Holy Water for Personal Use
Where to get it
To get holy water to use in your home, bring a clean flask to your
parish church and look for a faucet that will probably be labelled "Holy
Water." If there is no faucet, it might be kept in an urn
of some sort. If you can't find it, don't be shy; just ask! Unlike
votive candles, there is no real cost to the church in making holy
water, so there is no offering expected.
How to use it
You can keep it in decorative bottles for
storage at home or in little flasks, made for this purpose, to
carry with you. Most Catholics keep at least some in holy water
fonts.
Holy water fonts for the home come in all sizes and shapes, some
tacky and plastic, others quite lovely and made of alabaster, marble,
porcelain, sandstone, or metals -- as inexpensive or as expensive
as you like -- some resting on tables, most hanging on walls (one
example is shown at right). You can buy one from most Catholic
gift shops or make your own (consider using bivalve seashells as
basins, or the shell motif in design. The seashell is a very ancient
symbol of Baptism, and the shells of
large molluscs -- weighing up to 500 pounds -- have been used in
churches as basins for holy water). Tip: putting a thin sponge
inside the font is said to make the water evaporate less quickly.
Catholics often keep a font near their front door, in their bedrooms'
doorways, and near the family altar. Use the water in the same
way you do at church, dipping your fingers into it and making the
Sign of the Cross. Bless your children with it as you tuck them
in at night, using your thumb to sign them with a cross of holy
water on their foreheads.
Most Catholics pray "In the Name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost" when blessing themselves with
Holy Water, but this is another beautiful prayer:
By Thy Precious Blood and by this Holy Water, cleanse
me (him/her) from my (his/her) sins, O Lord.
Another use of holy water is to give tiny sips to the sick or
spiritually oppressed. It shouldn't be consumed as a beverage,
mind you, but the ingestion of small amounts, or adding a few drops
to foods, is common.
How to dispose of
Holy water is usually made with a touch of salt which is a preservative,
but if your holy water were to go a little, um, green, the proper
way to dispose of it is the same as for
any sacramental: you want to return it to the earthly elements.
You should dig a hole and pour it into the earth.
Written by Tracy Tucciarone López
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