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FAH
Guest
I wish to get some Holy Water from Church but don’t have any Holy Water bottles so can I use a drinks bottle cleaned out, or is this disrespectful?
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runningdude
Guest
Holy Water is only as good as the respect it is given. If you pour it into a pofane (ordinary, in churchspeak) bottle, then the Holy Water simply becomes water.
If you had had bottle blessed, or possibly at least specially marked so that you can’t confuse it with ordinary water, then it will retain its blessing. If your priest has a good sense of humor, he may even get a kick out of blessing a water bottle!
If you had had bottle blessed, or possibly at least specially marked so that you can’t confuse it with ordinary water, then it will retain its blessing. If your priest has a good sense of humor, he may even get a kick out of blessing a water bottle!
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ringil
Guest
That is so false!! THe container doesn’t matter at all.
In addition, a priest will not bless a water bottle (facepalm)
OP, just make sure you remember that it’s holy water in the bottle and treat it as is appropriate.
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SuscipeMeDomine
Guest
If the priest blessed the water bottle, what would you do with it later? You couldn’t throw it in the trash or recycling bin!
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runningdude
Guest
If the OP didn’t treat it respectfully as Holy Water, then it would long be Holy Water. It would lose its blessing. Hence my warning.
If the OP poured it into an improperly rinsed container, it would be profaned, and again lose its blessing.
If its not specially labeled, it would too easily be confused with regular water, which in turn could cause the water to lose its blessing.
There is nothing magic or durable about Holy Water. It must be treated reverently, as a pious act of devotion to God. If one doesn’t treat as something Holy, it stops being Holy.
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runningdude
Guest
Yes you could. It would lose simply lose its blessing if disposed. Once blessed though, it should only be disposed of for good reason (breaking, etc), and not be causally discarded.
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Phaedra777
Guest
Agree! In my parish, I have seen people fill gallon milk jugs with Holy Water. And when you get it home, you don’t have to put it in a special holy water font, either. You may put it in a small bowl if you like.
If your church has a gift shop, they likely carry plastic containers with “Holy Water” printed on them, if you’d be more comfortable with that. Very cheap!
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ringil
Guest
This using of milk jugs is actually quite coming in the East as the faithful in these traditions can drink or even cook with holy water.Agree! In my parish, I have seen people fill gallon milk jugs with Holy Water. And when you get it home, you don’t have to put it in a special holy water font, either. You may put it in a small bowl if you like.
If your church has a gift shop, they likely carry plastic containers with “Holy Water” printed on them, if you’d be more comfortable with that. Very cheap!
This isn’t as common in the West so we simply don’t see it.
Once one has holy water it should be treated appropriately, not poured down the sink, etc.
Growing up our family once had a priest (came to bless the house) pour holy water out onto the ground over our dogs heads (it was hot). I thought this was odd but he said that he was was simply giving it back to nature. When thinking about it I suppose he was right. A dog drinking holy water is really no different than pouring it on the ground is it?
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Phaedra777
Guest
Also not uncommon, is pouring it on the ground while saying a prayer to relieve the suffering of Holy Souls in Purgatory.Growing up our family once had a priest (came to bless the house) pour holy water out onto the ground over our dogs heads (it was hot). I thought this was odd but he said that he was was simply giving it back to nature. When thinking about it I suppose he was right. A dog drinking holy water is really no different than pouring it on the ground is it?
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ringil
Guest
Interesting, I had not heard that.
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Luvtosew
Guest
“Also not uncommon, is pouring it on the ground while saying a prayer to relieve the suffering of Holy Souls in Purgatory”
That sounds like a superstition.
That sounds like a superstition.
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Phaedra777
Guest
Not superstition–tradition!
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Luvtosew
Guest
Oh ok, it sure beats pouring it down the drain, or wasting it.
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Blenderx
Guest
You are mistaken. An object will not ‘lose’ its blessing simply by being disposed of or put into an ordinary vessel. The water will only cease to be holy water if it seriously diluted or otherwise loses its natural properties (evaporation, etc.). The container you use should be clean and marked appropriately so you won’t mistake it for plain water, and afterward the container should be used for no other purpose, or else disposed of appropriately (blessed items should be burned or buried or otherwise destroyed- they will not lose their blessing simply by being thrown away, that is why we dispose of these things respectfully).
I keep holy water in a nice glass decanter that I found at a thrift store.
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SuscipeMeDomine
Guest
Things that are blessed don’t lose their blessings.
Someone above suggested that a beverage bottle should be blessed before putting holy water into it. If the bottle were blessed, it would need to be treated the same way you would treat a rosary or any other object that was blessed. Blessing it sets it aside for a holy purpose.
If your rosary breaks you don’t simply toss it in the trash. If you have a blessed palm from Palm Sunday you don’t simply toss it in the trash. If some wacky priest should bless a plastic bottle, you don’t simply toss it in the trash. For that matter,if you were disposing of holy water you don’t dump it down the drain pipe to the sewer.
Blessed objects should be treated with reverence. They are disposed of by burning or burying them. In the case of holy water, it would be disposed of by pouring it into the ground in a garden or similar place it won’t be walked on.
See jimmyakin.org/2007/01/old_religious_o.html or catholicdoors.com/faq/qu63.htm
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Cristiano
Guest
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