Give me your blessing.

I grew up in a rural, french ghetto parish south of St. Louis. On New Year's Day my grandmother would walk through the woods to my great-grandmother's home, kneel before her, and, speaking in French, ask for her blessing. Great-grandmother would put her hands on my grandmother's head and say a blessing. It sounded to me like mumbling, but it was in a French dialect that has almost disappeared. As a young boy, I could only watch and observe this yearly ritual.

Only later in my life did I understand the significance of this ritual of blessing. My grandmother was asking my great-grandmother to give her a special wish for a new year filled with happiness and joy.

To bless is to name someone or something as holy. When we bless, we declare that God is present, manifest through the person or thing blessed. Maybe because we do it so often, we do not realize that we name ourselves blessed every time we make the sign of the cross over our bodies.

In the Rite of Baptism of Children, after the priest or deacon has claimed the child for Christ by tracing the sign of the cross on his or her forehead, the parents and godparents are invited to do the same. Tracing the cross indicates that the child is blessed and emanates the presence of God.

Likewise, in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, when candidates are accepted into the Order of Catechumens, they are signed by their sponsors with the cross on their foreheads and may be blessed with the sign of the cross on their ears, eyes, lips, breast, shoulders, hands, and feet.

One of the most valuable resources of the church is the Book of Blessings (U.S. Catholic Conference, 1990) and its derivative for home use Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers (U.S. Catholic Conference, 1989). The general introduction to the Book of Blessings reminds us that God is the source from whom every good gift comes. God is above all. God is blessed forever. All people and things are made good by God. Thus, when we offer a blessing, we are in fact thanking the God from whom all blessings flow.

The very first blessing in the Book of Blessings is for a family. It provides a ritual for an annual blessing of families in their own homes. Also, there are blessings for married couples, children, children not yet baptized, sons and daughters, engaged couples, parents before childbirth, mothers both before and after childbirth, parents after miscarriages, parents of adopted children, birthdays, elderly people confined to their homes, the sick, those suffering from addiction or substance abuse, victims of crime or oppression, and on and on. There is no occasion that does not have its appropriate blessing.

As a priest, I know the value of naming people and things blessed. At the end of every celebration of Eucharist, I ask God to bless all those assembled in God's name, reminding them that they are holy manifestations of the divine presence. I can't begin to enumerate the times that various people have presented rosaries, statues, and other Catholic items, asking me to bless them for their use.

One of the most touching blessings that I can give comes in the Anointing of the Sick. Without saying a word, I gently lay my hands on the head of the sick person as a sign of blessing him or her. Then, tracing the cross with oil on his or her forehead and hands, I name God present in the illness. God is present where we would not usually look for God to be. That's the powerful beauty of a blessing.

We can bless others in our homes and remind them of how they are icons of God's presence. We can become comfortable with requesting the blessing of parents and offering our blessing to those who visit. Before tucking their offspring into bed, parents often trace the sign of the cross on their foreheads in blessing. Wife and husband can encourage their children to bless their parents. As visitors leave, various family members can join in asking a blessing on their trip home. The blessing, in whatever form it takes, becomes a ritual way to say, "You are a manifestation of God."

I can't help but believe that if my great-grandmother were still living, she would use the prayers found in the Book of Blessings to bless my grandmother today.

Father Mark G. Boyer, a priest of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Missouri; editor of his diocesan newspaper, The Mirror; and the author of books on spirituality and scripture.