Spilled Holy Water

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Veronica97

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I usually bless myself with Holy Water before I go to bed, but last night I guess I got a little carried away and some spilled on the floor. It was enough that I wasn’t sure if it was good for my wood floor, so I wiped it up with a tissue and threw it in the trash. I felt bad about it, and I asked God to forgive me–that I didn’t mean any disrespect by it. Did I sin in doing this?
 
I hope not, or every time a priest sprinkles the congregation he’s sinning for getting some on the floor.
 
Well, I know it can fall on the floor, but I wondered if I should have wiped it up and thrown the tissue in the trash? I threw a sacramental in the trash. But I didn’t mean any disrespect by it…I wouldn’t have thrown a rosary in the trash, but I didn’t know what else to do at the time.
 
Veronica97 said:
I usually bless myself with Holy Water before I go to bed, but last night I guess I got a little carried away and some spilled on the floor. It was enough that I wasn’t sure if it was good for my wood floor, so I wiped it up with a tissue and threw it in the trash. I felt bad about it, and I asked God to forgive me–that I didn’t mean any disrespect by it. Did I sin in doing this?
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As it’s been said sin requires full knowledge did you knowingly wipe it up and willfully throw it away?
Your words indicate that you did not. no sin.It wasn’t your intention to disregard the holy water.
i do not know the proper protocall for such a thing.
 
Veronica97 said:
Well, I know it can fall on the floor, but I wondered if I should have wiped it up and thrown the tissue in the trash? I threw a sacramental in the trash. But I didn’t mean any disrespect by it…I wouldn’t have thrown a rosary in the trash, but I didn’t know what else to do at the time.
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I did a very similar thing but without a tissue. I forgot it was holy water. It was kind of comical afterwards cause as I was doing it I realized what it was and I started yelling nonsense as I was spilling it. My father came running in just to see me yelling at the trash can I was spilling holy water into it. Suffice it to say, he was scared!!

I wouldn’t be afraid of this, but I would make certain to deal with it more reverently next time. Perhaps to bury it or place it in a cup for it to dry and then throw it out. Just to be on the safe side I would have burned the tissue after it dried or, as I said, bury it. This seems to be one of those “I’ll do better next time” incidents or “I learned my lesson”. I’m sure God appreciates your contrition for something that may have been a sin while others have no contrition for things they KNOW to be sins.

Hope that helped!
 
AlanFromWichita said:
I hope not, or every time a priest sprinkles the congregation he’s sinning for getting some on the floor.
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You know what was odd, is the last time I took care of an aspersorium as an altar server, my pastor informed me that the water in there was never blessed, and didn’t need to be poured down the sacrarium, so I guess that it is not necessary to use holy water in the Sprinkling Rite.
 
I would not have thrown it in the trash if I had known it was a mortal sin. But I did think while I was doing it that it might not be the right thing to do, as I felt bad even as I was doing it. But I wasn’t sure what else to do, as I didn’t want it to ruin my floor. God knew that I didn’t do it with disrespect–I even thought about kissing the tissue before I threw it away. But next time I will save the tissue and either burn it or bury it. Since the trash can is metal I suppose I can still burn the contents of the trash can. Would that remedy the situation?
 
Veronica97 said:
… if I had known it was a mortal sin.
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By definition, nothing is a mortal sin that you didn’t know was grave matter when you did it.

And I’d be highly surprised if what you did was grave matter.
Since the trash can is metal I suppose I can still burn the contents of the trash can. Would that remedy the situation?
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I think it would be a bad idea to start a trash can fire – unless maybe the tissue is the only thing in there.
 
Veronica97 said:
I would not have thrown it in the trash if I had known it was a mortal sin. But I did think while I was doing it that it might not be the right thing to do, as I felt bad even as I was doing it. But I wasn’t sure what else to do, as I didn’t want it to ruin my floor. God knew that I didn’t do it with disrespect–I even thought about kissing the tissue before I threw it away. But next time I will save the tissue and either burn it or bury it. Since the trash can is metal I suppose I can still burn the contents of the trash can. Would that remedy the situation?
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Just move on. Remedy the situation by not doing it again. Use this as a reason to become more attentive in your spiritual life and to develope a more healthy treatment of the sacrements. After all, sacramentals are to REMIND us of the sacraments. This is a wonderful reason to better yourself in areas of reverence, attention, and prudence.

I suppose you could say prayers of reparation, but I wouldn’t advise doing anything else. Fixing your mind upon that incident and ignoring your prayer life would be drastically imprudent. This being said, I would be very careful about thinking about it too much. If God understands, as you say He does, than so must YOU understand.
 
Veronica97 said:
I would not have thrown it in the trash if I had known it was a mortal sin. But I did think while I was doing it that it might not be the right thing to do, as I felt bad even as I was doing it. But I wasn’t sure what else to do, as I didn’t want it to ruin my floor. God knew that I didn’t do it with disrespect–I even thought about kissing the tissue before I threw it away. But next time I will save the tissue and either burn it or bury it. Since the trash can is metal I suppose I can still burn the contents of the trash can. Would that remedy the situation?
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It’s not mortal sin. You are overly agitated about this.
 
There is no sin in putting a Holy Water-soaked tissue into the trash. Please, please believe me.
 
Elizium23 said:
You know what was odd, is the last time I took care of an aspersorium as an altar server, my pastor informed me that the water in there was never blessed, and didn’t need to be poured down the sacrarium, so I guess that it is not necessary to use holy water in the Sprinkling Rite.
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But the fact that he had to say that implies that normally the water is holy water.
 
Stellaeres said:
But the fact that he had to say that implies that normally the water is holy water.
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Stellaeres said:
I think you are suffering from scrupulosity. :o
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Stellaeres said:
There is no sin in putting a Holy Water-soaked tissue into the trash. Please, please believe me.
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With all due charity, you could have said this in one post. Just saying so you don’t make the same mistake again and face someone less charitable who may use it to detract from the point you are defending.
 
Very interesting post. I sprinkle the house liberally with Holy water now and then and never gave any thought to the fact that some of that water was landing on papers, tissues, and items that I throw away. Not to mention bed sheets, blankets, clothing and what not.

How do I now know what I can and can’t dipose of in the garbage? I believe I had read this once before but had forgotten about it.
 
Stellaeres said:
But the fact that he had to say that implies that normally the water is holy water.
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No, the reason he had to say that is that I was treating it as holy water and pouring it down the sacrarium and he had to dispel a misconception that I had.
 
I was deeply troubled about my use of Holy water in the home after using it liberally. Below is the response from Father Eckert, who answers questions for EWTN.

Not sure who told you not to sprinkle your home with Holy Water but I see no problem with this. I assume your object is to sanctify your home and since you are not a priest these items do not become sacramentals, so they may be used and disposed of as would normally be done. Think about the consequences of sprinkling rites in the churches if anything touched by water was so sacred it could never be thrown away–you would not even be able to spend “holy money” in your purses and wallets, if the assumption is that they are now sacramentals (they would only be fit for the collection basket 🙂
So I would feel free to use Holy Water in your home, not intending to bless every item as such but to sanctify the home.

Thanks, Jim

Father Echert
 
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