Patriarchal Blessings

[Steve]

Somehow I missed this. Did everyone else know that you can request the patriarchal blessings of your deceased direct-line ancestors? Has this been discussed previously? For some reason, I don't think I ever knew you could do that!

https://history.lds.org/article/chl-pb?lang=eng

[Tuly]

Yes, I have heard about it. I think it will be great to read grandparents patriarchal blessings.

[Tuly]

Sorry for the distraction, but I found this great talk by President James E. Faust on patriarchal blessings. And hope to inspire you all to read your patriarchal blessing often.
Patriarchal Blessings - March 30, 1980 - BYU Speeches.

https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/james-e- ... blessings/

When Are Patriarchal Blessings Fulfilled?
Elder John A. Widtsoe had the following to say:

It should always be kept in mind that the realization of the promises made may come in this life or the future life. Men have stumbled at times because promised blessings have not occurred in this life. They have failed to remember that, in the gospel, life with all its activities continues forever and that the labors of earth may be continued in heaven. Besides, the giver of the blessings, the Lord, reserves the right to have them become active in our lives as suits his divine purposes. We and our blessings are in the hands of the Lord, but there is a general testimony that when the gospel law has been obeyed, the promised blessings have been realized. [Evidences and Reconciliations (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1960),p. 75].

This was well illustrated in my father’s patriarchal blessing. He was told in his blessing that he would be blessed with “many beautiful daughters.” He and my mother became the parents of five sons. There were no daughters born to them, but of course they treated the wives of their sons as daughters. This last summer when we had a family reunion, I saw my father’s granddaughters moving about tending to the food and ministering to the young children and the elderly, and the realization came to me that Father’s blessing had been literally fulfilled; he has, indeed, many beautiful daughters. The patriarch who gave my father his blessing had spiritual vision to see beyond this life. There was a disappearance of the dividing line between time and eternity. The patriarch has no blessing of his own to give; the blessing is the Lord’s to give. God knows our spirits; he knows our strengths and weaknesses. He knows our capabilities and our potential. Our patriarchal blessings indicate what the Lord expects of us and what our potential can be. Our blessings can encourage us when we are discouraged, strengthen us when we are fearful, comfort us when we sorrow, give us courage when we are filled with anxiety, lift us up when we are weak in spirit.

[Ian]

usually we speak of a "patriarchal blessing" in reference to that blessing received by the laying on of hands, by a patriarch. this blessing is sacred and personal. my patriarchal blessing provides me with guidance and direction. i love my patriarchal blessing.

i am likewise grateful for other patriarchal blessings. "patriarch" is another word for "father." i am eternally grateful to my father, and to all of my father's fathers. i am most grateful to Heavenly Father. we owe everything to our fathers.

i believe that God can prompt us, if we are receptive, to feel love and gratitude toward our fathers. "And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming."

we live in the time foretold, when people "call evil good, and good evil." the words "patriarch," "patriarchy" and "patriarchal" have become bad words. some people simply misunderstand their meaning. others have bad intentions. they reject the pattern that God has established, as declared in the family proclamation, that "by divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families."

these sad people blame "patriarchy" for their misery. they do not turn their hearts to their fathers. instead, they turn their backs to their fathers. they reject God's commandment to "honour thy father." unless they repent, the result is inevitable. they will reject God and his prophets, and ultimately they will lose their chance to be part of God's eternal family.

the truth is that men and women need each other to achieve lasting happiness. the true pattern for happiness is clearly defined in the family proclamation. without patriarchy, we cannot have an eternal family. without an eternal family, we cannot have eternal life.

when our ancestor william huntington died, his son and our great-great-great grandfather, oliver boardman huntington, wrote a loving tribute. oliver was serving a mission in england when his father died. his letter was published in the millennial star. oliver wrote that he wished to "rise up and call my father blessed." this alludes to God's blessing to abraham: "... for as many as receive this Gospel shall be called after thy name, and shall be accounted thy seed, and shall rise up and bless thee, as their father; and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curse thee..."

