Much like when you sneeze from a reaction to something uncontrollably we say "god bless" to protect from evil spirits through someones passing (sneezing our heart stops briefly) "thus we commend their souls to God even as we wash our hands of them"...this also can account for many other things like serial killers put on death row "society washing our hands of them" and saying god bless to keep evil spirits from taking their soul and using it for more evil.
Much like when you sneeze from a reaction to something uncontrollably we say "god bless" to protect from evil spirits through someones passing (sneezing our heart stops briefly) "thus we commend their souls to God even as we wash our hands of them"...this also can account for many other things like serial killers put on death row "society washing our hands of them" and saying god bless to keep evil spirits from taking their soul and using it for more evil.