuse of God’s gifts.

It might shock some to learn that the Catholic

Church has a special blessing for beer. Mother Church

teaches that temperance, moderation and charity in the

use of it are more highly esteemed than the complete

abstinence from it—much less the total condemna-
tion of it. If there be anything wrong with the

drinking of beer, it is that too few approach it with

the attitude of the Church’s blessing. Most people

who drink beer drink to satisfy stomach and pas-

sions. They don’t drink it to praise God Who cre-
ated its ingredients.

The prayer used in blessing beer attributes power

to God and asks God to make beer a help to man:

Bless, O Lord, this created thing, beer, which by
Thy power has been produced from kernels of grain.

May it be a healthful beverage to mankind, and grant
that through the invoking of Thy holy fiame all who

drink thereof may find it a help m body and protec-
tion in soul, through Christ Our Lord.^^

It may seem inconsistent to some that the same

Church which bestows blessings so generously on so

many foods—bread, cake, beer, wine, lard, fowl, meat,
cheese, butter, oil, grapes, eggs, new produce and any

victual—would at times advocate the abstinence from
it. Not because She regards food and drink as evil

does She regulate their use, but because She knows

48



abstinence is beneficial to the soul. She requires Her

children to abstain from meat on Fridays and to fast

during Lent because love is love only when there is

sacrifice, and sacrifice is real only when the sacrificed

is esteemed. Her true children willingly abstain and

fast from good things for their love of God and
to strengthen their wills against intemperance and

excesses.

Food and drink are to nourish the human body

just as the Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy

Eucharist nourish the soul. Through a mystery be-

yond our understanding, the identity of Christ is

lost, or hidden, in Holy Communion. Through a plan,

likewise of God, food is taken into the human body

and not only loses its identity but actually becomes a

part of the living temple of God which a man is.

By choosing daily bread as the means of giving

Himself to us. Our Lord has dignified physical re-

fection. Because of this we should approach our

meals with reverence and praise. The official table

prayers of the Church show the principal purpose of

prayer—the praise and worship of God.
Modern life may make the reading of Scripture at

table impractical, but our meals can still be sanctified

by the practice of saying grace.

Several versicles praising God precede the Our Fa-
ther. Then follows the familiar: Bless us, O Lord,
and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive

49



from Thy bounty, through Christ Our Lord. Amen!’

Then a young member of the family addresses the

father, 'Tray, sir, a blessing,” and the father replies:

"May the King of eternal glory bring us to share in

the heavenly table!’ This is the blessing for the

noon meal.

At night the father’s blessing is this: "May the

King of eternal glory lead us to the table of eternal

life!’ The others respond, "Amen!’

The short form, using only ''Bless us, O Lord,”
is approved by the Church but does not convey the

Catholic family spirit well, nor does it allow for the

expression of the Church’s moods as do the versicles

which change with the feasts and liturgical seasons.

It is inconsistent to thank God for what He has
put upon our tables and then murmur about it. It

is part of acquiring a ''Catholic stomach” to accept the

food that is placed upon the family table. St. Bene-

dict was careful to caution about murmuring in his

Holy Rule. ''Above all, let not the evil of murmuring

appear for any reason whatsoever in the least word

or sign.” Murmuring makes everyone else dissatisfied.

After the meal, the family rises together and the

father says: "We give Thee thanks for all Thy bene-
fits, O Almighty God, Who livest and reignest for-
ever, and may the souls of the faithful departed,

through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen!’

As the family meal prayers change with the sea-

sons, so the Church has different blessings for such

50



foods as lambs, bread, eggs and wine at special sea-

sons. On Easter Sunday there are special blessings for
the paschal lamb, bread, meat, eggs, and eatables in

general. On the feast of St. John the Evangelist the
Church blesses wine.

The blessing of the lamb points to Christ: ”OGod,

Who didst command Thy people Israel ... to kill a
lamb, as a type of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . vouchsafe

... to bless and to sanctify this meat which we Thy

servants are about to eat.”

Although the Church has many different blessings

for bread, varying with the feast and the season, the

ordinary blessing is commemorative of the Holy Euch-

arist :

Lord, Jesus Christ, bread of angels, living bread

unto life eternal, bless this bread as Thou didst bless

the five loaves in the wilderness that all who eat it with

reverence may through it attain the corporal and

spiritual health they desire, Who livest and reignest
eternally. Amen!’

It is through God’s love that plants come to the

full fruit of harvest. It is through His plan that

they become the material for the temples of the Holy

Spirit which men’s bodies are. It is only with the

deepening of faith that the Christian sees the provi-

dent hand of the Divine Nourisher in all life and

sings in his heart with the Psalmist:

51



be river of God is filled with water: Thou givest

them food, for Thou providest for its growth;

''Fill up the furrows, multiply the seeds; the gen-

tle rainfalls gladden the crops;

"Thou crownest the year with Thy blessing, and

Thy fields overflow with plenty.

"The barren meadows grow rich, and the hills gird

themselves with joy.

"The pastures are clothed with sheep, and the val-

leys abound with corn; all rejoice, yea, sing a hymn

of praise/’

52



7- T/t^ s ^aciamentals

A terrible divorce has taken place between
altar and home, between man’s worship

of God at the altar and man’s service in

everyday life. The use of the Sacramen-

tals can end this separation.

