Non Tasarmi, Fratello!

“Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine, There’s always laughter and good red wine. At least I’ve always found it so. Benedicamus Domino!” Hillaire Belloc

Sunday, January 05, 2014

The Power of Christ Compels You to Get Out of My SALT!

 Did you know there is salt in Holy Water? There is...and the reason seems to come from 2 Kings, 2:19-22:

19 The inhabitants of the city complained to Elisha, “The site of the city is fine indeed, as my lord can see, but the water is bad and the land sterile.”
20 Elisha said, “Bring me a new bowl and put salt into it.” When they had brought it to him,
 21 he went out to the spring and threw salt into it, saying, “Thus says the LORD: I have purified this water. Never again shall death or sterility come from it.” 
 22 And the water has stayed pure even to this day, according to the word Elisha had spoken.



But here's the thing - a priest has to bless the salt first. Here's what he says (from the Ritual Romanum):

God's creature, salt, I cast out the demon from you by the living + God, by the true + God, by the holy + God, by God who ordered you to be thrown into the water- spring by Eliseus to heal it of its barrenness. May you be a purified salt, a means of health for those who believe, a medicine for body and soul for all who make use of you. May all evil fancies of the foul fiend, his malice and cunning, be driven afar from the place where you are sprinkled. And let every unclean spirit be repulsed by Him who is coming to judge both the living and the dead and the world by fire.

Labels: