Not Your Typical Blessing

As we look over the edge into 2018, I offer this blessing… and it’s not your typical blessing.

Written by the Benedictine Sister Ruth Fox of Sacred Heart Monastery for a Dickinson State University graduation in 1985, this blessing is often referred to as the Four-Fold Benedictine Blessing:

May God bless you with DISCONTENT with easy answers, half truths, superficial relationships, so that you will live from deep within your heart.

May God bless you with ANGER at injustice, oppression, abuse, and exploitation of people, so that you will work for justice, equality, and peace.

May God bless you with TEARS to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation and war, so that you will reach out your hand to comfort them and to change their pain to joy.

May God bless you with the FOOLISHNESS to think you can make a difference in this world, so that you will do the things which others tell you cannot be done.

If you have the courage to accept these blessings, then God will also bless you with:

HAPPINESS–because you will know that you have made life better for others.

INNER PEACE–because you will have worked to secure an outer peace for others.

LAUGHTER–because your heart will be light.

FAITHFUL FRIENDS–because they will recognize your worth as a person.

These blessings are yours–not for the asking, but for the giving–from One who wants to be your companion, our God, who lives and reigns, forever and ever. Amen