Saturday, May 3, 2008

Blessing of Beer

From the Roman Ritual, in translation:

V/. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
R/. Who made heaven and earth.
V/. The Lord be with you.
R/. And with thy spirit.

Let us pray.

Lord, bless + this creature, beer, which by your kindness and power has been produced from kernels of grain, and let it be a healthful drink for mankind. Grant that whoever drinks it with thanksgiving to your holy name may find it a help in body and in soul; through Christ our Lord. R/. Amen.

(The beer is then sprinkled with holy water.)


I have essayed to adapt this prayer for lay use, by changing "The Lord be with you..." to "O Lord hear my prayer. / And let my cry come unto thee", and omitting the sign of the cross over the beer, but sprinkling it still with some holy water I have at hand - producing a sanctified Hoegaarden Witbier, in this case...

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

No; really...!? I never knew there was a blessing for Beer.

By the way, is there a good translation of the Ritual (maybe prior to revision)?

Joshua said...

I'm afraid I don't know much about the Rituale Romanum - there are some versions online, incl. the one I quoted from. Most priests interested in the older rites would have a copy...

Anonymous said...

Ah; I thought you had a print copy.

How about a pre-Vatican II equivalent to the Book of Blessings, or something like that?

Joshua said...

Yes, the Roman Ritual _is_ the old version of that awful modern Book of Blessings, which (a) often doesn't actually include a prayer of blessing for a given item and (b) always has a tedious Liturgy of the Word for every occasion. It is an example of the hypertrophy of the didactic and atrophy of the sacramental, one of the bad tendencies of the liturgical reform.

Miss Monification said...

Hi Josh! Just thought I'd say hi and also say that of COUrSe beer has a blessing.... it's one of the proofs of God!

Joshua said...

Hi Mon - How's old London town?