Walk into any Roman Catholic church in the world, and just beside the door will be a pedestal on which is placed a bowl containing holy water. By habit, everyone entering or leaving the church dips his or her fingers into the
In chapter 31 of her autobiography, the 16th- century Carmelite St. Teresa of Avila -- one of four female doctors of the church, including her spiritual daughter, St. Thérèse of Lisieux -- urges us toward frequent use of one particular, very common
A reader asks: “I bought a 14kt medal and would like to bless it. I don’t have anywhere to go, so I bought some blessed and consecrated water online, so hopefully I can do it myself. I was also sent a prayer
In the Pastoral Answers column this week, a reader asks, “I can’t understand the passage where St. Paul says in the book of Colossians, ‘In my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of
While holy water often is used to bless people and items, it is not required for the blessing to occur
Question: During a homily about doing battle against the devil, a priest said that the greatest weapons were the sacraments, St. Michael, the Blessed Mother, holy water and blessed salt. He said to make sure it was blessed with the traditional blessing