Ever wonder why holy water is so widely used in parishes around the world? Find out here.
Holy water is so customary for Catholics that we sometimes don’t question why the Church uses it or the significance behind it. We most commonly use holy water when we walk into church and dip our fingers into a font to bless ourselves.
So what does holy water actually do, and why is it important?
Holy water is one of the Church’s most essential sacramentals. It’s blessed by God through a priest, with a rite of blessing that includes prayers of exorcism. This blessing elevates the water to a sacramental that helps us receive God’s grace when used faithfully. Not only is holy water used to give grace to God’s children, it is also used to help defend us in spiritual warfare.
Because of its power, holy water is used in almost every sacrament. For instance, in the Sacrament of Baptism, the priest pours holy water over an infant’s or new convert’s head. Holy water is also used for Anointing of the Sick. In weddings, the priest uses holy water to bless the couple’s rings. At funerals, the priest sprinkles holy water over the deceased person’s coffin.
So how can we truly appreciate holy water and enjoy the benefits of it? By incorporating it into our daily lives.
In addition to using holy water to bless ourselves when we enter a parish, we should also use it to bless our homes, our families, our work spaces, and anything that you use with the goal of glorifying God in your daily life.
Our final destiny as sons and daughters of God is bound up with that of the angels. Our world is full of their presence and activity. That is why we ought to know foundational truths about them.
Anything that we know about angels outside of Sacred Scripture is taken from the Church Fathers and Doctors (some of whom were privileged to interact with angels) as well as from the lives of the saints.
Here are twenty-five facts you may not know about God’s holy angels.
1. Angels aren’t male or female.
They are purely spiritual beings. Since they do not have material bodies, they are neither male nor female. However: since the dawn of time, angels have chosen to present themselves in masculine form, likely in honor of God, who has revealed Himself as Father, and God the Son, who became man for our sake. Opus Sanctorum Angelorum reminds us that “Even when they are not explicitly called men, [angels] appear as magnificent, intimidating, and powerful persons—qualities that we associate normally with masculinity.”
Therefore, out of respect, we refer to all angels as “he.”
2. Angels have an intellect and a will, just like us.
Unlike us, angels have made their permanent choice to serve God and—now that they see God face to face—can never sin.
3. God created the vast number and hierarchy of angels in a single instant.
Angels weren’t born. They were made.
4. The angels are ordered into nine “choirs” and are ranked according to their natural intelligence, which vastly exceeds human intelligence.
There is a real angelic hierarchy. Some angels have greater knowledge than others; each choir of angels has unique roles.
5. The angel who was originally created with the highest natural intelligence is Lucifer (Satan).
Lucifer was created good and is believed to have been in the first set of angelic choirs—the choir of Cherubim. He then chose to reject God. “Non serviam!” (“I will not serve!”) is his cry of rebellion.
6. Each individual angel has its own unique essence and is therefore a distinct species, as different from one another as trees, cows, and bees.
No two angels are the same. Their uniqueness is another reflection of the creativity and glory of God.
7. Angels have personalities that differ from one another, just as humans do.
Angels are persons. Each has a unique personality.
8. Angels are infused with a perfect knowledge of all created things, including human nature.
We are not mysteries to the angels. They know far more about us than we do ourselves!
9. Angels cannot predict the future.
Angels do not know particular events that will occur in history, unless God wills that knowledge for a particular angel.
10. Angels do not know what graces God will give to certain humans; they can only infer it by observing the effects.
They are excellent observers, by the way.
11. Each angel was created for a specific task or mission.
They received instantaneous knowledge of this mission at the moment of their creation.
12. At the moment of their creation angels freely chose whether to accept or reject their mission, a choice forever locked into their will without remorse.
The fact that the angels were given one opportunity to make a choice with everlasting consequences may seem strangely unjust to us. But this is a misplaced compassion, arising from misunderstanding.
