LITURGY LESSON: Introduction & Holy Water Font S 9

(Given: January 10, 2010, Feast of the Baptism of the Lord)

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As you heard from the pulpit or read in last week’s bulletin each of our weekend liturgies will begin with a Liturgy Lesson. These two minute explanations of some facet of our worship will set the tone for each mass and enable us to spiritually prepare for the celebration we are about to take part in.

As many of you entered through the Church doors you dipped your finger in the Holy Water font and made the Sign of the Cross. Have you ever asked why do we do that? Catholics are a people steeped in the use of sacramentals. We surround our religious faith and worship with many physical forms, Holy Water being just one of them. We use Holy Water to bless ourselves, others, and things. Blessing oneself with holy water before entering church is a way of remembering one’s baptism with a hope of purifying oneself before approaching the presence of God. For this reason, one tradition is to have the baptismal font or pool located close to the entrance of the church.

Remember when Jesus came to the rich man’s house, and at the end of the meal the host complained that Jesus consorted with a woman known as a sinner? Our Lord responded, “I came to your house and you provided me with no water for my feet. She has washed my feet with her tears.”

In the ancient Near East it was a sign of hospitality that a fountain or wash basin was situated at the door of a home or a temple so that those who wore sandals and arrived on dusty roads could wash their face, hands and feet. Since the Eucharist was celebrated in homes, this sign of hospitality was employed. And when the Catholic Church became an institution in the Mediterranean, these fonts or basins were at the doors of the churches.

To the Christian, while using these basins, it was also a reminder that you can only receive the Eucharist by going through the waters of Baptism. Gradually prayers were added to this ritual washing. However, as civilization developed, the original purpose of the fonts disappeared and what we often see in our churches are holy water fonts which got smaller and smaller and were placed off to the side.