Van Slyke

Hence blessing or consecrating a thing in general or
water in particular entailed breaking Satan’s influence
over it, so that it could no longer serve as an instrument
of his hate.54 Then, by the power of Christ entrusted
to the Church, the thing blessed could be used as an
efficacious instrument for good – assuming the proper
disposition of the person who benefits from the use of
the item.

- Daniel G. Van Slyke, "The Order for Blessing Water: Past and Present," Antiphon 8, no.2 (2003), 18.

Van Slyke

One scholar of holy water, writing before Vatican
II, expressed quite a different view of the state of
creation in the following passage: “By the fall of our
first parents, the spirit of evil obtained influence not
only over man, but also over inanimate nature, whence
he is called in Scripture ‘the prince of this world’” (Jn
12:31, 14:30, 16:11). For this reason, when the Church
exorcizes some thing, “the curse put upon it is removed,
and Satan’s power over it either destroyed entirely, or
at least diminished.”

- Daniel G. Van Slyke, "The Order for Blessing Water: Past and Present," Antiphon 8, no.2 (2003), 18.

Van Slyke

(the notion) the “liturgy of the world”
could shed light on the general consensus articulated
by many theologians writing on blessings in the post-
Conciliar period: God’s creatures are blessed from their
creation; liturgical blessings are opportunities to praise
and thank God for this, and, from the pastoral
perspective, to edify those present by recalling it.

- Daniel G. Van Slyke, "The Order for Blessing Water: Past and Present," Antiphon 8, no.2 (2003), 18.

Van Slyke

What theological shifts, it may be asked, led to the new understanding that entailed the wholesale rewriting of the Ritual’s blessings? David Stosur reasons that, in the absence of sustained attention given to blessings in and of themselves, “a contemporary theology of blessings . . . must simply be extrapolated from approaches that theologians since Vatican II have taken to the sacraments and to the liturgy in general.”48 He proceeds to do this, appealing particularly to reflections on the liturgy by Otto Semmelroth, Edward Schillebeeckx, and Karl Rahner.

- Daniel G. Van Slyke, "The Order for Blessing Water: Past and Present," Antiphon 8, no.2 (2003), 18.

Dr.Van Slyke's analysis of the theological shift after the council helps me to understand which aspects of the classical theology of blessing are important.