Holy Water

[Juxtaposer]

According to CCC 1668, holy water recalls Baptism. One of my room-mates recently had a friend stay with us who used to be into wicca. I told this to one of my Catholic friends, and they said I should sprinkle holy water around our apartment. Why holy water? Why not just pray over the place? Isn’t holy water just a sign?

 

[Dr.Colossus]

Holy water is a sacramental. According to the Catechism:

1670 Sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the Church’s prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it. “For well-disposed members of the faithful, the liturgy of the sacraments and sacramentals sanctifies almost every event of their lives with the divine grace which flows from the Paschal mystery of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ. From this source all sacraments and sacramentals draw their power. There is scarcely any proper use of material things which cannot be thus directed toward the sanctification of men and the praise of God.”

So the effect of holy water is related to the Sacrament of Baptism. The Catechism goes on to say:

1673 When the Church asks publicly and authoritatively in the name of Jesus Christ that a person or object be protected against the power of the Evil One and withdrawn from his dominion, it is called exorcism. Jesus performed exorcisms and from him the Church has received the power and office of exorcizing.In a simple form, exorcism is performed at the celebration of Baptism.

Therefore, the efficacy of holy water for protection against evil stems from its connection to the simple exorcism performed at Baptism.

 

[Dr.Colossus]

Regarding your Catholic friend’s suggestion, however, unless the former Wiccan actually performed some sort of incantation or other consort with demons in your apartment, I wouldn’t worry about any sort of residual effect of evil.