Blessings With Holy Water (For Others)

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I’m in RCIA. And I’ve been going to Mass (and also to my Baptist Church). I’ve been praying Catholic prayers with my wife almost every night.

I understand that sacramentals can incline and make reception of the sacraments more likely. CCC 1670 in part reads “Sacramentals … prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it.”

For about a month now, whenever I bless myself with Holy Water in the Church, I usually do it eight times in a row.
  1. Blessing myself – first so I can better do the other blessings
  2. Blessing my wife
  3. Blessing my step-daughter
  4. Blessing my son
  5. Blessing my daughter
  6. Blessing perhaps for somebody I don’t know yet
  7. Blessing perhaps because I don’t know if I don’t know or if there is another to bless
  8. Blessing for a new beginning
    Since it takes a little while and I’d be embarrassed, I wait until people have mostly left.
My question is this. Can I bless myself with Holy Water and intend it to bless my wife and children? Because they are not yet with me in the Catholic Church but I want them to be.

Because it sometimes almost makes me cry, I do suppose it is working. And God knows, I’m doing it from love for my family.
 
I have never heard of this. However, you can take home Holy Water and have a little receptical near your door. You can use it to bless your children and wife. There are other blessings that lay people can do…See Shorter Book of Blessings by Catholic Publishing Co.

May God bless you for your desire to bless others.
Deacon Tony SFO
 
We have a holy water font at our home. Every morning my husband actually blesses our children by making a cross with holy water on them and saying, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, & of the Holy Spririt.” They then bless him in return.

I myself will bless my children (not as regularly as my husband does), bless my husband, and bless my home, as well as myself.

Holy water fonts can be relatively inexpensive to extravagant and expensive depending on what you choose.

God bless you and your family!
 
I’ve never heard of blessing myself with Holy water for the benefit of others, either.

Another thing you might do is to pray in the church and light a candle for the others on your prayer list. Welcome home! 👋
 
Several months ago, God gave me some illustrations.

Stamp collecting: you can’t peel a stamp from an envelope – it tears. First soak the envelope in water to soften the glue. Then the stamp seperates on its own without tearing.

Goldfish: my wife bought goldfish for the kids. The first ones died. The shock of the transplant killed them. Instead, you must prepare the goldfish bowl with room-temperature water. The water must first stand for awhile until the chlorine is removed. And even then, moving the fish from the store-bought bag of water into the goldfish bowl is a gradual process. If it is done right, the goldfish survives.

Sapling trees: I had some sapling trees in some of my bushes. I transplanted them into pots so I might eventually plant them as trees in my yard. About half of the saplings died during the transplant.

We live in desperate times and desperate men may do desperate things. How am I to know how close my family might be to the fires of hell? I’m Baptist and in RCIA. My son and daughter are not Water Baptized yet. They were “dedicated” (no infant water baptism).

Mark 2:2-5 Many gathered together so that there was no longer room for them, not even around the door, and he preached the word to them. They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. Unable to get near Jesus because of the crowd, they opened up the roof above him. After they had broken through, they let down the mat on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven.”

Deacon Tony: you won’t find breaking and entering (or smashing holes in roofs) in your “Shorter Book of Blessings”. I’m not smashing any Church roofs, but I do advocate doing whatever possible to promote God’s work in other people’s lives. It seems to me that the chief ingredients in Bible miracles is this: Faith; Hope; Love; do something that God can work with; be patient. Faith in Jesus Christ, Hope that He will do something for somebody that you Love a lot. Pray and do something, and wait for God to work in His time.

Deacon Tony and Seeking Wisdom: It would be quite easy for me to buy a Holy Water Font and put it near my door. Except that my wife didn’t want it yet, so it would likely be something to argue about. I hadn’t asked her yet either because she wasn’t ready. God must work in people’s hearts. By blessing myself in their stead, I am asking God to do His work in their lives. And I’m not sitting down. My wife was open to it, so I’ve been praying Catholic prayers with her at night before we go to bed. For about a month or so. We will have a Holy Water font when Janet wants it and buys it for our family. Then there will be no argument. My desire for one means that I will pray enough for it.

Mary3: I’ve been out of work for awhile, so I’ve been sticking to fairly inexpensive things.

Continued… (and I’ll repost here as more things develop)
 
Continued.

Big-time key truth: You cannot want something that you already have. I do suppose that this is part of why we are all here and not in heaven already. Because in heaven it is too late to develop Faith (look up the definition of Faith in Hebrews 11). And it is impossible to please God without Faith. Sometimes it is better not to have something. Not having it produces a thirst for it. And the thirst for something good may sometimes be more important than the good that is desired. Especially if it develops our Faith, our Hope or our ability to Love others.

I never lead anyone in the “sinners prayer” who thought they were saved already. And I never lead anyone in the “sinners prayer” if they didn’t want Jesus. The word WANT is such a powerful word. You can’t want something unless you don’t have it.

Applying this concept was similar regarding rosaries for our children. Of course, I wanted them all to have rosaries. I got one and gave one to Janet, my wife. And left it as an exercise of her faith to buy rosaries for our children. She wanted the children to also have rosaries, so she went to the Catholic store and bought them herself.