oliver honored his father. he described his father as a true patriarch. of his father he wrote: "Often has he called his family around him in the hour of peril or hunger, and talked to us like a Patriarch of old, and told us such things must be in order to purify and make us perfect; and if we bear all nobly, without murmuring or complaining, it was our gain, but if we grumbled and complained, it was our just due. When apostacy was raging and many were turning aside from the truth, his governing maxims and instructions to us were, that whatever the head did was right, without making the wisdom of God’s authorities bend to the reasoning of any man; for, said he, God has called and empowered them, and no man has a right to judge them or their works, except God call him to a higher office or power. In fine, his course of life and conversation said virtually, 'swallow whatever the doctor gives you, for if he does not know what will cure you, nobody does.' By following out this course through life he has shunned the rock on which many have split, that is, thinking they could see better than the eyes which God had placed in the church."

as apostasy rages in our homes, we would do well to turn our hearts to our fathers, and remember their governing maxims and instructions, to not make the wisdom of God's authorities bend to the reasoning of any man, nor think we can see better than the eyes which God has placed in the church.

we share this hope, dependent upon our faithfulness, to enjoy an inheritance of eternal life, with our father at our head, "the Twelve at his head, Joseph at their head, Jesus at his head, his Father and our God at the head of all."

here is the entire letter, with a link to a copy of the original:

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Preston, March, 1847.

Mr. Editor,—As your paper is the only medium by which “I can rise up and call my father blessed” to my satisfaction and his worthiness, you will confer a favour upon me, and comfort those that feel the loss of a father and friends in the wilds of America, by giving a place for this to stand as an everlasting memorial of the departed Noble. I esteem it a higher nobility to be associated with Apostles and Prophets of Almighty God, than the highest nobles and dignitaries of worldly kingdoms. He was baptized in the year 1834, and has ever been firm, unwavering, and active in this glorious work. He was a good father, a kind husband, a faithful servant in his calling, and a true and undeviating friend to the martyred Prophets and the Twelve Apostles. I am a witness of his private as well as public life; and in the hardest trials and deepest troubles of Kirtland, Missouri, and Nauvoo, I never heard him murmur or complain, but he actually rejoiced in the midst of the worst, with a seeming air of disregard to pain or suffering, knowing that all was his gain. Often has he called his family around him in the hour of peril or hunger, and talked to us like a Patriarch of old, and told us such things must be in order to purify and make us perfect; and if we bear all nobly, without murmuring or complaining, it was our gain, but if we grumbled and complained, it was our just due. When apostacy was raging and many were turning aside from the truth, his governing maxims and instructions to us were, that whatever the head did was right, without making the wisdom of God’s authorities bend to the reasoning of any man; for, said he, God has called and empowered them, and no man has a right to judge them or their works, except God call him to a higher office or power. In fine, his course of life and conversation said virtually, “swallow whatever the doctor gives you, for if he does not know what will cure you, nobody does.” By following out this course through life he has shunned the rock on which many have split, that is, thinking they could see better than the eyes which God had placed in the church.

Thus he has died without leaving a spot or stain upon his memory, and I can think upon him with delight and call him blessed. Truly he has fought the good fight, has kept the faith, and obtained the crown which endureth forever.

When last I saw him he was in health and vigour, but through suffering, privation, and a heavy charge of business, he now sleeps the last sleep beneath the Prairie sod at Mount Pisgah.

One thing comforts me. I expect yet to enjoy an inheritance and life of immortality upon this earth with him at my head, the Twelve at his head, Joseph at their head, Jesus at his head, his Father and our God at the head of all.

Yours very truly,
O. B. HUNTINGTON.

Note.—Father Huntington was a wise counsellor and excellent man, and presided over the Mount Pisgah Station, and had made a sacrifice of all his goods to aid the poor Saints to remove from Nauvoo to the wilderness, as many other Saints did also do.—Ed.

"Millennial Star," Volume IX, No. 7, April 1, 1847, pp. 108-109

[Steve]

Thank you, Ian. I agree with the things you've shared.

[John]

Thank you, Ian, for posting this moving tribute by our father, Oliver, of our father, William. It's humbling to note their great faith and sure witness of truth.

Again, thank you.