Catholic Singles

Dear Father Jim:

I hope you can help me answer a question that has been on my brother and I mind's lately. We have been searching on the Internet on how and when to use the sacrament of Holy Water, in our home. We found some information on it, but we are not sure if what we are reading is correct and if the web sites are creditable.  So I hope you can help us educate in this matter. My brother and I have not been raised in a Catholic home, so a lot of information that most people have been educated in as children have not been taught to us. We have been Catholics for about 6 years now and we love it! thank you for your time and effort in this matter.
Your sister in Christ.

That's a really interesting question.  Something that most of us "cradle Catholics" probably don't put  alot of thought into - because it's such a regular part of our faith lives, we just didn't think about it.

First off, why do Catholics use Holy Water?  The most common use is to bless ourselves and to remind us of our baptism - that in the Baptismal waters we became reborn in Christ. 

But yet, we throw Holy water on new cars, buildings, animals even...  And in these uses, people can misunderstand the purpose of Holy Water or begin to use it in superstitious ways.   

The main purpose in these cases is as a sign of purification, cleansing of sins, and as a  sign of reverence when approaching God.    So we use Holy Water to bless things, like a new car, as a way of "offering them"  to the praise and honor of God (that's why the prayer of blessing for a new car usually adds the words "may Christ be your constant companion")

Holy Water - just another beautiful tradition that we so often take for granted as Catholics!!!

God Bless!

Fr Jim