I
F OUR HOLY MOTHER the Church seems to
multiply her blessings over the farm home, and

have few left for the city apartment, it is not because

she is partial to her children in the country and forget-

ful of city children, but because she is a realist

—

like every woman. She knows that from the farm

homes comes the world’s food supply. That is why

she has composed so many sacramental blessings for

the farmer. That is why she has instituted the roga-

tion days, the three days before the Feast of the As-

cension of Our Lord.

But these rogation prayers and the sacramental

blessings for the farmer are not for the exclusive wel-

fare of the country people; such blessings are for the

welfare of all the members of Christ’s Body on earth

53



—for those who live in little towns and big towns
—

for the rosy cheeked country urchin who has the wide
open fields for a playground, and for the pale little

girls whose backyard is closed in by smokestacks and

ugly unpainted buildings—for the farmer plowing
his field in the bright sun, and for the subway guard

who seldom sees the light of day. For all members of

Our Lord’s Body are dependent on one another.

If the farmer is blessed with a good harvest, the city

dweller has plenty of good food; if the city dweller

makes a living wage, he can buy the farmer’s food. It

is this universal dependence of the members of

Christ’s Body on one another that makes the blessing

of the farmer a blessing also for the dwellers in the

city apartments. It is faith that traces the origin of

good food beyond the corner grocery store to the

wholesale dealer to the shipper—beyond the shipper
to the farmers whose job it is to produce food, and

beyond the farmer to God the Creator Who gives the
increase to the harvest. So it is fitting for the man

or woman in the city cathedral as well as the farmer
in the little rural church to pray together on rogation

days: ^^That Thou wouldst please to give and pre-

serve the fruits of the earth ... we beseech Thee hear

us:^

The litany of the Saints and the psalms sung during

procession on rogation days are supplications—whence
the word, rogation (from the word rogare which

means to ask). During this season the faithful ask

54



God to protect them from danger and disaster, and

to bless especially the harvest so that the whole of

Christ’s Body may be fed.

The rogation days are also called the days of the

minor litanies, because according to the rubric of the

ritual, it is customary for the pastor and his flock to

go in procession through the fields of the parish

chanting the litany of the Saints and other prayers.

There is another solemn procession through the

fields on the 25th of April which is called the major

litanies. This also happens to be St. Mark’s day, but

there is no connection between the Evangelist’s feast

and the procession.

Because most of our modern parishes are in the

city and small town, and have no fields through which

to march, the rogation day procession usually takes

place on the parish property, or even inside the parish

church itself; here at St. Meinrad’s the student-body

together with the people of the parish march in sol-

emn procession to the chapel of Our Lady of Monte

Cassino a mile through the village and across the

valley, chanting the litany of the Saints. There the

Mass of rogation is offered by the priest in charge of

the abbey farm.

The celebration of the minor and major litanies are

only four days during the year when the Church sol-

emnly asks blessings upon the harvest, but besides

the rogation day blessings there are numerous sacra-

mentals in the Roman ritual which may be used with

55



spiritual profit by the faithful especially by the folks

who live on the farm. Here are some of the principal

blessings which the Christian farmer may use.

Blessing of a farm

Blessing of a spring or well

Blessing of a stable

Blessing of draft animals

Blessing of domestic animals

Blessing of cattle and herds

Blessing of a granary

Blessing of young crops

Blessing of sick animals

Blessing of bees

Blessing of sheep

Blessing of new seed

Blessing of oats

Blessing of feed for animals

Blessing of fields

Blessing of swine

Blessing of goats

Blessing of orchards

Blessing of vineyards

Blessing of the stored harvest

The blessings of the Church are inexhaustible.

Realizing that in our daily work we often forget that

the milking of cows, the pruning of the fruit trees

and the threshing of the grain is the indirect worship

of God—the Church sacramentalizes even the humble
pig and the tiny bee. Sometimes the most beautiful

56



poetry is contained in the simplest prayer or blessing.

We have selected only a few of the farmer’s sacra-
mentals that our readers may see for themselves the

riches of that precious book, The Roman Ritual.

Blessing Of A Farm

This prayer may be used to ask God’s blessing on

the entire farm together with it buildings and lands,

or it may be used for the farmhouse only.

Bless, O Lord, Almighty God, this house (or, this
farm); may health and purity, goodness and meek-

ness, and every virtue reign here. May all those who
dwell here be filled with faithfulness to Thy laws

and with thanksgiving to God the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit. May this blessing remain on this
house (or, this farm) and all who dwell here.
Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.”

Blessing Of A Stable

In this as in all other blessings the reader will

notice how the Church always relates these common

things to the mysteries of our Faith, like the birth of

the Savior in a stable; in all her prayers the Church

never forgets the dominant or main purpose of Chris-

tian life—the use of these temporal creatures in such
a way as to lead the user to everlasting life in heaven.

”0 Lord God Almighty, Who didst will that Thy
only-begotten Son our Lord, be born in a stable, and

lie in a manger between two animals, bless this stable,

57



we pray, and guard it from the spite and deceit of the

devil. Make it a safe shelter for horses, cattle, and

other a77imals. And as the ox knows his master and
the ass the manger of his lord, so grant that Thy ser-

vants, who are made to Thy image and closely re-

semble the angels, and to whom Thou hast subjected
all the sheep, and the oxen and the cattle of the pas-

tures, be not like unto senseless beasts in whom there
is no understanding. But let them acknowledge Thee

alone as God and the Author of all good. May they

faithfully persevere in Thy service, show Thee grati-

tude for favors received, and thus merit greater bene-

fits in the future. Through the same Christ Our Lord.