Last Friday, I visited the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Crypt Church again and went to the 12:10 PM Mass. I’ve been out of work for awhile. This morning my wife suggested that we could go somewhere today after the kids got on the bus. I asked her where she had in mind. She said “Oh, anywhere.” So I figured today could be a good day to take her to the 12:10 PM Mass at the Basilica (a really big, big step). I just got back. We walked around and saw so much.

Janet’s mother has been to Lourdes in France. As others in her family and as her co-workers in England have also gone. So I took her to the small chapel at the Crypt level that is a reproduction.

Then I had a small lunch and she had some coffee. We saw the gift shop and looked at Holy Water Fonts. And we looked at the bookstore.

Then we went to the Crypt Church where it was just in time for praying the rosary. Janet prayed along some of the Our Fathers and Hail Marys. And we stayed for the 12:10 Mass. Today is Saint Vincent de Paul (really quite appropriate). The homily and the music was great. And incense. I asked her to go forward with me (arms crossed) to get the blessing. She didn’t want to at first. But I asked her to do it and to think of Joshua (in special education classes), to stand in his place and get the blessing for him. So she did. In total, Janet also blessed herself with Holy Water three times. And also Janet lit a candle for herself and also for me.

I asked Janet if she saw anything to protest concerning the Church Service (Mass). She said no. Perhaps this too is a step if she is not a protestant.

Perhaps there was an extra blessing for us today because it is Saint Vincent de Paul (I didn’t know) and because I’ve been out of work so long.

God has been working much closer with me since last June (and also towards becoming Catholic). I do happen to know a little bit already, because I was ordained as an evangelist in June 1987.

By the way, I don’t think any Catholic is ever without Holy Water. You can bless yourself with Holy Water any time you pray an act of contrition. Just cry and bless yourself with your tears. Your tears already have salt in them. The water in your tears was already blessed the last time a Priest blessed you.

I’ll keep updating this thread as more happens.
 
Dearest jmm

God grants all with the grace to have faith in Him. How does anyone come to the grace of God?..you WILL it!! Will it, ask for it, hope for it, yearn for it, crave and thirst it…you WILL it in your very self and God looks kindly upon this bold gesture towards Him and graces it. Faith is not for the meek or faint in spirit, it is for the one who is bold in their approach, bold enough to risk, bold enough to cry out to God and ask for His mercy and unending love and graces. Where does this WIll start, with the smallest of graces from God to develop your faith and this grace is love. It is the WILl of the individual to join their WILL with God’s WILL…simple as abc if we let God do it according to His WILL, but first we must also WILL it. God doesn’t force himself upon us, we have to WILL it also.

Bless yourself, bless yourself that others may respond to their graces, but remember this also, that anyone who has been baptised in the materials and form of Jesus that is with water and in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, whatever church they are in, is in Christ Jesus, so now don’t worry too much about any of those who are baptised as they are in Christ. As for those who are not baptised, there is also the baptism of desire and though you may be closely related to someone you do not know their innermost thoughts and desires as our loving God does.

Also remember , prayers are free…!!! 😃 They cost nothing at all, and you can pray anytime and anywhere, as The Holy Trinity is always present. WILL it, ask for it, with a sincere and contrite heart for the good of others and not because you simply desire it. Only God knows what is to the santification of His children, so trust Him and hand it to Him.

You cannot persuade someone to come to God, they have to come of their own free WILL…so quietly support them and love them, set the example and let them watch you and your happiness in Christ. You have had your will joined to the will of God and in due time if they WILL it so will those you love also, step back and give them time to discover their own WILL.The best way is by example in love, than with any words you can say to them.

I will keep you in my prayers for your intentions and also that you find suitable paid employment.

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa
 
I told Janet that Holy Water Fonts have been on clearance prices at our local Catholic Bookstore. She intended to go there Wednesday and buy one. But she forgot and she asked me to go get one. I went Wednesday afternoon and looked them all over.

So many different ones. An Irish Cross. Smaller ones that might not be so good for me with my large fingers. Unfinished ones (plain white perhaps they are plaster). The clerk told me the unfinished ones may be the wrong choice unless I finished them myself. I decided on a larger one with Mary Mother of Jesus, even though I thought her skin looked a little too White.

I would have placed it on the wall next to the front door. But Janet had me put it in a much more visible location in the foyer. Just before sunset yesterday, I noticed that the light coming through the cut glass in our front door makes it look so nice. And at other times of the year, light will come in from other windows in the house.

Thursday morning I went to Mass and took the jar we decided to use to store Holy Water. After Mass, the Holy Water was almost all gone. So I asked the Priest for some Holy Water and told him the main jug was almost empty. He brought back my jar. When I got home, everybody was out. So I went all through the house and blessed each room in each corner and elsewhere in each room. And I blessed every closet, every hallway and every stuffed toy belonging to our children. I blessed the fish in the fishbowls, the beds and many chairs. And then I filled the Holy Water Font and put the jar in the kitchen window where bright sunbeams will shine on it in the morning.

