Holy Water & The Catholic Church
Holy water can be found at the entrances to Catholic churches everywhere, including that of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It even appears in small fonts and bottles in people’s homes. The faithful instinctively bless themselves with it as they pass, making the sign of the cross. Where do these customs come from, and what is their importance?
What is a Sacramental?
Holy water is simply water that has been blessed. It belongs to the category of sacramentals, “sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments” (Catechism §1667, quoting Sacrosanctum Concilium) and which the Catholic Church has instituted to help her children sanctify their daily lives. The Catechism goes on to explain the relationship between sacramentals and grace: “Sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the Church’s prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it” (CCC §1670).
Reminder of Baptism
Holy water is a reminder of Baptism (CCC §1669), our gateway to the life of grace. This makes it especially appropriate to keep and use at the entrances to holy places; one applies holy water on entering the church, and recalls Baptism by which one entered God’s family. Water has a long Scriptural history as a symbol of renewed life: the Spirit breathing over the waters of creation; Noah’s Ark coming forth from the flood; the crossing of the Red Sea and the Jordan River; and finally the Baptism of Jesus (§CCC 1217-1225). A form of blessed water is even mentioned in the Mosaic law, mixed with dust from the tabernacle (Num 5:17), much as present-day holy water may be mixed with blessed salt.
Divine Protection
This rich symbolism in salvation history is why sprinkling holy water is an especially fitting way to invoke divine blessing and protection, and is used for everything from house blessings to exorcisms. St. Teresa of Avila, who had many mystical experiences, is often quoted as saying, “I often experience that there is nothing the devils flee from more, without returning, than holy water.” Catholic Answers lists several other benefits of holy water, including defense against temptations, removal of venial sins, and even bodily health if God wills. Holy water is not magic; rather, God works in human life through material means, as He did in the Incarnation.
Sanctifying Your Daily Life
Holy water can be an aid to devotions in the home or even while traveling. Some churches, like Our Lady’s Shrine, provide large dispensers of holy water, enabling the faithful to fill bottles to take with them. Pilgrims to the Shrine who wish to bring back some ways of sanctifying their daily life may find holy water a simple and effective means to that end. The heavenly presence that so many encounter daily at the Shrine is not confined to certain places—though those places can help one to experience it—but extends throughout our lives. The great gift of sacramentals, including holy water, is in how they help to bring the heavenly into every little detail of life.
Bring holy water with you.
