What is the use of holy water?
Priest Stephen Rossetti, an exorcist of the Archdiocese of Washington, recounts some illustrative experiences he had as an exorcist that show the true face of the devil and also the power of God.
He recalls the case of a possessed woman. Without her knowing it -recounts this exorcist- he blessed her room with holy water. Even so, no human eye could not detect anything changed.”
The next day, the woman texted him:
- “Did you do anything in my room?” the possessed woman asked.
- “Why do you ask?” the priest replied.
- “You blessed my room,” she replied.
- “How did you know?” the exorcist asked again.
- “Something changed. They (the demons) hated it. They still hate it.”
According to the exorcist, this conversion was very “enlightening.” It helped him confirm that the woman was possessed. “She had ‘occult knowledge’. There is no way she could have known that I blessed and exorcised her room. She received this knowledge through demons. Having occult knowledge is a strong sign of true possession.”
This conversation confirmed “the power and importance of having a priestly blessing, especially the blessing of our homes. The demons hate it and are repelled by it”.
Another possessed woman told him that, when she approached a blessed home, she had great difficulty entering; the same thing happened to her with churches. Another possessed man said to him that, when he entered a blessed home, he could see the demon tormenting him stay outside.
“A blessed home is a sacred place, and the demons are repelled by anything sacred.”
Holy water is an effective sacramental of the Church, especially during exorcisms. Some claim that holy water is a kind of “Catholic superstition” and they received it with “disbelief.”
“There is no water in hell,” the priest reminds us. “Yet water is a necessary source of life. In hell, there is only death.”
The New Testament bears witness to this. In the Gospel of Luke, a rich and ruthless man died and was sent to “the underworld where he was tormented... He cried out, ‘Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am suffering torment in these flames.’”
Water is an essential element in baptism to cast out Satan's influence and make way for God's sanctifying grace.
For this reason, “a little water blessed by a priest doesn't seem much. But when it touches the demons, they cry out in agony. When it touches the faithful, they receive God's blessing.”
Excerpts from Javier Lozano
Video: