Numbers 6:24-26
The LORD bless you and keep you: The LORD make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you: The LORD lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.
We Catholics are used to blessings. We receive one every time we celebrate the sacraments or go to mass. We can therefore forget what a wonderful thing it is to give and receive a blessing. Blessings (and words in general) were such serious things in the Old Testament that God actually prescribed a particular formula so that Israel would know what a blessing should look like. Today’s passage from Scripture is that formula. The thing that should be noted about it is that it exists at all. God, after all, is under no obligation to bless but he does so anyway out of pure love for us. We, on the other hand, deeply need to be blessed. We have all heard of children who receive nothing but abuse and derision in their formative years and grow up to be mentally ill adults. They bear the sin of parents who violated God’s will to bless us. For, though it is a grace, blessing is not something “added on” to our lives. It is integral. We are made to be blessed by God and to bless others. To bless is to be human. To withhold blessing, even of our enemies, is to be inhuman. So go ahead and bless someone today. It is what you and they were made for.
