Patriarchal Blessings

From a class by Laurel Lawrence

There were Patriarchs in the primitive church that Jesus established while on the earth. They were called Evangelists. Other churches don't know what is meant by Evangelists in the New Testament. A Patriarch is a person who bestows blessings an declares lineage.

A Patriarchal Blessing lists our gifts and talents. 

When Joseph Smith taught people about the First Vision, people were mostly amazed to hear him say that God knew his name. They were so intrigued that God would tell him exactly what He wanted him to do so they were excited to get Patriarchal Blessings so that they could hear God tell them what He wanted them to do. D&C 4 was given to Joseph Smith Sr. Lots of sections in the Doctrine and Covenants were in response to saints wanting to know what God wanted to say to them. Joseph Smith’s father was the first Patriarch in the latter days 4 years after the organization of the Church. He would travel hundreds of miles to give blessings; the people would gather in “blessing meetings” where he would give one after another. Sometimes he would gie up to 15 blessings in one evening.

Eliza R. Snow loved to attend the blessing  meetings and invited her brother Lorenzo Snow to go to one. He stayed afterwards and talked to Joseph Smith Sr. who prophesied to him that he would be baptized. Later he gave Lorenzo Snow a Patriarchal Blessing and said that he had faith like the Brother of Jared and would be able to call back the dead. Much later he was in a meeting and heard of a boy who had died hours earlier. He left the meeting and went to the family where the boy had died. He told him to come back, then he returned to the meeting. An hour later the boy woke up and asked where the guy was that told him to come back. He had seen Lorenzo Snow.

Patriarchal Blessings are sacred but not secret. They can be shared with family and excerpts can be shared with “faithful”.

Wilfred Woodruff got his Patriarchal Blessing 2 years before being called to be a prophet and was told that the Lord will appear to you and you will put your hands on His feet.

Joseph Smith Sr. was the Presiding Patriarch for the Church. After he died, Hyrum became presiding patriarch. The calling was passed from father to son. Hyrum’s descendants held the office until 1970 with Eldrid G. Smith who lived to 106 years old. He came to Fresno and did a fireside where he brought artifacts and even clothing from Joseph Smith and Hyrum, with the bullet holes. Now there are just Stake Patriarchs and no more Presiding Patriarchs.

Patriarch Wadsworth said, If yyou can find the keynote message, or central idea of your Patriarchal Blessing, it is like your life’s mission.

Each stake in the world has a patriarch. In areas where they don’t have a stake yet, only districts and branches, they don’t have patriarchs and people from there would have to travel to a stake to get a blessing. Some stakes have more than one Patriarch.

President Hinckley, when a child was very sickly. His family moved to the country for the sake of his health. The Patriarch came to his home to give him a Patriarchal Blessing and blessed him that he would speak to the world. This was before TV or internet, so he had no idea how that would be fulfilled.

David O Mckay was told he would travel the world and sit among brethren and preside.

Joseph F Smith was given his Patriarchal Blessing from his uncle, Hyrum, and was blessed that he would have the priveledge to live to an old age to do good and that he would be a mighty man in Israel. Monson was told to let the Holy Ghost be your guide. Nathan Elden Tanner got his Patriarchal Blessing from his grandfather. It was so great that he didn’t believe it. He thought his grandfather just gave him an impressive blessing because he loved him. So he got a 2^nd Patriarchal Blessing and it said the same thing.

The benefit of a Patriarchal Blessing is to know God knows you and has blessings for you.

Shorthand was invented 4 years after the first Patriarch was called. It made it way easier to write down the blessings.

President Benson said that Patriarchal Blessings are “personal scripture”.

Laurel’s son decided to write down questions he had, while he fasted before getting his Patriarchal Blessing. Every question was answered.

One sister said she got her Patriarchal Blessing when she was 14 but it got lost; there was no record of it so she had to get another one. She was glad because the Patriarchal Blessings said things that scared her. The 2^nd one said the same things as the first.

President Benson counseled that kids should get their Patriarchal Blessings in their early teens so they have direction through their teen years.

The Patriarchs can’t offer blessings to people. The people have to go to him and request it.

The difference between a Patriarchal Blessing and a father’s blessing is that the Patriarchal Blessing gives a declaration of lineage and we only get one in our life. Fathers can and should give blessings frequently; there is no quota.

All blessings are conditional on our faithfulness and the blessings extend into immortality. The Patriarch sees the big picture, not just a few years here.

The Patriarchal Blessings is like a white line in the middle of the road or like a Liahona. It keeps us on the strait and narrow but only works when we are worthy.

Patriarchal Blessings have counsel, warnings, admonitions, encouragement and assurance. They list some of our spiritual gifts. They give us an idea of our life mission – to be a peacemaker, role model, healer. Look for the central idea or message of the Patriarchal Blessing.

We can receive revelation to get the interpretation of our Patriarchal Blessings. We are each unique and each blessing is unique. God knows each one of us personally.

You can go to lds.org and copy a link to your Patriarchal Blessing to put on your phone under notes.

The Patriarchal Blessing is a letter of love written by the Savior himself, delivered by a Patriarch.