Amen!^

Blessing Of Draft Animals

The animals indirectly praise God by helping men

to reach their final goal, and for that reason the

Church blesses horses and other draft animals. In her

prayer the Church calls on Saint Anthony the hermit

(not the finder of lost things) who from early times

was called the patron saint of farmers and animal

breeders.

God, our refuge and our strength, give ear to

the entreaties of the Church, Thou source of mercy,

and grant that what we ask with faith, we may re-

ceive in fact.

Almighty, everlasting God, Who didst assist St.
Anthony to emerge unscathed from the many tempta-

58



tions of this world, grant thy servants to progress in

virtue by his illustrious example; and by his merits

and intercession, free us from the ever-present dan-

gers of life.

Let these animals receive Thy blessing, O Lord, to
the benefit of their being, and by the intercession of

St. Anthony, deliver them from all harm. Through

Christ Our Lord. Amen!’

The Blessing Of Bees

In her blessing of the bees Holy Mother Church

thinks not so much of the food of honey as she does

of the precious wax out of which are made the can-

dles for Mass. Reading this prayer we see with the

eyes of the Church how the tiny bees also glorify God
by their industry.

Lord God Almighty, Maker of heaven and

earth! Thou didst create all living things for man’s

use. Moreover, Thou didst order by the ministry of
Thy Church that candles made from the industry of
bees shall burn during the Sacred Mystery in which

we consecrate and consume the most holy Body and

Blood of Jesus Christ Thy Son. Send Thy holy bless-

ing upon these bees and this beehive to make them

numerous and productive, and to preserve them from

harm, so that their yield of wax can be turned to Thy

honor, and to the honor of Thy Son and Holy Spirit,

and to the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen.”

59



Blessing Of Seed

fervently entreat Thee, O Lord, to bless these
seeds, preserve and foster them with gentle breezes,

fertilize them with heavenly dew, and deign to bring

them to a full harvest for the use of body and soul.

Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.”

Blessing Of Young Crops

”We appeal to Thy grhciousness, O Almighty God,
that Thou wouldst shower Thy blessings upon these

first fruits of creation, which Thou has nurtured with

favorable weather, and mayest bring them to a pne

harvest. Grant also to Thy people a sense of constant

gratitude for Thy gifts, so that the hungry may find
rich nourishment in the fruits of the earth, and the

needy and the poor may praise Thy wondrous name.

Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.”

Blessing Of A Granary

So concerned is the Church for the farmer’s wel-

fare that even after he has his harvest of grain under

roof the Church does not forget him. The harvested

grain and the stored fruit need God’s blessing.

”0 Lord, Almighty God, Who dost not desist from
pouring out upon men a superabundance of heavenly

dew and the substance of the earth’s richness, we ren-

der thanksgiving to Thy most loving Majesty for all

Thy gifts. We continue to beseech Thy clemency, that

60



Thou wouldSt deign to bless, preserve, and defend

from every injury this harvest. Grant, likewise, that

having had our desire for earthly needs filled, we may

bask under Thy protection, praise Thy goodness and

mercy without ceasing, and make use of temporal

goods in such a way as not to lose eternal goodsJ^

These are only a few of the blessings which the

Church uses for the welfare of the farmer. Her ritual

is filled with sacramental blessings for houses and

fields, for barns and shops, for animals and tools and

engines, and for almost everything that men use to

make their living on earth. To every country pastor

and farm family we recommend two books which

contain in English the sacramental prayers and rites

by which we beg God’s blessing on the rural home

and farm. The first booklet is called With The

Blessing of the Church by Bishop Joseph Schlarman

of Peoria. It is published by The National Catholic

Rural Life Conference, 8301 Grand Avenue, Des

Moines, Iowa. The larger book which we have quoted
from is a fine translation of The Roman Ritual—The
Blessings, published by Bruce Company, Milwaukee,

Wisconsin. The translation was made by Reverend

Phillip Weller. This last book should be in the

library of every rural pastor.

61



8. T/te ^aciameptlal

the 7la0elei

A Saint Christopher medal is no rabbit’s
foot to be carried about for good luck

—

a newly blessed convertible can still be a

death-trap for a careless driver.

People who live to be ninety
seldom see it on the speedometer.

OVER the wide world no people travel so muchor as far as Americans. They are not gypsies,
and they do love their homes, but the hum of motor-
cars, the toot of Diesel-powered trains and the roar

of airliners is in their blood. They love to go places

in a hurry. It may be only to the corner drugstore,

to church, or to the local super-market; or it may be to

Quebec, Yellowstone Park, or even the eternal city of

Rome.

It is not surprising that a nation of travelers should

love the tourists’ favorite saint, Christopher, patron

of pilgrims. Nor is it surprising that they should

carry on their persons, or attach to the dashboard of

62



their cars, that most popular of the traveler’s sacra-

mentals—a St. Christopher medal. How true is the
fact pointed out by Courtenay Savage in his life of

St. Christopher, Wayfare/s Friend: ’’There are

countless men and women today whose sole contact

with the spiritual world is a small medal cast in hon-

or of the Christ-bearer.”

