Q: Your response in this post caught my attention, especially because I am a brand new deacon (less than six months).
<https://paulturner.org/blessing-the-book-of-gospels/>
If I read it correctly, it sounds like you would hesitate to bless bibles, breviaries, and other books that contain Scripture. If that is so, then how do you let down gently someone who asks you to bless a new family bible, for example? What do you say to the person? (Or please let me know if I read too much into your response.)
Thanks very much for your blog. I have picked up many golden nuggets from it.
Take care, and God bless.
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A: Thanks for your ministry to the Church as a deacon.
I don’t know of any legislation forbidding the blessing of a family bible, but I do notice the absence of any such prayer in a ritual book. So I ask, “Why is it not there?” And I think the reason is that bibles do not require blessings.
That said, many families request and receive an improvised blessing on their bible. My preference is to improvise a prayer of thanksgiving in the presence of the bible and the person requesting the prayer. I praise God for the faith of the family through the generations and pray that their use of the bible may be a blessing for them.