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Every blessing the Church can impart is included in this ritual, as is information for the priest on appropriate settings for the blessings and background information. Although intended primarily for use by the priest and deacon, the book opens to qualified lay people the imparting of certain blessings in special circumstances. Approved for use in dioceses of the United States. Two-colour printing and two ribbon markers. This is the official English translation of the Latin "De Benedictionibus" and is the authorized text for Roman Catholic blessings. Some things deserve mention beyond these basic facts, however. In practice I do not see this book receiving widespread use. It will surely be used for those occasions when a bishop blesses a new organ or set of bells for a parish, or when ministers are installed for service...but when an elderly woman wants her rosary beads blessed, I doubt whether any priest will celebrate a Liturgy of the Word with optional singing and general intercessions. Also, scanning these prayers of blessing one often wonders exactly when the objects are blessed...there is a lot of talking about blessing but not much actual explicit blessing...many of the prayers of the former Roman Ritual for blessing were far better from the literary sense and actually conveyed to lay people without a theological training in blessings the idea that their cars-bibles-crosses were actually being blessed. This excellent source for various blessings finds its best and most canonically appropriate usage in the hands of ordained clergy rather than the layperson. In this way it resembles such liturgical works as the Lectionary and the full Roman Missal, books which would find little valid and appropriate application within the family. A far more useful book for the home is of course the excellent new edition of the Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers. The Scriptural passages quoted in this 800 page source of various Catholic Blessings published by the Benedictines of the Liturgical Press in Collegeville MN in 1989 come from the New American Bible with Revised New Testament published by the CCD in 1986. Other sources are the various rituals and books of prayer from the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (ICEL), as well as the 1973 edition of the Roman Missal. The Blessings are divided into six parts, plus appendices for the installation of a pastor and of solemn blessings and prayers over the people. I often wonder whether some reviewers have seen completely a text, as we read reviews here which both lament the absence of blessings for objects, and those who find too many. Kindly permit me therefore to as briefly as possible sum up the enormous wealth of blessing herein contained.Read full review