If Saint Christopher were to receive fan mail in

heaven his Hooper rating would probably be higher

than any of the Saints, not because he is the greatest

in the kingdom of God, but because he is the most

popular; his story has fired the imagination of mil-

lions ever since his martyrdom under the cruel em-

peror Decius seventeen centuries ago.

But his admirers know little about their champion.

Fact and legend have become hopelessly entangled

in St. Christopher’s life; it must never be forgotten,

however, that he was a real man. About that, history

has no doubt. The Church accepts the evidence that

he lived and died. It is generally accepted that he was

born in Canaan early in the third century and that

he was the son of a small tribal king; that he bore the

name Christopher and died a martyr to the Christian

faith in Lycia. In the Roman martyrology or book
of martyrs, St. Christopher has an honored place, his

feast being July 25. In the Greek and Oriental

churches he is feted on May 9.
It is true that the adventure of St. Christopher as

the ferryman carrying the Christ Child across the

63



river, is better loved and remembered than the real

events of his life, but the Church has accepted the

incident as an allegory conveying a useful truth to

Christians. The tempestous crossing of the stream,

and Christopher’s staggering under the crushing

weight of a small Child, historians suggest, is intend-

ed to denote the trials and sufferings of any soul who

accepts the yoke of Christ. Our saint’s very name is

forever linked with this episode, for the name Chris-

topher means Christ-bearer.

Historians can furnish no accurate dates about St.

Christopher’s life and death; antiquarians have un-

earthed no quotations of his doctrine; there is only

the fact that he lived. That and the Golden Legend.

Yet, the cult of St. Christopher has grown with each

century until today countless millions are asking the

friend of tourists and travelers to help them safely

on their way through a bewildering age that needs his

spiritual and physical stamina.

St. Christopher is the patron of all travelers—of
the humble pedestrian who artfully dodges death at

street crossings, of the hiker who travels across hill

and dale, of the passenger in the swank cabin of an

ocean liner, or the pilot who steers his jet-propelled

plane into the stratosphere; but perhaps he is more

used to the humble automobile—for almost every
American either owns one or rides in one.

There is no magic in a St. Christopher medal. It is

not a rabbit’s foot or fetish to be carried about for

64



good luck. It will not help the reckless driver to beat

a train to the crossing, or to pass a truck on a hill.

It is true that many persons half-superstitiously re-

gard the medal as a charm which frees them from

responsibility behind the wheel of a car.

An excellent warning regarding the responsibility
of St. Christopher was included im a note which a

priest sent to the chauffeur of a Hollywood star. He
wrote, **Here is the medal you requested. It is

blessed, but you must remember that when you’re

going forty miles an hour, St. Christopher rides com-

fortably beside you. When the speedometer passes
fifty he begins to get worried, but when you press

the accelerator to the floor and the car is doing over

seventy, he jumps but of the car and you’re on your

own.”

One who expects the habitual protection of St.
Christopher on the highways and airways should do

more than fasten a medal on the dashboard or instru-

ment panel; next to the use of caution and self re-

straint, the traveler should practice some daily devo-

tion to St. Christopher and hold him in deepest rev-

erence. He is good to his friends.
Besides the St. Christopher medal, there are other

sacramental blessings for the traveler. There is the

rather well-known blessing of automobiles from the

Roman Ritual. This adaptable rite may be used for
anything on wheels, from a one-horse shay to an

Oldsmobile Rocket, so long as it is a vehicle.

65



In fact, the prayer itself alludes to one of the oldest

means of transportation for people of means—an
ox-drawn chariot of an Ethiopian courtier. In this

prayer there is an allusion to the charming episode re-

lated in the Acts of the Apostles, (8, 26-40), in

which the apostle Philip hitches a ride from the

Ethiopian eunuch, who was a courtier of Queen Can-
dace, and gives his first instruction before baptism.

BLESSING OF AN AUTOMOBILE

Standing beside the car, the priest garbed with the

white stole, and provided with holy water, says the

following prayer:

^^Graciously hearken to our prayers, O Lord God,
and with Thy right hand bless this vehicle. Appoint

as its custodians Thy holy angels, ever to guard and

keep from all danger them that ride herein. And as
by Thy Levite, Philip, Thou didst bestow faith and

grace upon the Ethiopian, seated in his chariot and

reading Holy Writ, so likewise show the way of
salvation to Thy servants that strengthened by Thy

grace and constantly intent upon good works, they

may attain, after the trials and experiences of this

life the happiness of heaven. Through Christ Our

Lord. Amen.”

The family car may be blessed at the same time

the priest visits and blesses the home; in large par-

ishes, however, some pastors have introduced the

66



blessing of many automobiles at the same time on

the Saturday or Sunday closest to July 25, St. Christo-

pher’s feast day. After an instruction on the subject

during the Sunday Mass, the parish priest proceeds to

the parking lot and blesses all of the cars with one

prayer, sprinkling as many machines as he can with

the holy water.

The automobile, which is so often a lethal instru-

ment in the hands of a careless driver or an occasion

of sin for unscrupulous people, becomes by the priest-

ly blessing a streamlined sacramental—a grace-con-
veying instrument of supernatural life for the devout

Christian. A purely secular machine is transformed
by the rite of the Church and the Sign of the Cross in-

to something blessed and holy.