When Janet came home, she said the house smelled better and is almost smelled like perfume. I told her it might be the Holy Water. And yet Holy Water has no smell. I just checked again. There is no smell to it and there is no taste to it. Yet I have also noticed the smell when I go to Church or when I go to the Basilica. There is no smell, yet I can smell that Holy Water is present. Perhaps because we have not yet consumed the blessed Holy Eucharist, we have an extra sensitivity to sacramentals.

Last night (Thursday night), I had not shown Janet how to bless herself with Holy Water since going to the Basilica on Monday. While I was watching Survivor Vanuatu on TV, my seven-year-old daughter came up to me and made a wet cross on my forehead. “That’s Holy Water Daddy. Don’t wipe it off.” Janet had blessed herself and our two children and told them how to do it. My eight-year-old son had already blessed my step-daughter.

Why shouldn’t Acts 16:30-34 also be true for me?

Acts 16:30 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you and your household will be saved.”

It may be awhile before the next update. My 7 and 8 year-olds are not yet water-baptized. I want Janet to want it first. Because then there will be no argument. And when she really wants them to be water-baptized, her strong desire may be sufficient to bring along her own conversion to Roman Catholicism as well.

I’ll keep updating this thread as more happens.
 
I continued to bless myself with Holy Water for each one in my family (see above) each time I go to Mass.

On December 10, 2004, Janet and my two children came to the Catholic Church with me. It was the annual “musical advent” program and there was no Mass.

On May 21, 2005, Janet and my two children came with me to the vigil Mass (Trinity Sunday). Since that time, they have come with me to Mass about half the time that I go.

Isn’t that interesting? It took nine months for this to work. On September 24, 2004 I said I had been at it about a month. And May 21 is about nine months after I started. My step-daughter hasn’t come to Mass yet, but my wife and children come with me about half the time.

Even though this may seem ridiculous, please try it out with faith. When you go to Mass, if somebody else should be coming with you (but doesn’t want to) – use Holy Water to bless yourself at the Catholic Church for them. And be patient and pray. What have you got to lose?

I started a new job last February after being out of work for more than a year.

Please continue to pray for me and my family. Thank you.
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jmm08:
It seems to me that the chief ingredients in Bible miracles is this: Faith; Hope; Love; do something that God can work with; be patient.
Click to expand...
 
What an incredibly beautiful account of what is happening in your life.

Thanks be to God.

and thank you for sharing.
 
Update January 28, 2007:

Yesterday, my wife and children all came to Mass again. Even my step-daughter who has not been going to Church very often at all since beginning college.

And I am greatly encouraged by the following scripture that – yes – it is possible to bless others with Holy Water.

In Genesis 24, Abraham sends his senior servant to find a wife for his son Isaac.

Genesis 24:10-22The servant then took ten of his master’s camels, and bearing all kinds of gifts from his master, he made his way to the city of Nahor in Aram Naharaim. Near evening, at the time when women go out to draw water, he made the camels kneel by the well outside the city. Then he prayed: “LORD, God of my master Abraham, let it turn out favorably for me today and thus deal graciously with my master Abraham. While I stand here at the spring and the daughters of the townsmen are coming out to draw water, if I say to a girl, ‘Please lower your jug, that I may drink,’ and she answers, ‘Take a drink, and let me give water to your camels, too,’ let her be the one whom you have decided upon for your servant Isaac. In this way I shall know that you have dealt graciously with my master.” He had scarcely finished these words when Rebekah (who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor) came out with a jug on her shoulder. The girl was very beautiful, a virgin, untouched by man. She went down to the spring and filled her jug. As she came up, the servant ran toward her and said, “Please give me a sip of water from your jug.” “Take a drink, sir,” she replied, and quickly lowering the jug onto her hand, she gave him a drink. When she had let him drink his fill, she said, “I will draw water for your camels, too, until they have drunk their fill.” With that, she quickly emptied her jug into the drinking trough and ran back to the well to draw more water, until she had drawn enough for all the camels. The man watched her the whole time, silently waiting to learn whether or not the LORD had made his errand successful. When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold ring weighing half a shekel, which he fastened on her nose, and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels, which he put on her wrists.We know that all grace comes to us through Mary – even any grace we receive through Holy Water. And we know that Mary is the Virgin of Virgins. We know that Mary is blessed among women and that she is full of grace overflowing – beyond measure in comparison even to Rebekah.

Therefore, I conclude that Mary makes all blessings of Holy Water available not only to us but she would draw water or blessings for our camels too. Note that camels require a lot more water than people. Among land animals, perhaps drawing water for a camel (if the camel has gone without water for awhile) may be more work than drawing water for almost anything else. Except perhaps an elephant.

If Mary would also draw water, grace or blessings for our camels, then she certainly would draw water, grace or blessings for our closest family members if we ask. And Abraham’s servant only verbally asked for water for himself. Rebekah did more than she was asked. We can trust that Mary will do more as well.

Hebrews 11:1 “Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.”

When we do not see what we want to see, it is an opportunity for us to grow in faith.

jmm08
 
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