Our own human experience of thinking—with our mental processing, struggle to collect necessary information, uncertainty of consequence, and regret for negative results—is a foreign experience to the angels. Angels do not struggle to reason through a situation. “The human intellectual process is one of trial and error,” writes Fr. Horgan in his book His Angels at Our Side. “The angels don’t have to go through this process. With them, there are no trials because there are no errors…”
When Satan and his companions made their choice, for example, they were not suffering from lack of understanding, bad education, interior wounds inflicted by others, or an intellect darkened by human sin. They were created in perfection, lacking nothing. They were gifted with perfect knowledge and understanding and “knew better”—and made an evil decision anyway. Fallen angels have no desire to repent of what they have done.
13. Each human being from the moment of their conception has a Guardian Angel assigned to them by God to lead them to salvation.
Furthermore, your guardian angel freely chose to accept you into their charge.
14. Human beings do not become angels when they die.
Instead, the saints in heaven will take the positions of the fallen angels who forfeited their place in heaven.
15. Angels communicate with one another by passing concepts from mind to mind.
The higher-intelligenced angels can share their knowledge with angels from the lower choirs.
16. Angels don’t have emotions in the same way that we do.
However, they do experience intense movements in their will that are similar to human emotions.
17. Angels are far more active in the life of humans than we realize.
So are demons—which is why we need to stay close to the Sacraments, maintain a consistent prayer life, and foster devotion to our guardian angels.
18. God determines when and how angels can communicate with humans.
The angels rejoice to obey Him.
19. Good angels help us to act in accord with our created nature as rational human beings.
Fallen angels do the opposite. They want us to act against our nature as rational human beings. They love irrationality.
20. Angels don’t move from location to location.
Angels do not move as we “move” as we do, since they are not material beings with material boundaries and limitations. Rather than physically running from place to place, as we must, they are present wherever their will is acting. Their presence, then, can be instantaneous.
21. Angels can prompt and guide the thoughts of humans.
However, they cannot violate our free will.
The Archangel Michael reaching to free souls from Purgatory, by Jacopo Vignali, 17th century
22. Angels can take information from your memory and bring an image into your mind in order to influence you.
Remember that they would only do this in accordance with God’s will. He would have a particular reason for allowing this—and it’s not going to happen every day.
23. Good angels bring to mind imagery that helps us do the right thing according to God’s will.
Fallen angels do the opposite. They try to bring images to our minds that dissuade us from God’s will.
24. The degree and kind of temptation from fallen angels is determined by God according to what is necessary for our salvation.
And as the Bible tells us, “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
25. Angels don’t know what is happening in your intellect and will, but they can surmise it by watching our reactions, behavior, etc.
St. Thomas and St. Augustine tell us that angels can “sometimes with the greatest faculty learn man’s dispositions, not only when expressed by speech, but even when conceived in thought, when the soul expresses them by certain signs in the body.”
Conclusion
Scripture tells us that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses (Heb. 12:1) and suggests that we may be unaware of how angels are interacting with us at times (Heb. 13:2). Knowing these few facts about the angels and how they work can help us be more aware of their influence over our lives.
Although we will never fully comprehend angels in this life, the teaching provided by the Church, Sacred Scripture, and the encounters of the saints has given us much to contemplate.
Have you ever doubted the existence of Purgatory because you’ve been told it’s not in Scripture? Well, Purgatory is in the Bible, and here’s where to find it.
“How can Catholics believe in Purgatory? Is that even in the Bible?”
Like the word “Trinity,” the word “Purgatory” is not in the Bible. However, the Bible emphasizes that we need to be perfectly pure, without a single blemish, to enter God’s kingdom.
Revelation 21:27 states, “But nothing unclean shall enter Heaven.” In 1 Corinthians 3:15, St. Paul writes, “If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but as only through fire.”
According to Dr. Gerard Verschuuren in his book, Forty Anti-Catholic Lies, “For most of us, the transition from a life on earth to a life in Heaven would be… so shocking that we would need some extra preparation time, as nothing unclean can enter the presence of God.”
