ConsevativeMind are you being sarcastic?
Did ConservativeMind step out of line?
I think maybe CM simply doesn’t understand the concept of blessing an inanimate object. Apparently he’s never heard of christening a ship, or “God Bless America” (note, the song is not “God Bless Americans”), or house blessings (again, not “household blessings”).
Blessing something is a prayer that it be used for holy purposes. By blessing a workman’s tools, the bishop reminds the workers, on a feast designed to uphold the sanctity of virtuous labor, that their Christianity doesn’t end when they step out the door at mass, but that their hours of labor are to have a holy purpose.
From the Catholic Encyclopedia (which is hardly authoritative, but is adequate for this issue):
The range of objects that come under the influence of the Church’s blessing is as comprehensive as the spiritual and temporal interests of her children. All the lower creatures have been made to serve man and minister to his needs. As nothing, then, should be left undone to enhance their utility towards this end, they are placed in a way under the directprovidence of “Every creature of God is good. . .”, as St. Paul says “for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer” (1 Timothy 4:4-5).
There is also the reflection that the effects of the Fall extended to the inanimate objects of creation, marring in a manner the original aim of their existence and making them, in the hands of evil spirits, ready instruments for the perpetration of iniquity. In the Epistle to the Romans St. Paul describes inanimate nature, blighted by the primal curse, groaning in travail and anxiously awaiting its deliverance from bondage. “The expectation of the creature waiteth for the revelation of the Sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him that made it subject, in hope” (viii, 19-20). From this it will be easily seen how very reasonable is the anxiety of the Church that the things which are use in daily life and particularly in the service of religion, should be rescued from contaminating influences and endowed with a potency for good...
...(d) The Ritual has blessings for houses and schools and for the laying of their foundation stones; for stables for the lower animals and every other building of any description for which no special formula is at hand. There is also a special blessing for the bridal chamber.
(e) Lastly inanimate things that subserve the equitable needs and convenience of society may receive from the Church the stamp of her benediction before they are sent on their way to do their appointed tasks. Such, for instance, are new ships, new railways with trains and carriages, new bridges, fountains,wells, cornmills, limekilns, smelting-furnaces, telegraphs, steam engines, machines for producing electricity. The many serious accidents that occur explain the concern of the Church for those whose lives are exposed to danger from these various sources.