Bless you!

When my children were little I often came home from a meeting or an event after they were in bed and asleep. I always crept into their rooms, put my hand gently on their heads, and blessed them.

Parents and grandparents often do this.

As a teacher I often said "God bless you" when someone did something helpful for me. 

I also said "Good on you" a lot - not the kiwi goodonya - but three distinct words praying for good for the person. The kiwi greeting kia ora is another way of praying good on a person: it means "be well" or "be healthy" in an holistic sense: "I pray that you are well in your body, your mind, your spirit, and in your relationships."

In Lumen Gentium Paul VI and the Second Vatican Council tried to clarify and renew the role of the people in the Church. 

The term laity is here understood to mean all the faithful except those in holy orders and those in the state of religious life specially approved by the Church. These faithful are by baptism made one body with Christ and are constituted among the People of God; they are in their own way made sharers in the priestly, prophetical, and kingly functions of Christ; and they carry out for their own part the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the world.

These words were an important part of my upbringing in the Church. Whenever I said anything hinting at criticism of the Church, I was met with the quick reply "But you are the Church".

And I am!

I am created by God in the image of God.

I am part of the "one body with Christ", one of the "People of God".

I am a sharer in the "priestly, prophetical and kingly functions of Christ".

And I have a duty to pass that on - to share that blessing around. It is important that we can finish letters and conversations with "God bless you", take a lead in blessing the food we eat, and acknowledge God's presence in those we have contact with.

Parents seem to know that instinctively. 

We bestow sacraments and graces on our children almost automatically. We wash them clean - sometimes with total immersion - and sometimes with just a quick wipe!

We forgive them and restore them to the full love of the family when they make mistakes. We heal them with a kiss or a quick rub or a heartfelt hug when they are hurt.

We feed them and help them grow with love and healthy food and drink. 

We are quick to confirm our love, and their place in the family community. 

Our children are part of our marriage - they were when the two became a trinity - and they are when they come crawling into our beds on stormy nights, when they are frightened, or when they feel unwell.

And we bless them, and others in our lives - a really important part of our humanity as we share the priestly, prophetical, and kingly functions of Christ.