You are welcome to bring your own container to fill or to take a bottle already filled.  The holy water font is located in the vestibule (back of church) to your left.  We are grateful to have this sacramental made available to us!  Here is a great article to read about the importance of sacramentals in our Church!

 

What Are Sacramentals?

EDDIE O'NEILL

Our Sunday Visitor

6 MIN READ

While they are similar in name, sacraments and sacramentals have a unique and distinct role in the life of the Catholic Church. Sacraments are outward signs that give grace to those who receive them in a worthy manner.

Sacramentals, on the other hand, “are sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments. They signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature, which are obtained through the intercession of the Church. By them, men are disposed to receive the chief effect of the sacraments, and various occasions in life are rendered holy” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1667).

Blessings Come First

Sacramentals are often a stumbling block for non-Catholics who don’t understand their need or person. For instance, before his conversion to Catholicism, Dr. Scott Hahn was a staunch anti-Catholic Presbyterian minister. In his talks, Hahn often tells the story of how he discovered his grandmother’s rosary. His grandmother had just died and Hahn relates that he ripped the rosary beads to pieces pleading to God to set her free from the chains of Catholicism that had kept her bound.

Today, the internationally recognized Catholic author and speaker couldn’t be more of a supporter of the Blessed Virgin Mary and promoter of the Rosary.

When it comes to prioritizing sacramentals, the Church emphasizes the importance of blessings.

“Among sacramentals blessings (of persons, meals, objects, and places) come first. Every blessing praises God and prays for his gifts. In Christ, Christians are blessed by God the Father ‘with every spiritual blessing’” (Catechism, No. 1671).

Blessings of priests and bishops have the power, so to speak, to turn objects such as a new rosary or statue into a sacramental. While the laity can bless, their blessings are more of a prayer or a plea to God.

For example, the blessing at meals is a chance to offer God a prayer of praise and thanksgiving. It makes holy the mere need for nutrition and is a reminder of the most blessed meal, the Eucharist. In a similar manner, a parent’s blessing of their children serves as a petition to God to keep their kids safe from all evil.

Interestingly, exorcism is a sacramental. It takes place when the Church asks publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion.

Exorcisms may either be minor, also called simple exorcisms, or major, called solemn exorcisms. Minor exorcisms occur in the Rite of Baptism and during the RCIA process, where candidates are asked to rebuke Satan and all his evil ways. Thus if you have been baptized you have been part of an exorcism. A major exorcism, which attracts much attention and curiosity, is directed at the expulsion of demons or freedom from demonic possession through the spiritual authority which Jesus entrusted to his Church (see Catechism, No. 1673). Often used in a major exorcism are the sacramentals of holy water, blessed salt and a crucifix.

 

 

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