The Holiest Moments: When Blessings Come from the Least Expected Places

Have you ever received a blessing that profoundly touched your life?

It happened to me recently in a Catholic church in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Kathy and I were on our very first visit to Ireland. It was Sunday morning. I looked for a church service to attend. There was a beautiful, old, ornate cathedral-like church just up the street from our hotel. We decided to attend the mass.

There has been nothing special so far. But then something happened at the least expected time during the service. I thought I would be blessed by attending the service, the mass itself—the hymns, the prayers, the receiving of communion. The blessing God intended for Kathy and me came during the "passing of the peace."

Sitting in the pew in front of us was a young mom and her children. The boy looked to be six and her daughter was maybe three. The kids were well behaved while sitting through the service. A bit squirrely but quiet.

When the priest told us to pass the peace of Christ to other attendees, I turned to the people behind me, reached out my hand, looked them in the eye, and said, "May the peace of the Lord be with you." They reflexively said the same thing back. I did this to other attendees in my general area.

I turned to pass the peace to the mother in the pew in front of me. To my surprise, the little boy was waiting for me. He didn't say anything but simply looked deep into my eyes. He motioned for me to bend down to be nearer to him.

As my face got closer to him, he reached to my forehead and made the sign of the cross with his thumb. As I explain this to you, I can still feel the heat from his thumb on my skin. He said, "Peace be with you."

He surprised me. No one, outside of a priest or pastor, has ever done this to me. I wasn't sure how to respond. So I did to this little boy what he did to me. I asked him to come near. I made the sign of the cross on his forehead with my thumb. When I finished, I looked him in the eye and said, "May God bless you and keep you."

It was the holiest of moments for me. This happened over three weeks ago, and I am still blessed and humbled by that six-year-old little boy. I'll never forget his blessing.

At the end of the Mass, I made a point to meet the children's mother. I thanked her and complimented her for her beautiful children. She was polite, thanked me, and moved on.

As Kathy and I walked back to our hotel, I told her what happened. She said, "Do you know what the little girl did to me?"

She went on to explain the very same thing. The little girl, this three-year-old, made the sign of the cross on Kathy's forehead. But then Kathy continued, "After making the sign of the cross with her little thumb, she stood on the seat of the pew, leaned over, and kissed my forehead right where she made the sign of the cross. She sealed the blessing with her tiny little lips."

This was a blessing for both of us beyond anything we had ever experienced, and it happened to both of us at the same time.

And then another blessing

Two days later, on a tour of the Jewish Museum in Amsterdam, I watched a man who was standing in front of an opened Torah on display. He looked like he was reading it. It was several hundred years old and was under glass. I asked him, "Do you read Hebrew?"

He told me he had a PhD in Hebrew studies from Israel and was visiting Amsterdam with his granddaughter. I asked him what he was reading in the Torah.

When he told me, I recognized it was Numbers 6:24-26

"May the Lord bless you and protect you.

May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you.

May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.

He tried to translate what he was reading to English, but I couldn’t understand. With his granddaughter's help, I heard and received this blessing.

I was blessed again—this time by a seventy-five-year-old Jew from Israel. He introduced himself as Immanuel. Then he said, “Do you know what my name means in Hebrew?”

“Yes,” I said. “God is with us.”

The blessings from God are everywhere. All I have to do is love the people I meet and receive the blessing God has given them to give to me. There is no need for me to seek God's blessing; it is always right in front of me.

Be blessed today in reading this!

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