When I was Roman it was often stressed that the ordained were the ones to give blessings, not the laity. However I've noticed among Eastern Christians that they seem to believe they can give certain blessings. Do I have this all mixed up or no? I understand it seems to be more of a permission thing, and the closer something pertains to liturgical and sacramental life the more reserved it is... so is it just that Eastern laity are permitted to do more, or are our blessings merely invocative instead of direct like I've seen some Romans say?

I sound really Western right now, don't I?

It depends one what blessings are being given. The laity may for example bless their children when leaving home, or going to bed for the night. This is done by tracing the sign of the cross over their foreheads, or heads. Latin Deacons priests and bishops given blessings with their open hand over people, or objects. Various Eastern Church priests and bishops do the same, while their deacons do not do this at all. I think it is safe to say that no one is doing anything strange at all in either the Latin, or Eastern church traditions.

HeavenlyBlack:

Please don't obsess about this sort of thing. It used to be a Latin Catholic custom to bless one's children as Pavel mentions before putting them to bed and as they left home for school for the day. Some of these simple home customs have simply died out as Catholics in the United States sought to be assimilated and be like everyone else--who didn't do this sort of thing. My great grandmother did this every night that I stayed with her as a youngster; my grandmother and mother didn't. As part of Christ, it isn't unusual to call down a blessing on others: many people still do it when others sneeze, for example. I traced a cross on the forehead of my daughter as I left her at the altar when she was married. She treasures a picture of it. I also turned to my son-in-law and asked God to bless him, too.

Bob

As I go to work @ DFW Airport & approach either the north or south entrance, I wave the sign of the Cross in the air in the direction of the airport campus, asking the Lord to bless it and make it a place of safety and security; of grace and graciousness. I call down the Lord's blessing as best I can on the entire terrain: the runways, the roads, the terminals and parking garages; down onto the flight and ground crews; onto the passengers coming or going (especially the ones travelling for malicious motives or those who travel for good motives, or the ones who are in distress or are profoundly confused, or the non-Christian ones), whether by land or by air; on the firefighters, paramedics, police officers and my beloved co-workers in U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

What I do don't hurt nothin'. I hope it helps.