Statement on New Vatican Document To Expand and Enrich Blessings
Bishop Parkes confirms that the document does not in any way weaken or change the Church's teaching on the sacrament of marriage.
Bishop Parkes confirms that the document does not in any way weaken or change the Church's teaching on the sacrament of marriage.
In light of the recent document from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith regarding the pastoral meaning of blessings, I would like to share a few thoughts. From the very beginning of his Papacy, Pope Francis has encouraged the Church to go out to the peripheries. In this spirit, the document clearly seeks to open up channels of grace for all who need it in order that their lives would be better attuned to the Lord’s will for them.
In light of the recent document from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith regarding the pastoral meaning of blessings, I would like to share a few thoughts. From the very beginning of his Papacy, Pope Francis has encouraged the Church to go out to the peripheries. In this spirit, the document clearly seeks to open up channels of grace for all who need it in order that their lives would be better attuned to the Lord’s will for them.
The document, “Fiducia supplicans” seeks to clarify the different types of blessings in the Catholic Church. It does not in any way weaken or change the Church's teaching on the sacrament of marriage or on the blessing of married couples within the context of the sacrament.
The document states, “rites and prayers that could create confusion between what constitutes marriage—which is the ‘exclusive, stable, and indissoluble union between a man and a woman, naturally open to the generation of children’—and what contradicts it are inadmissible,” (4).
However, the Church has always upheld the practice of non-ritual spontaneous blessings for individuals and groups of people. This practice provides the opportunity to invite the Lord into a person’s life so that they may receive the grace to follow Him more closely.
“One who asks for a blessing show himself to be in need of God’s saving presence in his life and one who asks for a blessing from the Church recognizes the latter as a sacrament of the salvation that God offers,” (20).
In this sense, spontaneous blessings are meant for everyone, without precondition. Pope Francis reminds us that “a small step, in the midst of great human limitations, can be more pleasing to God than a life which appears outwardly in order but moves through the day without confronting great difficulties,” (43).
I would encourage everyone to read the document itself. So often we see how things can become easily distorted when separated from the original text. In doing so you will recognize, as I have, that the Holy Father is inviting every one of us to open up our hearts more generously to receive God’s grace. It is only by the grace of God that we have the strength to live out more fully His will for our lives.
To view a statement from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on this matter, click here.
