Here's the story of what happened when I asked for a womb blessing. I hope you are comfy because it's not exactly short.
Years ago a good friend of ours was ordained to the priesthood, and DH and I attended his ordination. I had never been to an ordination before. It was probably the most beautiful Mass I have ever witnessed. It is just so moving to watch as someone gives his entire life to serving God and His Church. I love our priests. :) In the years that followed I longed to attend another ordination, but it just never worked out. Then two years ago in April I saw the announcement for our diocese's ordination so I put it on the calendar. I was looking forward to it a lot.
The ordination was just as beautiful as I remember the last one, even though I didn't know this new priest personally. If you've never been to an ordination, you are missing out. They usually take place in May or June, so you can plan ahead for next year...way ahead. :)
Since we didn't receive an invitation to the reception afterwards, we weren't planning on going to that...unless there was a general announcement at ordination inviting everyone. And there was! There were even printed driving directions for everyone. I guess it was more of a diocesan event than a personal reception for the priest's friends and family. (When my friend had his ordination reception years ago, we had received a formal invitation, but I can't remember if it was a joint reception with the other new priest ordained at the same time. I suppose different dioceses do it differently.)
At the reception a line quickly formed so people could receive a blessing from the new priest. Just like at a wedding where the newlyweds often don't get a chance to eat because they're busy greeting their guests, the priest didn't get much more than a bottle of water before the line formed. This was expected of course, and they had a small kneeler set up in a corner where the priest was standing for this purpose. I watched as people greeted the priest and kissed the palm of each of his hands. How beautiful the hands of priests because they give us Jesus in the Eucharist.
When DH and I got to the front of the line, we could see that the priest had several different blessings spread out in front of him—one for individuals, one for couples, etc. Before we knelt down, I asked if he would bless my womb because of our infertility. I thought he could just add a spontaneous sentence or two to the blessing he was already going to give us. I had heard that you can ask any priest for a womb blessing if you're infertile—which is why I asked—and I assumed that meant the priest would just come up with some appropriate words on the spot. He said he didn't have a womb blessing in front of him, but if we waited until everyone else had gone, then he would find one for us. I was surprised and pleased that he would do that for us, given that there were a lot of people in line, and he probably wanted to spend time visiting with family and friends after finishing up the individual blessings. He offered to give us the married couple blessing that he had on front of him, so we knelt down. It was all in Latin, and I know only a handful of words, so I had no idea what he said. It sounded nice though. Everything sounds nice in Latin. :)
We sat down on some nearby chairs to wait. About an hour later the line was nearing its end, and most of the people had gone home. Someone finally brought the new priest a plate of food. A seminarian came over and started talking to the priest. He stayed close to the priest and was doing something on his phone. In between blessings, he would show the phone to the priest. I thought maybe someone had sent a congratulatory message to the priest that he wanted to see...maybe on Facebook or something. When the last person was blessed, I assumed the priest would sit down to eat, so we remained where we were. I didn't really want to bother the priest since we could get a womb blessing from any priest...I just thought it would be extra special to receive it from a brand new priest. Instead of sitting down to eat with his friends who had brought him the plate of food, the priest took the cell phone from the seminarian and walked directly over to where we were sitting.
He smiled and said they found a womb blessing for infertile couples. (Apparently it was the seminarian on his phone who found it.)
I was shocked and really touched that he'd go through the effort of finding one for us! I had no idea that one already existed.
He raised his hand and started to pray over us. Again it was all in Latin. I tried to listen for words I knew, which is not very many. The only thing relevant I could think of was "fructus" from the Hail Mary: "and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus" (et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus). I think I heard the word fructus. I do remember Abraham's name mentioned. DH knows more Latin than me and thought part of it was about Israel. For all I know, he could have recounted all the couples in the Old Testament that faced infertility in addition to the entire history of Israel's relationship with God. It was a long blessing. Really long. It took five minutes maybe? Maybe a bit shorter, but not much. I was expecting a paragragh at most, so this was quite extensive.
I sincerely thanked the priest after he finished and asked on what website he found the blessing because I would love to see the English translation of it. He said it was a PDF file, and he had the hard copy of the book elsewhere. So I couldn't get a copy of it from him... I knew some of you might want to see it as well, so my inquiry wasn't just for me. :) The priest then asked our names and promised to continue to pray for us. I was so touched by his kindness that I could feel the tears coming. I held them in until we left. Since not very many (non-IF) people acknowledge the suffering that accompanies IF, it means a lot to me when someone does.
My plan was to ask a priest I knew if he would give me the text of the womb blessing. I thought it wouldn't be too difficult of a request. I was wrong. I have asked multiple (I've lost track how many) priests if they can find the text of the blessing we received, and no one has had any success in finding it. Apparently this blessing is not in the book of blessings that most priests have. Unfortunately I can't contact the priest who gave us the blessing because he is taking time away from parish life to do some studying.
It recently dawned on me that it was the seminarian who found it, so maybe I should ask a seminarian. I contacted a seminarian that I've met before, and I am waiting to hear back.
If any of you happen to have a copy of this blessing, please send it to me so I can post it here for everyone. I am on a mission here!
The reason I did not post this earlier (say, two years ago when we received the blessing) is because I really wanted to include the text of the blessing here. Even though I still don't have it, I have something else! :) There is a blessing for infertile couples that is approved for use in the Archdiocese of Sydney, Australia, and I acquired the text. I put a link at the top of my blog with the entire text. I also saved it as a PDF if you want to download it.
Ladies, I encourage you to ask your priest for a womb blessing! It's not any kind of guarantee of course but we need all the blessing and prayers and spiritual help we can get! You all know that IF is a such tough cross to carry, and this might make carrying that cross just a bit easier.
