Father Patrick blesses the house

We joined the St. Johns Catholic parish a few months ago. In our application form we requested to have a house blessing done. I sort of forgot all about it until Father Patrick Peach called last week and scheduled to come out today.

I must say Father Patrick was awesome. He was very young - I think St. John's is his first assignment. Before the ritual started we told him what was going on in house. He didn't seem to concerned about it, which surprised me. Perhaps he didn't want to appear alarmed. He explained that spirits were part of the natural order of the world, and that we just need to pray for them to pass on. He did ask which rooms were the most troublesome, and we told him our room and Shelby's room, since those have had the most activity lately.

To begin, the whole family stood at the foyer while he performed the blessing, and then together we said an Our Father. Then we toured the house, going from room to room while he sprinkled holy water. He left no room untouched, and even sprinkled us with the water when we were on the second floor landing.

Afterwards, I asked him to stay for a snack, and we all sat at the island in the kitchen and ate a pastry and drank some milk. We joked and talked for quite a while, asking Father Patrick about his time in Italy with the Pope. He had many fascinating stories to tell, and we thoroughly enjoyed his company.