The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-11-18
HOLY WATER.
A Fountain of Relief For the Poor
Souls.

Holy water, used with faith and
confidence, has always great effect for
the good of soul and body and affords
marvellous assistance to the souls in
Purgatory, says the English Messen-
ger of the Sacred Heart
The priest blesses water in the
name and as the representative of
the Church, whose prayer our Divine
Saviour always receives willingly and
always answers at once-no matter
for whom Holy Church prays.
Therefore, when we take holy water
and sprinkle it on ourselves or on
others, present or absent, the prayer
of the Church uttered by the priest
in the blessing of holy water ascends
anew to heaven, drawing thence the
graces and blessings for body and soul
implored by the Church in that bless
ing. For instance, such sprinkling dis
pels the power of evil spirits.
But what is the explanation of this
power which we claim of sprinkling
ESQ to speak, even distant persons and
the poor souls, to their advantage? !
The explanation is contained in what
has just been said. The prayer of the
Church fastened, so to say, to the holy
water, ascends to the Divine Heart,
placing under it's protection the bodies
and souls of those for whom the
Church has prayed in her blessing of
the holy water The same thing takes
place when one uses holy water for
the poor souls. How much refresh
ment, therefore, can a suffering soul
receive through but one drop of holy
water, sprinkled for it's sake by a.
member of the Church! Such a drop
of holy water may have, and mostly
has, much more efficacy than a long
private prayer.
For the Church does not assume our
private prayers as her own; more
over, they are often tepid and dis
tracted. But with the prayer of the
Church linked on to the holy water
the case is different. This prayer is
pleasing to our Divine Lord at all
times and in all places, whatsoever
and wheresoever and from whomso-
ever it may be offered ITO Him, for
spotless bride, the Church. On this ac-
count the poor souls long most inten-
sely for holy water, and if we could
see how they thirst for it, and the re-
lief which it brings from the Church
militant to them as the Church suffer
ing, we should endeavor to give them
this alienation at least each morning
and each night.
The poor souls are not ungrateful.
In the same moment that we sprinkled
for them the water blessed by the
Church they will pray for us with
more fervor than it would be possible
for the hottest on earth to do.
Yes, a Christian should never leave
his room for any length of time with
water, one for himself and all belong
ing to him, that our Lord may pre-
serve them from every danger to soul
and body; second for the dying, es-
pecially dying siRners, that God may
give them, even in their last hour.
the grace of conversion, and lastly the
third, for the poor souls.
Oh, how many blessings and favors,
how much merit and grace for you
and yours and numberless others
would in single year be gained by
this little practice, and what number
of intercessors for life, for death and
for Purgatory you would have made
for yourself through it!
The doctrinal basis of this practice
is that holy water is sacramental
and that the inward grace Of which
it is the outward sign has been OBJ
tanned, through the infinite merits OF
Jesus Christ, by the prayers and bless
ings of His bride, the Church. MOI
is it a new practice. From time i'm
memorial Christian mourners have
sprinkled holy water over dead bodies
and on the graves of deceased rela
tives for the benefit of their departed
souls.