Ping!
If a fly lands in Holy water, is the water contaminated or is the fly sanctified?
I like Father Saunders. His RCIA classes are online.
I have never understood the idea of blessing ourselves with Holy Water on exiting the Church after receiving the Eucharist. sure we can all use an extra blessing, but you have just received the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Our Lord.
Vidi Aquam
I saw water coming forth from the temple
on the right side, alleluia:
and all those to whom this water came
were saved, and shall say, alleluia, alleluia.
Words fail me ...
Well, no they don't ...
Jude 10 But these men revile the things which they do not understand;
The Protestant is likely to shoot back that by that logic, Catholics should not be eating pork either.
Because Holy Jell-O can leave a stain.
If ... the basis for the (explanation for the) use of holy water and founts is the OT practice(s) of cleansing, why then would it be explained as, “... a sign of repentance of sin, for protection from evil, and as a reminder of our Baptism.”,.. none of which have anything to do with cleansing ?
I got some great spiritual use out of a holy water bottle, even if it didn’t have holy water in it.
A group of goth kids had fallen under the sway of an older teen with aspersions of being a Satanist and a sort-of vampire wannabee. And he kept goading them to do bad things to themselves and others, which I found to be annoying and distasteful.
At one point, I decided to put a kink in his hose, so I showed his followers the small plastic bottle labeled “Holy Water” and gave a background that it had been blessed by a strong young Priest, and how it was good at dispelling evil.
Well, the blowhard took this as a challenge, so said that the evil of his Satanic lord was stronger than holy water, and yada yada. Basically inviting me to splash him with it.
So I did.
He even acted like it hurt for a second or two before boldly showing his followers that he was undamaged, and laughing.
And then the capsicum oil kicked in.
As an old country fellow once observed, “It smorts!”
Well, after about 10 seconds of agony, he ran off into the nigh, screaming, leaving his followers wondering what the heck they just saw.
Hopefully they might have learned a lesson about good v. evil. For his part, I bet he got a *devilish* rash.
-— I often experience that there is nothing the devils flee from more — without returning — than holy water” -—
Mother Angelica told a story of a nun who was working at a hospital. She habitually sprinkled patients’ food with holy water. One particularly obnoxious patient reacted to it like it was Kryptonite.
That ritual washing with water that is referred to is John's baptism...And it was symbolic as the article states...
When I was in 5th grade the Priest came back from Lourdes with the Holy Water from it. He blessed the whole class with it. The droplets that hit my skin made it new skin. Only where it hit. I will never forget it. Very profound.