Holy Water

Fr. Z over at What Does The Prayer Really Say? has talked extensively about the fallacy of a holy water drought during Lent. The erroneous practice feigns piety: when you walk into a church you are ripped away from your instincts and pushed into the desert which is Lent. What they forget is that holy water is just that, holy.

St. Theresa humorously recounts a story of the devil appearing to her. She made the sign of the cross in front of it, and it disappeared, but reappeared. She repeated the cross, and he disappeared momentarily again. But then she flung some holy water at him, and he disappeared for good.

Not that we have to worry about demonic apparitions... the point is that blessed objects, whatever they may be, are of a spiritual importance over everyday things. Holy water bears the mark of God. We can hardly give up God's blessings during Lent.

We could hardly give up the Eucharist for Lent. The Church, in Her infinite wisdom, takes away The Blessed Eucharist but 3 days a year. How could man survive without this Source of Life! We stand in complete need of God at all times, utterly unable to go at the world by ourselves. Taking away holy water during Lent takes away that very efficacious way of obtaining God's assistance. To remove it during Lent speaks more of our pride and supposed self-sufficiency than our piety.