What does it mean for something to be blessed? It is correct to note that almost…
It is correct to note that almost anything can be blessed. For a thing to be blessed means that it becomes holy. In fact, we often use those two words interchangeably. They convey the same sense of being “set apart.” In the Old Testament, God calls his people to be holy, or he tells them that the Sabbath day will be “holy unto the Lord.” This particular sense of holiness highlights the “otherness” of someone who or something which is blessed. It is no longer ordinary but has been “set apart.”
Now, to be “blessed” did not merely mean to be “set apart.” It meant to be set apart for something. There is no virtue in simply being different. Israel was holy because it was set apart for the Lord. To be blessed (or to have an object blessed) is to be set apart for a purpose.
Another way to word it: To be blessed is to be set apart for God’s purposes. It is not simply to be “removed from use,” but to be “elevated to a higher purpose and use.” You could also think of the term “consecrated.” In this sense, you could see how certain people or things were “consecrated” for a purpose: how Samson and John the Baptist were both consecrated from the womb, or how the altar in the Temple was consecrated for the worship of God.
When we bring forth an object or a person to be blessed, we are presenting that person or thing to God so that (by the power of the Holy Spirit and the invocation of the name of Jesus), they would be set apart for God’s purposes. For example, many people will ask if a priest can bless their cross on a chain or a bracelet. When they bring it to a priest, it is merely jewelry. But after it is blessed, it ceases to be jewelry that is nothing more than an accessory to one’s outfit: That object has been set apart for a purpose.
It will still be worn like jewelry, but the purpose for which it is worn has been changed because the object has been consecrated for a higher purpose. In the case of the cross around one’s neck, the higher use is that it will, from then on, only point to Christ and his saving death and resurrection.
Why do we do this, though? Why bless all of these ordinary objects around us? We do this for the simple reason that we are very much like ancient Israel. Our tendency is also to want to be just like everyone else.
Having all of these reminders around us that have been consecrated to the Lord assists us and reminds us that we too have been consecrated to God.
We have been baptized! Which means that we have been blessed. We have been made holy, consecrated for the Lord at our baptism. To be holy does not mean being perfect, but it does mean being set apart for God and his purposes.
Because of that fact, all of us who have been baptized have received a very high call: to always be people who, by our lives, point to Christ and his saving death and resurrection.