More Questions

Still haven't got a grasp on the Eucharist.

Don't worry. It's a mystery. Pray for the grace to understand.

I have lot's of other questions. Let me start at the beginning. Why did you and everybody else, stick your fingers in that dirty water and make the sign of the cross?

Well...in the first place, it's not dirty water; it's called holy water. We don't drink it. Don't worry. Catholics dip the tips of their fingers in it, and bless themselves by making the sign of the cross, i.e.," In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen" This is a prayer. The holy water is changed often. A drop of bleach may be added for cleaning the font. Sometimes a font will have a liner that is changed often. But in any case, like I said, no one drinks it.

This prayer is called "The sign of the cross." It's so easy to learn and the gestures make a cross to reinforce that it was our Trinitarian God who died on the cross for us.

You may wonder why or what the symbolism is. Water has always been a sign of cleansing. Many Old Testament references a cleansing with water. Other religions also have some sort of cleansing ritual. The Bible is full of them. (Ex 14:15-22, Ex 17:6-7, Josh 3:14-17, Ezek 47: 1-12, Mt 3:13-17, Jn 5:1-9, Jn 19:34, Jn 3:5) So it isn't surprising that in our Baptism, we use water to cleanse ourselves of Original Sin. Hence, when a Catholic enters the Church, you'll see him remind himself of his Baptism, by dipping his hands in holy water, and saying a prayer--the Sign of the Cross.

What makes it holy? The priest boils the hell out of it--just kidding. A priest will bless it. That's it. I've seen people touch their fingers in the holy water, then touch their child's fingers, so the child can then bless himself with holy water.

Some people have small fonts at home, so that they can bless the family as they leave the home. Kinda beautiful, huh?

This holy water is called a "sacramental." The catechism definition of a sacramental is "every baptized person is called to be a blessing and to bless...Sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the same way the Sacraments do but by the Church's prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it...They include blessings of persons, meals, objects and places." (Catechism verse 1669-71).

IOW, a sacramental is a reminder of something important. You've seen TV Healers put oil on people's hands to heal them. This would be considered a sacramental. A prayer shawl one puts on to pray, too. See--something to remind you of something important.

Ah! You got it.