40 Day Blessing

On April 1st, 2010 we went to the Greek Orthodox church in Marietta for James’ 40 day blessing. This tradition began with Mary, who brought Jesus to the church 40 days after his birth. Luke 2:22-40 describes this offering of Mary and Joseph.

Here is another description of the ceremony:
“Approximately forty days after a child is born it is an Orthodox Church Tradition that a special service is offered in the Church which emulates the Old Testament custom in which the Blessed Virgin Mary brought Jesus into the Temple on the fortieth day after His birth and is commemorated on the Feast of the Presentation of Christ. The Forty Day Blessing essentially consists of prayers of joyful thanks for the safe delivery of mother and child. The service blesses the mother who has been absent from the sacramental life of the Church for forty days and formally presents the newborn child to the Church family for the first time as the priest formally brings the infant into the Sanctuary.”

Father Panayiotis, who also married George and I, performed this ceremony for us. This was a special day for us and James did a great job. He was wide eyed throughout the service and didn’t cry at all.

We enjoyed introducing James to part of his cultural background (and me too!)