Indeed, Scripture supports the existence of Purgatory and the fact that we need to go to Purgatory before we enter Heaven.
I’ve often viewed love as a two-way street. We share love through words of affirmation, supportive actions, and simply being present. And we can receive love in the same ways.
What I also realize is that love does not have to be a two-way street. Sometimes love flows one way with the sender giving love and the recipient receiving. In these instances there is no reciprocity.
While most of us would likely prefer, and even say we abide by the two-way street kind of love, what is more likely is that we alternate between the two. There are moments in life when we find ease in giving love to others, and even receiving. We accept God’s love, and reciprocate by giving thanks, giving praise, maybe finding ways to serve Him. And we do the same with our loved ones. They find ways to show love to us and we can’t help but want to give some in return.
But then there are those moments when we find ourselves on the one-way street, and not as the sender of love, but as the recipient. God, or someone else shows love and we don’t want to give any back. Sometimes we don’t even express gratitude. Maybe we don’t recognize we are being loved, or maybe we don’t care.
What makes these one-way streets even worse is when we decide to put up some sort of blockade. We separate ourselves from those trying to love us saying in effect, I don’t want any. How many times have we done this after a verbal spat with a loved one? How many times have we done this with God, choosing sin over His commandments?
Why We Sometimes Avoid What Matters Most
From time to time we need to be able to ask the question — am I blocking myself from love?
Love from God, love from others. If so, what can we do to change that?
During a time in America where people seek division before they seek connection, this is a good question to ask yourself. God did not intend for all of humanity to dislike one another. He did not request that we divide ourselves based on skin color, religion, or political parties. In fact, Jesus laid down two important truths for us. He identified the two greatest commandments and they both deal with love.
“He said to him, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22:37-39)
If we know then that love matters most, why do we at times find ourselves blocking love from entering our lives?
There are a number of different reasons why from time to time we find ourselves blocking the love of God and other people. There may be one reason or multiple. Surely the more aware of these issues we can be as Christians, the stronger our faith will become. Not only will we then strengthen our connection to God, but also others. With spiritual growth we will serve as stronger role-models for our fellow Christians and show unbelievers what our faith is all about.
Finding the root to our block can be difficult though. Here are a few ideas to consider.
“Pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18)
When we choose pride over humility, we take a stance of pretending to be more self-sufficient than we are capable of as humans. Instead of recognizing good moments in life as God’s blessings, we treat them as our own individual triumphs. Yet, who are we without the loving, forgiving, and all-knowing Father?
Pride blocks us from love by making us think we can go through life on our own, but that is far from the truth. We need each other, and we need God.
2. Greed
“A greedy person stirs up conflict, but whoever trusts in the Lord will prosper.” (Proverbs 28:25)
Similar to pride, when we find ourselves giving in to greed, we take instead of give. In fact, all we want to do is take, take from God, take from others. We maintain clenched fists instead of open palms. Taking this approach in life prevents God from using us to spread His love.
If love is to be a two-way street, we can’t just take. We should also strive to give.
3. Isolation
“One who isolates himself pursues selfish desires; he rebels against all sound wisdom.” (Proverbs 18:1)
Just as Adam was made from the earth in Genesis, God also brought him a companion. We need companions in our lives too, whether in the form of family, friends, a partner. When we live isolated lives, keeping to our islands, we stop others from loving us. We shield ourselves from any vulnerability and therefore any potential relationship.
Opening Yourself Up to Love
The only way to overcome these problematic areas of our life is to increase self-awareness. We can achieve this through a number of different ways. Here are a few.
1. Prayer
“Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in everything; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
The more we pray and talk to God, the greater we sustain a relationship with him. While He wants a relationship with us, how we respond to Him is our own choice. Choosing to pray to God constantly is like choosing to constantly communicate with a family member or a friend. You nurture any relationship by what you put into it.
When we nurture our relationship with God, we experience His love more, but also return some of that love.