Holy Mother Church, always intent to touch and

sanctify the secular things which form part of our

environment on earth has included, in her Ritual,

blessings for other means of transportation besides

the automobile. There is the blessing of a railroad

and train (including the roadbed and all the rolling

stock), and the blessing of streetcars and subway

trains. In fact, there is a solemn blessing of a rail-

road and its cars which is reserved to the bishop of

the diocese or his delegate.

If we add to these the blessing for an airplane

—

anything from a tiny cub to a stratoliner—and in-
clude a blessing of tools used in scaling mountains,

we begin to understand how modern our Holy

67



Mother the Church is—^and how interested even in
our recreations.

Pope Pius XI, who as Father Achille Ratti, broke
a few records as a famous mountain climber, must

have used the following prayer before scaling the

mountains of the Alps. As a matter of fact, the Ritual

has this legend alongside the blessing of mountain-

scaling tools: ”Approved by Pope Pius XI on Oc-

tober 14, 1931.”

BLESSING OF MOUNTAIN TOOLS

"'Bless, O Lord, ue pray, these ropes, staves, mat-
tocks, and these other tools, that all who use them

in scaling the mountain heights and precipices, in

ice and snow and tempest, may be preserved from all

danger and catastrophe, safely reach the summits and

return unscathed to their homes. Through Christ

our Lord. Amen.”

Not forgetting the men who go down to the sea

in ships, the Church reaches into her inexhaustible

treasury and brings forth the blessing of a ship.

Mindful of God’s care over Noe’s ark in the flood,

and Christ’s protection of Peter when he walked on

the sea, the devout sailor asks God to watch over

the vessel and the crew and bring them safely home

after a successful voyage.

It is a mark of special preference for fishermen on

the part of Holy Mother Church that she approved on

April 10, 1912, a solemn blessing of a fishing boat.

68



This rather long and elaborate blessing consists of

Psalm 8, a portion of the Gospel according to St.

John (21, 1-14), which relates the miraculous draught

of fishes, and three prayers. We quote only one of
these prayers, the one which asks for a big haul of

fish:

BLESSING OF FISHING BOATS
Lord, our Savior, we implore Thee—bless the

labors of Thy servants, as Thou didst bless thine

apostles with the words: ^Cast the net on the right

side of the ship, and you shall find,’ So that glad-

dened with the opulence of Thy blessing, we may

praise Thee, our Redeemer, for all eternity. Amen.”

Of special interest is the blessing of pilgrims

—

composed by the Church for the faithful who are

about to start out for the holy places.

This very ancient blessing goes back to the days

when a pilgrimage to Rome or to the Holy Land

took months or years. Pilgrims had to set in order

their affairs, make their wills, and having prepared

themselves with sacramental confession they would

attend Mass—usually the Votive Mass for Pilgrims—
and, having received Holy Communion, they present-

ed themselves to their pastor to receive this blessing.

If many pilgrims were to leave in a group the bless-

ing was invoked upon all. In the prayer, God is asked
to guide them safely to their goal as He directed the
Magi of old by the light of a star, and to bring them

all finally to the haven of eternal security.

69



9. Praise The

Slasi 'fuinaces

Christ made labor holy by toiling with his

hands—the Christian worker in a machine
shop or a coal mine can worship God with
a monkey wrench or a pick ax.

I
T IS NOT necessarily true that every Christian
who works at a blast furnace will praise God

—

but it should be true. For it is obvious that if the

Church has arranged that man can attain his aim of

union with God through any created thing then she
has not excepted the blast furnace.

Our age is generally called *’The Mechanical Age/*

or **The Industrial Age.'* It is considered an era of

button-pushing and lever pulling, of iron horses and

giant wheels, of airplanes and dynamos. And if it
is such an age, then the Church of Christ must have

This chapter was written by Rev. Joseph

Miller.

70



prepared for those who were to be saved by living in

it. She must have sacramentals that are specifically

aimed at making the smelter and the miner and the

stenographer and the clerk more closely united to

God. If she has blessings for the fisherman and his

fleet, for the shepherd and his flock, for the gardener

and his shrubs, for the farmer and his crops, then she

would be less than fair as a mother if she neglected

the laborer and his tools or the post-office clerk and

his cancelling machine.

Not being an unjust mother, the Church has not

neglected her children who sit at desks or who stoke

furnaces. She has arranged certain sacramentals which

will be to her laboring children what the Blessing of

the Ring is to those who are giving themselves to

one another in Matrimony. She has remembered that

it is no less necessary for a sacramental ideal to touch

those who labor in an office or over a riveting ma-

chine than it is for such a blessing to follow a

mother with her new-born babe, a parent blessing

his child, a farmer going out to the harvest, a sick

man seeking health, or a young girl entering a new
life with a new partner. And remembering this, she
has seen fit to institute blessings whereby all those

things by which the ordinary laboring man must
earn his temporal welfare may become also instru-

ments with which he can seek his eternal good.

Catholics in general are familiar with the Blessings

by which the Church sacramentalizes the lives of her

71



children on the farm, on the sea, in all forms of life

and work which are close to the soil or to nature;

they know that there are blessings for bee-keepers and

for vine-growers, for springs and wells, for herbs and

flowers; they know that in the Middle Ages the

Church took special care that the influence of God

should be made to extend to all men as they plowed

and harrowed. But most Catholics do not realize

that as the civilization of men moved from rural to

urban areas, the Church developed her sacramentals

and blessings so that these might move with that

civilization, that men of our time might be saved

through typewriters and dynamos, through subways

and skyscrapers as were the men of 950 saved through

pruning knives and hand plows, through ox-carts and

workshops.

