Really Bad Idea: sand in holy water fonts during Lent

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Really Bad Idea: sand in holy water fonts during Lent

I was made aware of this by a reader. I happily endorse one idea one priest had while I entirely repudiate a bad old cliché from another. Castleton symbol of Lent: sand in holy water fonts Alas, the silly season drags on. However, before getting into that, the same article had a good idea tha
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Holy Water is a power weapon of the spiritual life against the attacks of the devil.
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Well, ya know, sand reminds us of the sacrament of… umm… uhh…

the sacrament of Muad’dib taming the Shai-Halud in the desert? Yeah! That’s it! 🤣
 
Not only a bad idea, the Holy See has told us it is a NO NO.
 
We used to get sand. Now we get rocks in the fonts except for the baptismal font. That stays full.
Don’t tell on me but a couple years ago when there was sand in the fonts I stuck in a couple of those little drink parasols and a couple of tiny little balls for beach balls. I figured the desert theme was getting a little old and a beach theme was more hopeful.

I wonder if that’s why he switched to rocks instead. . .
 
that is somebody’s weblog post (yours?)

a little bit long to read

is any parish putting sand in the holy water?
i hope not

might as well put salt or chlorine , mint leaves or lavender blossoms

all equally meaninglesss 😦
 
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How stylish can this be? Do I need to bring an umbrella as well?
 
My parish has removed the holy water since the beginning of Lent. I had never heard of this before. I was told this is what is supposed to be done, but according to this thread, it is actually not permitted. Is my parish wrong? Why would they do things like this if it’s not permitted?
 
Removing holy water from a church for all of Lent is absolutely NOT supposed to be done!!

Amateur “liturgists” think up all sorts of daft things to do. Who knows why?
 
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In medieval times, holy water was not so readily available. Indeed, it was locked up to prevent it from being stolen and used for occult purposes. We still see a remnant of this with baptism fonts that have lids and lock.
 
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Mother Angelica used to have a fit about sand in the holy water fonts.
 
i’ve never heard of “sand in the Holy Water”

i’ii’ve had to have had googled it to get some context

… of all things to “argue” about 😦
 
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A friend recently told me that the holy water in the fonts at her parish has been replaced with ashes all during Lent. That strikes me as a little messy, both liturgically and literally.
 
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No, it’s from the Evangelist (the parish newspaper at the diocese of Albany). Some parishes here (and they did it in the 90s too as I well recall) emptied the fonts and put in sand instead (and in my parish, rocks). According to the article, some of the priests had done it (as I said, I remember it being done in the diocese in the 90s) and just loovvved it for its spiritual reminders dontchaknow, and some others just played monkey-see, monkey-do.

As an old lady I just want to bring them all together in a big warm hug while I sweetly yell at them, “If it ain’t broke, stop trying to fix it!”
 
felsguy said:
A friend recently told me that the holy water in the fonts at her parish has been replaced with ashes all during Lent. That strikes me as a little messy, both liturgically and literally.
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If the ashes were blessed, at least the sacramental is available. Still…yeah…just don’t. I agree with that.
 
It’s not sand in the Holy Water…it is sand in the Holy Water font meaning they remove the water and place sand in there. Who’s arguing? If you read the article it is question and answer.
 
Our parish started emptying holy water fonts during lent around 20 years ago. It drove me crazy, if a sacramental is to aid in prayer and lent is supposed to be a time of increased prayer, why empty the fonts? Around 10 years ago we had a new pastor and the staff did the usual and emptied the holy water fonts the morning of Ash Wednesday. When the pastor saw this, he instructed them to go and fill them with holy water. Haven’t had the problem since.

The other thing I hate, which a neighboring parish does, is cover the devotional statutes with purple cloth (sheets actually) during lent. And this parish has a reputation for being very “conservative”. I think this practice is also a modern innovation. Although I have heard this is allowed.
 
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