Prayers for all Occasions, Needs, and Intentions

RITE OF BLESSING AND SPRINKLING HOLY WATER

How water is changed to Holy Water  

The rite of blessing and sprinkling holy water may be celebrated in all churches and chapels at all Sunday Masses celebrated on Sunday or on Saturday evening.  

When this rite is celebrated it takes the place of the penitential rite at the beginning of Mass. The Kyrie is also omitted. 

After greeting the people the priest remains standing at his chair. A vessel containing the water to be blessed is placed before him. Facing the people, he invites them to pray, using these or similar words: 

Dear friends, this water will be used to remind us of our baptism. Ask God to bless it, and to keep us faithful to the Spirit he has given us. 

After a brief silence, he joins his hands and continues: 

a. God our Father, your gift of water brings life and freshness to the earth; it washes away our sins and brings us eternal life.

We ask now to bless + this water, and to give us your protection on this day which you have made your own. Renew the living spring of your life within us and protect us in spirit and body, that we may be free from sin and come into your presence to receive your gift of salvation. We ask this through Christ our Lord.  

Or: 

b.  Lord God almighty, creator of all life, of body and soul, we ask you to bless + this water: as we use it in faith forgive our sins and save us from all illness and the power of evil. Lord, in your mercy give us living water, always springing up as a fountain of salvation: free us, body and soul, from every danger, and admit us to your presence in purity of heart. Grant this through Christ our Lord.   

Or: (during the Easter season): 

c. Lord God almighty, hear the prayers of your people: we celebrate our creation and redemption. Hear our prayers and bless + this water which gives fruitfulness to the fields, and refreshment and cleansing to man. You chose water to show your goodness when you led your people to freedom through the Red Sea and satisfied their thirst in the desert with water from the rock. Water was the symbol used by the prophets to foretell your new covenant with man. You made the water of baptism holy by Christ’s baptism in the Jordan: by it you give us a new birth and renew us in holiness. May this water remind us of our baptism and let us share the joy of all who have been baptized at Easter. We ask this through Christ our Lord. 

Where it is customary, salt may be mixed with the holy water. The priest blesses the salt, saying: 

Almighty God, we ask you to bless + this salt as once you blessed the salt scattered over the water by the prophet Elisha. Wherever this salt and water is sprinkled, drive away the power of evil, and protect us always by the presence of your Holy Spirit. Grant this through Christ our Lord. 

Then he pours the salt into the water in silence. 

Taking the sprinkler, the priest sprinkles himself and his ministers, then the rest of the clergy and people. He may move through the church for the sprinkling of the people. Meanwhile, an antiphon or another appropriate song is sung. 

Outside the Easter Season

Cleanse us, Lord, from all our sins; wash us, and we shall be whiter than snow. (Ps 50:9)

I will pour clean water over you and wash away all your defilement. A new heart will I give you, says the Lord. (Ez 36:25-26)

Praised be the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ: a God so merciful and kind. He has given us a new birth, a living hope, by raising Jesus his Son from death. Salvation is our undying inheritance, preserved for us in heaven, salvation at the end of time. (See 1 Pet 1:3-5) 

In the Easter Season

I saw water flowing from the right side of the temple, alleluia. It brought God’s life and his salvation, and the people sang in joyful praise: alleluia, alleluia. (See Ez 47:1-2, 9)

You are a people God claims as his own to praise him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, alleluia. (See 1 Pet 2:9)

Lord Jesus, from your wounded side flowed streams of cleansing water: the world was washed of all its sin, all life made new again, alleluia. 

When he returns to his place and the song is finished, the priest faces the people and, with joined hands, says (unless the opening prayer of Mass follows immediately): 

May almighty God cleanse us of our sin, and through the Eucharist we celebrate make us worthy to sit at his table in his heavenly kingdom. 

When it is prescribed, the Gloria is then sung or said.