As moved upon by the Holy Spirit, the patriarch declares by inspiration the lineage in the house of Israel of the recipient, together with such blessings, spiritual gifts, promises, advice, admonition, and warnings the patriarch feels inspired to give. The patriarchal blessing is, in essence, a prophetic blessing and utterance.
The patriarch has no blessing of his own to give. We heard Elder LeGrand Richards tell of a patriarch who once said to a woman, I have a wonderful blessing for you. But when the patriarch laid his hands on the head of the recipient, his mind went completely blank. He apologized. I was mistaken. I do not have a blessing for you. It is the Lord who has the blessing for you. The woman came back the next day, and after the patriarch had prayerfully importuned the Lord, a blessing came that mentioned many concerns known only to this good sister. All blessings come from God.
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, and lift us up when we are weak in spirit. Our testimonies can be strengthened every time we read our patriarchal blessings.
A patriarchal blessing from an ordained patriarch can give us a star to follow, which is a personal revelation from God to each individual. If we follow this star, we are less likely to stumble and be misled. Our patriarchal blessing will be an anchor to our souls, and if we are worthy, neither death nor the devil can deprive us of the blessings pronounced. They are blessings we can enjoy now and forever.
Our Heavenly Father knows His children. He knows their strengths and weaknesses. He knows their capabilities and potential. Our patriarchal blessings indicate what He expects of us and what our potential can be.
As with many other blessings, patriarchal blessings should ordinarily be requested by the one desiring the blessing. Responsibility for receiving a patriarchal blessing rests primarily on the individual when he or she has sufficient understanding of the significance of a patriarchal blessing. I encourage all members of the Church having this maturity to become worthy and obtain their blessings.
The office of patriarch is an office of the Melchizedek Priesthood. It is one of blessing, not of administration. It is a sacred and spiritual revelatory calling which usually continues for much of the patriarchs life. Our patriarchs devote themselves fully to their callings and do all they can to live in faith and worthiness so that each blessing is inspired. The patriarchs calling becomes a beautiful, sacred, spiritual, and fulfilling experience.
A blessing you can qualify to receive is your patriarchal blessing. Your parents and your bishop will know when the time is right for you to reserve it, and receive it. A patriarchal blessing contains chapters from your life’s book of possibilities. To you it will be as a lighthouse on a hill, warning of dangers, and directing you to the tranquility of safe harbors. It is a prophetic utterance from the lips of one called and ordained to provide you such a blessing.
Moderator Question: We have a question about patriarchal blessings. One youth from Utah said, "I love my patriarchal blessing. But I must admit there are times where the sacred document seems to cause more stress than comfort. There are times where I read the counsel given and wonder if I'm walking up to the promises of the blessing. In what way should I use or view my patriarchal blessing to make sure these feelings don't arise?" Elder Holland (to Elder Eyring): I've heard you on patriarchal blessings. Now, you've got to respond to that. Elder Eyring: Yeah, yeah. I shall. I got a patriarchal blessing when I was 11 years old. And I got it from a patriarch named Gaskell Romney. And he had never - I don't think he'd ever seen me before. I was in the mission field, and so I had to go to Utah to get a patriarch. That was before they had patriarchs everywhere. And so Uncle Gaskell was my grandmother's brother. And I went to Uncle Gaskell, and he put his hands on my head and began to talk about my future and began to describe it in words from 1 Corinthians, the 13th chapter. Charity, of charity. And I opened my eyes because I thought, "How does this old man, whom I've never seen before, know that since I've been a little boy, that scripture has every time" - by the way, it was before the Supreme Court said you couldn't do church things in public schools. And so we had a thing where the kids, everybody got to pick a scripture. So you had 30 kids in the class, so every 30 days it would come my turn. I always picked the same scripture - always the same. The kids must have thought -oh, I don't know what they thought. And then here's this patriarch saying, "You'll have a family someday. This is a description of what will be in that family." And so I'll tell you, the way to look at a patriarchal blessing - my suggestion is, look, it may be kind of tough. I know my wife's patriarchal blessing said, "Be careful when you go to university. Somebody's going to come after your faith. And you'd better protect yourself, and you'd better listen to your parents." So here's this patriarchal blessing. You'd say, "Oh, that's tough." Well, you know, it's a warning. Well, it turns out when she came back to where I was in Boston, and she was there for the summer, the summer that I met her, there was a guy there at Harvard who actually told people, "I'm going to get that girl. I'll get her faith." And I'm telling you, a patriarchal blessing - I would take it very, very seriously but not expect it to be comforting. It could be a warning. And I won't tell other stories. But I can tell others of being a bishop of a girl who had a disaster. And she had said that her patriarchal blessing had warned her in detail of what that was going to be, and it came. And so a patriarchal blessing is whatever the Lord wants it to be for you. But I wouldn't read it - I wouldn't read it for sweetness. I would read it for "What does God know about my life, and what can I do better?" And I would look at it that way. And it's not supposed to make you feel sweet. It's supposed to make you know what it is God has in store for you. And it's a wonderful - I'll just bear you my testimony; they're real. Gaskell Romney knew things he couldn't have known if God hadn't told him. So that's my suggestion. The patriarch is someone who God does direct, and you are wise to take whatever it - if it's a warning, take that. If it's comfort, take that. If it's direction, take that, but just - it's one of the - by the way, speaking of having a conversation with God, a patriarchal blessing comes pretty close.
By their very nature, all blessings are conditional on worthiness, regardless of whether the blessing specifically spells out the qualifications.
Only by following the counsel in a patriarchal blessing can one receive the blessings contained therein.
While a patriarchal blessing contains inspired counsel and promises, it should not be expected to answer all of the recipient’s questions or to detail all that will happen in his or her life. If the blessing does not mention an important event, such as a full-time mission or marriage, the person should not assume that he or she will not receive that opportunity.
Similarly, the recipient of the blessing should not assume that everything mentioned in it will be fulfilled in this life. A patriarchal blessing is eternal, and its promises may extend into the eternities. If one is worthy, all promises will be fulfilled in the Lord’s due time.
Be wise with what the Lord gives you. It is a trust. You would not, for example, indiscriminately share the content of your patriarchal blessing.
In the first place, a patriarchal blessing is a sacred document to the person who has received it and is never given for publication and, as all patriarchal blessings, should be kept as a private possession to the one who has received it.
As moved upon by the Holy Spirit, the patriarch declares by inspiration the lineage in the house of Israel of the recipient, together with such blessings, spiritual gifts, promises, advice, admonition, and warnings the patriarch feels inspired to give. The patriarchal blessing is, in essence, a prophetic blessing and utterance.