Epiphany Eve Blessing of Holy Water and More!

From the Pastor: Epiphany Eve Blessing of Holy Water and More!

       At 2:00 pm on Epiphany Eve—January 5, (today if you are reading this during the Sunday homily)--we will have the traditional Exorcism and Blessing of the Holy Water. If you brought your own salt and 5-gallon water jugs filled with water, we will bless those as well. If you brought smaller water containers with you, you can fill them up from either of the two 125-gallon containers we will bless specifically for this purpose. If, on the other hand, you completely forgot about this being the Big Blessing Day, don’t fret, for we expect to have Epiphany Holy Water left over and you can get some later. It will be available only until we run out. Last year, for the first time, we still had water available all week long, including the following Sunday. Several people had asked, “Don’t you exorcize and bless salt and water every week? What is different about this salt and water, then?” The answer to the first question is, yes, because we use a lot of Holy Water around here! I make Holy Water every week for the parish, for parishioners, and for others who just come by to get some “real” stuff. The “new,” post-conciliar blessed water, is often just “made” by a priest or deacon making up words of blessing, or, worse, using the non-blessing blessing from the “new” Book of Blessings. The “new rite” “Holy Water” does not use salt, does not exorcize the water, does not ask that God sanctify the water, does not ask for demons and other evils to be driven away, does not do much of anything except ask that those sprinkled be “refreshed” and “renewed.” Heck, the priest doesn’t even make a single sign of the cross over the water as he prays this ridiculous prayer!  Our “regular” Holy Water, on the other hand, requires that the priest first exorcize salt and then bless it. Then he exorcizes water and blesses it. Then he says a prayer as he pours the salt into the water. Finally, he offers yet another prayer, each prayer building on the others and asking that the water and salt will be sanctified, that it will drive away all sorts of evil spirits and physical evils, bring blessing to things and people, and even that it protect, nourish, and heal those who would use it. The power of the “old rite” Holy Water is apparent when compared to the “new rite” “holy water.” Still, this powerful “old rite” Holy Water pales in comparison to the “old rite” Epiphany Holy Water! For exclusively on this one day, the choir chants beautiful hymns, psalms, and prayers. The priest adds additional exorcisms preceding the “regular” exorcisms and blessings. He even chants all of his prayers (recto tono, or in a single tone, probably because priests generally won’t be able to chant as well as the choir!). It will take just about an hour (instead of the usual 4 minutes) to complete this solemn blessing, giving some idea of how much more effort and ritual goes into making this a special offering to God. The more we faithfully and solemnly exert ourselves in such rituals, the more generously He bestows graces!
       Our parish feast day, Epiphany, January 6, is the day following Epiphany Eve, not that you needed it spelled out. We will celebrate Masses of Epiphany of Our Lord that morning at the regular times of 6:30 and 8:00 followed, if anyone has brought in the following items, by the special Epiphany Blessings of chalk, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The chalk will be used to mark the door lintels of the church, rectory, and, of course, your homes. Because we are not a parish where everyone lives within walking distance of the church, I will not be able to visit your houses to bless them. But we will once again give out a sheet of prayers asking God’s blessing upon your home and those who live there. Pray the prayers, mark the doors with the blessed Epiphany chalk (20 + C + M + B + 25), sprinkle the house and family with Epiphany Holy Water, and you should be protected for another year! Please note that I will not be blessing other items that morning, so please don’t bring other articles. 
       Next Sunday, January 12, we will celebrate the External Solemnity of Epiphany. That day, instead of the normal Sunday Mass, we will celebrate the Mass of January 6 as an “External Solemnity,” which the 1962 liturgical books allow for several big feasts during the year, including parish feast days. We will have our annual luncheon following the 10:30 Mass for those who reserved tickets in advance. For those who forgot or who waited beyond the last moment to see if anything better showed up on their social calendar, I am sorry to say that, since caterers need a headcount to prepare the right amount of food (and to charge us properly for their services), we cannot accommodate those without tickets.
       For those of you who plan ahead a few weeks, February 2 brings us the blessing of candles on Candlemas Day. Monday, February 3, brings us the Feast of St. Blaise, at whose Masses we bless throats plus bread, wine, water, and fruit to be used for the relief of throat ailments. Due to my misreading of the prayer of blessing in the past, I have sometimes encouraged you to bring in candles for blessings on that day, but I need to rectify that with the reminder that the only candles blessed that day are those to be used for the throat blessing. So be sure to bring in your candles for the blessing on the Second!
 
With prayers for your holiness,
Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka