A Different Take on Being Blessed, Part II

A rabbi was once asked, "What is a blessing?" He prefaced his answer with a riddle involving the creation account in chapter one of Genesis. The riddle went this way: After finishing his work on each of the first five days, the Bible states, "God saw that it was good." But, God is not reported to have commented on the goodness of what was created on the sixth day when the human person was fashioned. 

"What conclusion can you draw from that?" asked the rabbi. Someone volunteered, "We can conclude that the human person is not good." "Possibly," the rabbi nodded, "but that's not a likely explanation." 

He then went on to explain that the Hebrew word translated as "good" in Genesis is the word tov, which is better translated as "complete." That is why, the rabbi contended, God did not declare the human person to be tov. Human beings are created incomplete. It is our life's vocation to collaborate with our creator in fulfilling the Christ-potential in each of us...

...A blessing is anything that enters into the center of our lives and expands our capacity to be filled with Christ's love. Therefore, a blessing may not always be painless, but it will always bring spiritual growth...To be blessed is not to get out of life what we think we want. Rather, it is the assurance that God's purifying grace is active in us...

Wilkie Au, S.J., By Way of the Heart: Toward a Holistic Christian Spirituality