2. Reading Scripture
“All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16)
Reading God’s Word steeps us in the wisdom that comes from the one who is love. We need his wisdom and insight to grow in what it means to truly be loved. We can’t fully love others if we don’t know what it means to be fully loved ourselves. And as God’s Word reveals, God sees something worth loving in us.
With greater wisdom, we will be more aware of the problem areas in our lives that draw us away from love. With greater self-awareness we can take appropriate steps to changing our behaviors, and start recognizing ways to let love in.
3. Community
“Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another.” (Proverbs 27:17)
Change is doable when we are by ourselves, but is so much more possible in a community of other believers. When we find others who can encourage us, we can also rely on them as resources of advice and accountability. Knowing we are not alone offers a reminder that love is not just something to receive, but something to give.
These are but a few ways to recognize how we block ourselves from love. The greater love we can both share and receive, the closer we will come to fulfilling the two greatest commandments.
“He shall bring forth justice to the nations. But he will not cry out or make his voice heard in the street…until he establishes justice on the earth…. I, the Lord, have called you for the victory of justice…to open the eyes of the blind, and to bring out prisoners from confinement.” —Isaiah 42:1–2, 4, 7
In Isaiah we have the first of the rightly named “Servant Songs,” which will continue throughout the week. In these four accounts hidden away in Isaiah, one either sees a foretelling of Jesus in brilliant analysis, or one wonders if Jesus was “modeled” to fit these lovely descriptions. The correlation is uncanny, at any rate. In the Gospel from John we have a woman acting as the “servant” to Jesus. (Maybe this is the connection?) We have Mary of Bethany again taking the fervent disciple’s role instead of the hostess role of Martha. She anoints Jesus’ feet with expensive nard, which is the anointing oil for death. My interpretation of this from all three varied Gospel accounts is that Mary is accepting the inevitability and necessity of death for Jesus (which Peter and the male inner circle cannot do!). “The whole house is filled with the fragrance.” Judas is the spokesman in the story, and he pretends to prefer the poor to a simple act of love. That is the clear point. It is forever a judgment on what we might now call “ideology on the left,” a good balance after the text has heavily criticized the ideology of religious zealots and Pharisees on the “right.” Jesus’ response appears to be directly from Deuteronomy: “There will always be poor in the land. I command you therefore, always be open-handed with anyone in the country who is in need or is poor” (15:11). Unfortunately, only the first phrase is quoted in the Gospel text, with the sad result that people have used this story to teach that religious piety is more important than social justice. As Paul will insightfully say later, “If I give away all that I possess, piece by piece, or even if I give away my body to be burned, but do not have love, it is useless” (1 Corinthians 13:3). As always, love of Jesus and love of justice for the neighbor are just two different shapes to the One Love.
“God of love and justice, let me know and live that they are not separate. Loving people will do justice, and just people will do their work with love and respect.”
St. Berthold of Mt. Carmel (d. 1195), also known as Bartoldus of Calabria, was born in France, the son of a Count. He excelled at his studies and was ordained a priest. Berthold’s brother, Aymeric, became the Latin patriarch of Antioch. The two joined together to participate in a Crusade to the Holy Land.
While in the Holy Land, Berthold traveled to Mount Carmel and built a monastery and church dedicated to the Prophet Elijah. He gathered together a number of hermits scattered throughout Palestine to live together in imitation of the life of the great prophet as recorded in the Old Testament. Berthold became the group’s superior and stayed with the community at Mount Carmel for 45 years until his death in 1195.
It was the life and work of St. Berthold that laid the foundation for the Carmelite Order, whose rule was approved by Pope Honorius III in 1226. St. Berthold’s feast day is March 29.
“Free me from evil passions and heal my heart of all disorderly affections, that being healed and well purified in my interior, I may become fit to love, courageous to suffer and constant to persevere. Love is an excellent thing, a great good indeed, which alone maketh light all that is burdened and makes all that which is bitter sweet and savory. The love of Jesus is noble and generous; it spurs us on to do great things and excites us to desire always that which is most perfect.”— Thomas á Kempis, p. 89
