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    Fr. Joseph Jenkins

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How are Blessings Lost?

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Father Joe

QUESTION:  How do you remove a blessing?

ANSWER:  Why would you want to forfeit a blessing?  When it comes to persons, defilement or serious sin strips us of grace.  This is not recommended.  When it comes to a sacred object, the blessing is lost with breaking it.  That is why burning is an acceptable way because it destroys the honored or blessed item.  Old flags are sometimes burned, albeit with reverence and dignity.  A blessed rosary loses its blessing by breaking it.

Filed under: Catholic, Sacramentals, Sin |

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One Response

  1. Grace's avatar
    Grace, on January 23, 2014 at 6:17 am said:

    Father, You said that blessings are lost by breaking a rosary. I assume you mean, intentionally breaking it? What about a rosary that constantly gets into a tight knot despite all efforts to keep it well? What about a rosary that snaps for no reason? Should I get worried?

    FATHER JOE: If it breaks and stops being a rosary, it is no longer blessed. A weak link that can be easily closed is not really destruction. Now if you broke it to pieces or burned or smashed it… it is gone. I don’t want to get into the philosophical argument about when an old broom becomes a new one. A man might lose a leg but he is still a man. However, a fitting analogy might be that a dead body is not a living man but a corpse.

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