It has always been the mind of the Church to uni-

fy the daily life of men and women with the daily
life of Christ on earth, and so to enable men and

women to realize more completely their place in the
Communion of the Faithful with Christ. She has

done this by moving with the ages, by making her-

self all things to all men at all times. She has recog-

nized the natural integrity of Christian life, its singu-

larity of purpose which is God, and she has endeav-

ored successfully to adapt her ritual so that any life

may be associated with that singularity of purpose

more clearly through her sacramentals.

This is the reason, then, why the Roman Ritual

72



contains such evidently recent blessings as those for

airplanes, automobiles, electric dynamos, printing-

presses, and fire engines; because all these objects are

daily placed before men and can be used by men for

sanctification. Every Christian uses these auxiliary

sacraments to bring himself more near to God. This

we can never forget, that as matter is sanctified to God
in the seven sacraments, so is it sanctified on a lesser

scale in the myriad sacramentals that are found in the

ritual. And this being the case, we are more than
justified in speaking of the little sacraments.

An example of the intention of the Church is given
in the Blessing of a Blast Furnace, as found in the

Ritual. Here, surrounding an ordinary object are

found brief ceremonies and a prayer which will so

affect the otherwise unattractive furnace that it be-

comes actually an agent whereby God’s glory and

man’s welfare are more effectively sought. The priest

draws near to the furnace, blesses it, and sprinkles it

with holy water, in the form of a cross, praying this

beautiful prayer:

BLESSING OF A BLAST FURNACE

Let Us Pray

almighty and everlasting God! From thee all

creatures have their origin, and by thy goodness thou

hast wonderfully disposed them for the service of

mankind. In olden times thou didst mitigate the heat

of the flames to preserve the three youths in the fiery

73



jur)jace, and then didst again enkindle them to de-

stroy the men who had cast the saintly youths therein.

Wherefore we humbly beseech thee to bless this fur-

nace. Preserve it from diabolical treachery, and ren-

der it productive a?2d true to its purpose, so that by

its pres exerting the force of their strength, the work-

men may by thy bounty receive a good quality of
metal. And give them, moreover, an increase of thy
saving grace. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.”

This prayer, in a few short lines, epitomizes the

aim of the Church in all her sacramental blessings.

She wishes first of all to point out that God has a

direct and real relationship with the object; it is for

this reason that she points out His power both as

Creator, and as having directly used such a furnace

to further His plans before. Next she wishes to ask

that He grant the temporal results intended; here she
prays for a good quality of metal. And finally, in
the most important position, she places her primary

aim: to gain for those who will use it an increase of

grace through it.

It must be noted that in her blessings, the Church

avoids any reference to the idea that no harm can

befall the blessed object. Almost a superstition

among many pious persons, the idea is, of course,

completely false. Thus, there is no reason to main-

tain that because the blast furnace has been blessed,

therefore no one can be injured by any accident in

74



connection with it. The purpose of the blessing is to

gain for those who use the furnace properly the grace

of God; it is not to protect the careless from the in-

evitable result of their negligence. Indeed
,
we cannot

even say that it is to preserve the furnace from com-

pletely unexpected harm—it is merely to ask God that
all possible blessings result from it. It says, in effect,

"Let this furnace carry out Thy will perfectly, even

though we cannot see how Thy will is carried out.*'

One of the most beautiful of the sacramentals of

the mechanical age is the Solemn Blessing of an air-

plane, so designed that its references and implications

are unforgettable. In this blessing, the priest draws

near to the airplane, reciting certain verses and re-

sponses which especially refer to the great glory of

God, His power over the winds, and His rule of the

Heavens. These verses are followed by three prayers

so beautiful that we must quote them in their entirety

here:

Let Us Pray

God, who didst create all things for thyself, and

hast destined every element in the world for man^s

service, bless, we beseech thee, this airplane. Let it

serve in spreading thy praise and glory, and in carry-

ing out the affairs of men, unhindered by danger or

peril. And may it foster in the souls of all who ride
in it a longing for heavenly things. Through Christ

our Lord. AmenJ^

75



Let Us Pray

God, who did consecrate by the mystery of the In-

carnation the dwelling of the Blessed Virgin Mary,

and has miraculously transferred it to the bosom of
thy Church, pour forth, we beseech theey, thy blessing

upon this airplane. May all who fly in this airplane
under the protection of the Blessed Virgin happily

reach their destination. Through the same Christ our

Lord. Amen.’’

Let Us Pray

God, the Saviour of all who trust in thee, appoint

a good angel as a guardian to all thy servants making

an airplane voyage and calling for thy help. Let him

protect them along the journey a)td safely cojtduct

them to their goal. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Here, again, we see that the Church neglects noth-

ing that may lead her children to think more seriously

of God and to endeavor to draw closer to Him. It is
her primary and unchanging theme that whatever is

made for man’s use toward his natural purpose can

be turned, through her intercession, to his super-

natural purpose. Thus she seeks to remind him that

even while he is using this machine to carry out his

temporal purpose, he should be reminded of his eter-

nal goal.

