The word blessing is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word for blood—bledsian—and contains in its meaning the idea that there is no great blessing without sacrifice, and perhaps vice versa. The association may date to the ritual sacrifices of pre-Christian Europe as well as the hallowing of ground through combat. “We cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow this ground,” as Abraham Lincoln observed on the battlefields of Gettysburg in 1863. “The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.” The ultimate struggle, of
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