Hopeful Thinking - Saturday, May 4, 2019 - The Power to Bless

In preparing the opening words for a wedding recently, I happened upon a thought about blessing. I would say to those assembled, “If we had the power to bless this couple with all of the fruits of our knowledge and all that we’ve learned about love, we would. So the news is good, then. For we can.”

I have thought about the power to bless for a long time. Who is entitled to it? How do they obtain it? Who decides they have earned it? Those three questions have no objective answers. My only conclusion is that it must be either all of us have the power to bless, or none of us does. And since I am an optimist, my faith tells me it is all of us.

But what is the power to bless? What is a blessing? When the Pope, for instance, blesses an object, what about it is being changed? For the record, I definitely believe something about it has changed, but what? Is it in the molecules? The subatomic level? Or is it in the 99.9% of empty space inside each atom? My assumption is, in some way, it must be all of it.

Though many in the scientific community disagree with his research methods, Japanese author Masaru Emoto makes some surprising claims about water and our ability to affect its molecular structure with thoughts, intentions and music. Might be true? It aligns with much of what we know from spiritual teachings that what we think we become. We are mostly water after all. Do our cells hear our words? Do they feel our intent? Do they mold themselves to our expectations? Many believe, including myself, that the answer is yes.

What is the expectation of a blessing? What are we attempting to confer when we bless someone or something? I contend we are wishing for their wellness and happiness and usefulness and the epiphany of magic. We are saying a prayer that all those who come into contact with that which has been blessed be blessed themselves. We are hoping to instill a small measure of the goodness of our souls into the very fiber of an object, or a person, or a marriage.

But where within the now-blessed does that blessing reside thereafter? I can’t answer that question. It is not for my human brain to comprehend. I shall have to be satisfied by it remaining a mystery.

However, I do not need to know how the steam engine works in order to ride the train. I can take comfort and benefit from the idea of all by itself. And I do believe we have the power to bless. I do believe there is something of us that activates, transmits and regularly communicates on a level of which I have no awareness. Yet I have no proof. At least none with which to convince you.

But I shall move through my life with the belief that what comes from our hearts and minds has power. I will forever hold that we are more than we appear. I will treat others with the respect I would like to treat myself because I believe there is no difference. Assume you have the power to grant a blessing on anything you choose to receive its benefit. If it is grateful for your blessing, all the better. But even if not, the gift is no less grand.