And so the Church goes on with her blessings,
trying to convince those of us who will listen that

there is no disgrace connected with laboring amid

76



dirt and metal, no shame connected with a shovel.

In blessing a mill, indeed, she reminds us that it was

God Himself who said, ’'In the sweat of thy brow

shalt thou earn thy bread,” and she wishes us always

to remember the dignity of work. She tries to con-

vince us, by the very freedom with which she dis-

tributes her smiles upon the instruments we use, that

she does not intend to disown us as her children, be-

cause we have followed the civilization of our age into

the cities. And she pleads with us that we will ac-

cept what she gives us, the chance to see our daily

lives elevated to a supernatural level, even at those

moments when they might seem most natural.

To show the number of things for which the
Church has specific blessings in the Ritual, we may

taake a sample selection. There are, among others,

blessings for airplanes, ambulances, and automobiles;

blast-furnaces and brick-kilns; trains and typewriters.

When paging through, we come across the blessing of
a fire-engine, the blessing of mills, and the blessing

of telegraph instruments. And these are but a few
from the many. None have been omitted by the
Church—for all those which do not have specific
blessings attached to themselves, can be blessed with

the single "Blessing for other irrational creatures”

—

surely a broad enough term to include whatever might

be needed.

The final estimation of the value of these sacra-

mental blessings to us can best be shown by quoting

77



the closing paragraph of Father Philip Weller’s intro-

duction to THE ROMAN RITUAL IN LATIN
AND ENGLISH, volume III (Bruce).
"Above all in the Eucharist does matter become sacra-

mentalized. Just as the sacraments are radiations of

being from the Eucharist as their center, so also the

sacramentals can be said to form an outer circle

around the sacraments, all of them converging to-

ward the Eucharist as their center. Eucharistic wor-

ship is the consecration of all time and all matter.

A Christian’s every and entire day is sanctified by it.
"Go into the world and be light bearers,’’ is the

meaning of the dismissal at the end of the Sacrifice.

"Strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought in
us in the midst of thy holy temple which is in Jeru-

salem’’ (Ps. 67:29). What is begun in the morning
sacrifice and banquet must be developed by the day’s

routine of sanctified acts. The Eucharist is the sacra-

mental sanctification of a Christian’s every day in this

valley of tears, in fact of his entire life span. As he

leaves the Eucharistic altar and banquet-table of the

new Jerusalem, the Christian goes out, oftentimes in-

to the atmosphere of a veritable Babylon. Fortified

with Christ’s kiss of peace, he launches the attack

against Satan, using the auxiliary weapons which the

Church, the worthy Spouse of Christ and our holy

Mother, dispenses with lavish hand to her children.

May the little sacraments treated of in this volume

become powerful allies to the Holy Seven, to hasten

78



our sacramental sanctification into the full stature

of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!”

Realizing, then what the Church has done for

us in elevating our daily work to the level of His Life,

we would be less than wise were we to neglect the

opportunity to carry our participation from the altar

table to the workshop bench, to the iron-foundry, to

the post-office, to the factory, to the desk, to the type-

writer.

79



10, faints Oicun^

Oui JDeatkbe^

There is nothing morbid about the death

of a good Christian for he hears the roll-

call of the Saints who wait to welcome him
into Eternal Life.

The ritual of the Church, never a randomthing, is especially pointed as it resounds in
the ears of those who stand around a death-bed. The

Litany of the Saints, like some tremendous roll-call

of those especially blessed by God, salutes those al-

ready gone to Him in behalf of the sufferer as well
as those who watch him suffer. The man who has

heard this Litany never forgets its power. Always the

memory will be with him that one before him saluted

these Saints, and that he can do no better than to

salute them in his turn.

This chapter was written by Rev. Joseph

Miller.

no



Yet who are the Saints invoked here? Most of us

would be hard put indeed if we were called upon to

identify the Patrons of the Dying, yet each of us

will some day need the help of each of those Patrons.

Naturally we know that Mary, Our Mother, who was

preserved from corruption after death, is going to be

at our side when the moment arrives. After all, we

reason, she who watched our Brother, her First Born,

as He died in agony, will not hesitate to shelter her
other children when they need her. Remembering

her great love for us, we automatically call upon her

first. To her, the first salute.

Amazingly enough, to those unfamiliar with the

thought of the Church, the name which immediately

follows that of our Mother is not that of St. Joseph.

Saint Abel, pray for him! This is the next plea to

meet our ears. . Abel is invoked as a Saint though he

lived before the time of Christ, because we know that

all the Just of the Old Law are in Heaven, the elect

of God. The Book of Genesis tells us that ’'the Lord

had regard to Abel and his offerings,” which is to

say that Abel lived as God wished him to live, offer-
ing himself with every sacrifice. Besides this, we
know that Abel was the first of this human family to

undergo death, the leader among the children who
received the punishment destined for all. Therefore

do we salute the first among us by crying out to him,
"St. Abel, pray for our dying brother.”

