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I've recently undertaken to expand and enrich my vocabulary, but the word "benediction" has me stumped. I believe I have a good sense of the denotative meaning, but the connotative meaning has my brain in knots. I recognise there are many possible figurative usages, so I've chosen light as an example. What is meant when light is said to be like a benediction?

Definition

Merriam-Webster has this for benediction:

  1. The invocation of blessing (a prayer). Especially one with which public worship is concluded.
  2. Something that promotes goodness or well-being.
  3. A Roman Catholic or Anglo-Catholic devotion.
  4. An expression of good wishes.

Collins COBUILD has the following:

  1. You can refer to something that makes people feel protected and at peace as a benediction.

So, light which is like a benediction promotes goodness and well-being and makes people feel protected and at peace. Unfortunately, I'm struggling to apply that to the sentences I read.

I would therefore like some help in understanding:

  1. What a benediction is (figuratively).
  2. The qualities of something (e.g. light) that are like a benediction.

Examples

A few eclectic examples of the kinds of sentences I'm having trouble with.

The yellow Spring sun, like liquid honey, fell in benediction on the leafless trees, big with buds, and on the tawny mat of grass through which the blue noses of anemones were sticking.

I can't quite make the link with the definition here. Is the light falling on the trees a benediction, in the sense that they will thus reclothe themselves in leaves? Or is the golden light reflecting on the leaves simply beautiful, or peaceful?

I sat there in the sunshine, notebook open, trying to put words to the colours of that rainbow, trying to come up with a description for how the light seemed to pour over the land like a benediction. How could something as simple as a spear of light bring such feelings of hope and optimism, when moments earlier there had been only gloom and fog?

Is it the image of the vista–the awe and beauty beheld in how the light interacts with the land? Or the experience of a miserable landscape that suddenly and unexpectedly reveals its beauty as light bursts through the clouds? Or simply that which inspired hope and optimism?

Little light managed to reach the jungle floor... She felt small and trapped, as if the jungle could swallow her... From the hidden sun, a single beam of light bled through the treetops, falling on her hand like a benediction. ... That one thread of light in the jungle darkness reassured her.

This one I can grasp: the light was something welcoming, perhaps a gift from the heavens, that provided reassurance—a sense of protection.

But I'm struggling to connect the dots with the others. I'm sure I must be missing something obvious, but any help in shedding some light on this would be a blessing!

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  • A sunny day can be a blessing, but you cannot connect all definitions to each use of benediction.
    – Yosef Baskin
    Commented Nov 14, 2022 at 5:25
  • Thank you for the feedback, Yosef. I should have clarified in my question that I'm not trying to rigidly tie individual uses to particular dictionary definitions. I'm looking for a pattern or shared characteristics.
    – A.L. Ion
    Commented Nov 14, 2022 at 7:36
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    I colloquially read all of those examples to be saying that light is like a blessing on the land, probably because it is often used as a symbol of the Christian God's grace shining down from the heavens. You've written a great question for a new contributor, though, so thanks for the extra research and work you put into this question!
    – saritonin
    Commented Nov 14, 2022 at 8:02
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    @saritonin - Why only the 'Christian' God? We Christians worship the same God as Jews and Muslims! A.L. Ion - I would say that your quotations reference either or both of the first two definitions.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Nov 14, 2022 at 9:15
  • @KateBunting Good point, I used it as a shorthand for "monotheistic western world supreme being entity" which didn't exactly flow.
    – saritonin
    Commented Nov 14, 2022 at 9:26

1 Answer 1

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Benediction (Wiktionary) Help, good fortune or reward from God or another supernatural source.

Absence of light is darkness. If light falls or shines, the darkness vanishes. In that way light is blessing.

That this is a blessing and should be considered as such, is etched in the first few pages of scriptures (judeo-christian). Old testament: Genesis 1:3: "Let there be light". Link biblehub.com and link wikipedia.

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