The practice of a father blessing his son is not common today. Modern men do not bless their sons because the act of blessing another person seems awkward today. Besides the customary “bless you” that is said after someone sneezes, blessing someone is oftentimes viewed as a foreign thing to do.
But ponder this question: What does it actually mean to bless somebody?
A blessing is a prayer intended to bestow benevolence onto another person. Any good or loving father desires that his children live happy and fulfilling lives. In other words, any good dad would wish that his children be blessed.
You may be thinking, “Of course I want my children to be blessed, but do I really have to say it? That seems weird.”
The answer is yes, you do. Just like it is not enough to love your children without verbally telling them “I love you” every once and a while, it is also not enough to just desire that your children be blessed. You need to use your words to actually bless them as well.
Giving a blessing is a very fatherly thing to do. In the book of Genesis, when God creates the world, He looks upon His creation, sees that it is good — very good — and blesses His creation. Just as God blesses His creations, it is appropriate for a man to bless his children as well.
During the Rite of Passage weekend, the final blessing was the last of the rituals and marked the beginning of the return phase. Each man — including his father — would bless the boy by putting a hand on the boy’s head and reading a prayer. One good option for this prayer is Numbers 6:24–26:
“The Lord bless you and keep you! The Lord let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace!”
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