All we know about the death of Abraham, the next

81



to come before us as the panorama passes, is that

'‘Abraham’s life span was one hundred and seventy-

five years when he expired. He died at a good old
age, an old man, after a full life, and was gathered

to his kinsmen. His sons Isaac and Ismael buried

him in the cave of Machphela, facing Mamre, in the

field of Ephron the Hethite, the son of Sohar. Abra-

ham was buried with his wife Sara in the field which

he had bought from the Hethites” (Genesis 25, 7-

10). Knowing this, we know that his death was as

exemplary as his life, and that he, the Father of the

Chosen people, will not neglect their descendants who

must follow him. And for this reason we, who are
about to die, salute him.

After Abraham, we move to John the Baptist. Be-

cause he was the last martyr of the Old Testament,

first martyr of the New Testament, we may not pass
his name without the bowed head of respectful honor.

Unlike Abraham, his death was not one of peace,

in the company of those who loved him; and because
many of us will be forced to die in like circumstances,

unafraid, alone, defending the law of God, we beg
his help also. Because his words brought death to

him, we, who may find ourselves in his position some
day, salute him.

Only now do we come to the name with which
all are familiar. St. Joseph takes his place in the

procession that passes, and the deepest homage of all

is paid to him who was so privileged as to die in the

82



arms of his Foster-Child, blessed by the presence of

Him who gives life as well as takes it from us.* As
first Patron of a happy death, St. Joseph is especially

willing to help those of us who are about to die.

After begging notice from Joseph we next fly to

the care of the Apostles. By name we call upon Peter,

Paul, Andrew, and John, seeking assistance. First

Peter, of whose impetuous nature, bluntness, strength,

weakness, and bravado we have heard so much.

Strangely enough, despite all that we have heard about

him, we know little of why he should be invoked as

a patron of the dying. Yet the most intriguing thing

about Peter is really the courage with which he begged

to be crucified head downward, since he felt unworthy

to die in the same position as his Divine Master. And
Paul—conquering death again and again—survived
the bite of poisonous snakes, saved a boat from cap-

sizing with all on board, fled death until his time

should come, then willingly sought it as his due. Like

his brother, Simon Peter, Andrew was crucified. And,

like Peter, Andrew is invoked that we may learn
to imitate his heroism.

But why, it may be asked, call on John. He is,
after all, the only Apostle who died a natural death.
In itself, this is the explanation. Since so few of us

will die as martyrs, we must have an ideal to follow
in our natural death—and who is more suited to be
our helper than John, the Beloved?

So the list goes on. We remember that voice

83



was heard in Ra?na, weeping and loud lamentation;

Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not

be comforted because they are no more!^ And remem-

bering this, we ask the Holy Innocents who were so

quickly snatched from this life if they will not aid us

who are about to die. St. Stephen, too, comes to our

mind. It was he who, at the moment of death, saw

the "glory of God and Jesus standing at the right

hand of God,” as we are told in the Acts of the

Apostles; our prayer to him, then, is that when our

time comes to go forth we may forgive as he forgave

and may be ”full of the Holy Spirit” so that we can

cry out with our last breath, ”Lord Jesus, receive my
Spirit!”

Chronological exactitude brings Lawrence, the Dea,-

con, before us next. Remembering the joyful "Turn

me over, Fm done on this side” with which Lawrence
met the horrible death of being roasted over a slow

fire, we cannot help praying that our strength will be

somewhat equal to his. Although the humor may not

be forthcoming, we may at least pray that complaints

will be absent. To this extent, we who are about to
die salute Lawrence, gloriously living.

With Popes like Sylvester I and Gregory the Great,

as well as all who died gloriously in Christ; with the

Penitent-Bishop Augustine, whom we see shedding
such bitter tears over the tomb of his mother, Monica;

with Benedict, dying in the chapel and ascending to

heaven by a path garlanded and ornamented for the

84



occasion; with Francis, adding to his Canticle of the

Sun a magnificent strophe in honor of his Sister

Death; with Camillus, spending his life in a labor of

love for the dying, and founding an order whose

very name. Fathers of a Good Death, betokens its

care for the suffering; with John of God, founding

the Brothers Hospitallers and spending his life in

nursing at the Grand Hospital of Granada; with

Mary Magdalen, privileged to witness the actual death

of Him Who died for all, and first witness of the
fact that He conquered death for all; with Lucy,
privileged to shed blood which was to become the

seed to bring forth new fruit; with all the holy men

and women of God surrounding a deathbed, we
know that one who is about to die can suffer no harm.

The result of this knowledge is the heartfelt invoca-

tion of each of them to come now and strengthen all
who are about to die.

And so we have come through the ages, summoning
a representative from every class of the Just of all

times. All who have gone before us receive our
prayers as we stand around the bed of one who is
dying. And knowing that they have heard our prayer
and have joined us here, we dare to command him:

forth, O Christian soul, from this world, in
the Name of God the Father who created you; in the
Name of Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, who
suffered for you; in the Name of the Holy Ghost

85



who is poured out upon you; in the name of the glor-

ious and holy Mother of God, the Virgin Mary; in

the name of St. Joseph, the loudly praised spouse of
that same Virgin; in the name of the Angels and

Archangels, of the Thrones and Dominations, of the

Principalities and Powers, of the Virtues, Cherubim,

and Seraphim; in the name of the Patriarchs, Pro-

phets, Apostles and Evangelists, Martyrs and Con-

fessors, Monks and Hermits, Virgins and Widows,

and of all the holy men and women of God.^*

Under such guardianship as this no one need be

afraid to go forth. Therefore we, who are about to
die, salute them all that they may be with us when we
follow after them.

86





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