Need A Blessing?

When a stranger suddenly sneezed when I was standing in front of her in the check out line at a grocery store, I responded by saying, “Bless you.”

She nodded and said, “Thank you. I needed a blessing.”

Her response amused me, and as I thought about this encounter later in the day, I was curious why we say, “God bless you,” or “Bless you,” when a person sneezes.

Naturally, that led me to do a little research on it, and I discovered this practice started during the Bubonic Plaque in Euro...