Fique com Deus

Fique com Deus is the Portuguese equivalent to the English "God bless." I was reflecting the other day on the grammatical difference in these semi-equivalent phrases. It's traditional in English-speaking countries to bid farewell to a friend or stranger, asking that God bless them. "God bless." Indeed, this is a blessing, as we ask God to show his abundant graces on them. Fique com Deus is literally translated as "stay with God." In some ways I like that better because it places the onus on us and not on God. Instead of invoking God's blessings, we are exhorting the other individual to remain in God's good graces. God never leaves us or stops showering his graces on us. All too often we remove ourselves from his presence, we leave him, we distance ourselves through our words and our actions. May we all speak these words to each other: Stay with God.