Introduction

Perhaps the most well known sacramental is Holy Water. Here, we will examine Church teaching regarding this sacramental, as well as it's basis in scripture and in sacred tradition.

Catholic Teaching

1669 Sacramentals derive from the baptismal priesthood: every baptized person is called to be a "blessing," and to bless. Hence lay people may preside at certain blessings; the more a blessing concerns ecclesial and sacramental life, the more is its administration reserved to the ordained ministry (bishops, priests, or deacons).

1670 Sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the Church's prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it. "For well-disposed members of the faithful, the liturgy of the sacraments and sacramentals sanctifies almost every event of their lives with the divine grace which flows from the Paschal mystery of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ. From this source all sacraments and sacramentals draw their power. There is scarcely any proper use of material things which cannot be thus directed toward the sanctification of men and the praise of God."¹⁷⁶

Various forms of sacramentals

1671 Among sacramentals blessings (of persons, meals, objects, and places) come first. Every blessing praises God and prays for his gifts. In Christ, Christians are blessed by God the Father "with every spiritual blessing."¹⁷⁷ This is why the Church imparts blessings by invoking the name of Jesus, usually while making the holy sign of the cross of Christ.

Scriptural Basis

Numbers 5:17
And he shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and he shall cast a little earth of the pavement of the tabernacle into it.

The significance and sacramental nature of water is evident throughout the scriptures. These are some examples, but not all.

The Parting of the Red Sea

Exodus 14:15 
And the Lord said to Moses: Why criest thou to me? Speak to the children of Israel to go forward.

Exodus 14:16 
But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch forth thy hand over the sea, and divide it: that the children of Israel may go through the midst of the sea on dry ground.

Exodus 14:17 
And I will harden the heart of the Egyptians to pursue you: and I will be glorified in Pharao, and in all his host, and in his chariots and in his horsemen.

Exodus 14:18 
And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall be glorified in Pharao, and in his chariots, and in his horsemen.

Exodus 14:19 
And the angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, removing, went behind them: and together with him the pillar of the cloud, leaving the forepart,

Exodus 14:20 
Stood behind, between the Egyptians' camp and the camp of Israel: and it was a dark cloud, and enlightening the night, so that they could not come at one another all the night.

Exodus 14:21 
And when Moses had stretched forth his hand over the sea, the Lord took it away by a strong and burning wind blowing all the night, and turned it into dry ground: and the water was divided.

Exodus 14:22
And the children of Israel went in through the midst of the sea dried up; for the water was as a wall on their right hand and on their left.

Water from the Rock

Exodus 17:6 
Behold I will stand there before thee, upon the rock Horeb, and thou shalt strike the rock, and water shall come out of it that the people may drink. Moses did so before the ancients of Israel:

Exodus 17:7 
And he called the name of that place Temptation, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and for that they tempted the Lord, saying: Is the Lord amongst us or not?

The crossing of the river Jordan

Joshua 3:14 
So the people went out of their tents, to pass over the Jordan: and the priests that carried the ark of the covenant, went on before them.

Joshua 3:15 
And as soon as they came into the Jordan, and their feet were dipped in part of the water, (now the Jordan, it being harvest time, had filled the banks of its channel,)

Joshua 3:16 
The waters that came down from above stood in one place, and swelling up like a mountain, were seen afar off, from the city that is called Adom, to the place of Sarthan: but those that were beneath, ran down into the sea of the wilderness, (which now is called the Dead Sea) until they wholly failed.

Joshua 3:17 
And the people marched over against Jericho: and the priests that carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, stood girded upon the dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all the people passed over, through the channel that was dried up.

The Vision of the Holy Waters

Ezechiel 47:1 
And he brought me again to the gate of the house, and behold waters issued out from under the threshold of the house toward the east: for the forefront of the house looked toward the east: but the waters came down to the right side of the temple to the south part of the altar.
 
Ezechiel 47:2 
And he led me out by the way of the north gate, and he caused me to turn to the way without the outward gate to the way that looked toward the east: and behold there ran out waters on the right side.

Ezechiel 47:3 
And when the man that had the line in his hand went out towards the east, he measured a thousand cubits: and he brought me through the water up to the ankles.

Ezechiel 47:4 
And again he measured a thousand, and he brought me through the water up to the knees.

Ezechiel 47:5 
And he measured a thousand, and he brought me through the water up to the loins. And he measured a thousand, and it was a torrent, which I could not pass over: for the waters were risen so as to make a deep torrent, which could not be passed over.

Ezechiel 47:6 
And he said to me: Surely thou hast seen, O son of man. And he brought me out, and he caused me to turn to the bank of the torrent.

Ezechiel 47:7 
And when I had turned myself, behold on the bank of the torrent were very many trees on both sides.

Ezechiel 47:8 
And he said to me: These waters that issue forth toward the hillocks of sand to the east, and go down to the plains of the desert, shall go into the sea, and shall go out, and the waters shall be healed.

Ezechiel 47:9 
And every living creature that creepeth whithersoever the torrent shall come, shall live: and there shall be fishes in abundance after these waters shall come thither, and they shall be healed, and all things shall live to which the torrent shall come.

Ezechiel 47:10 
And the fishers shall stand over these waters, from Engaddi even to Engallim there shall be drying of nets: there shall be many sorts of the fishes thereof, as the fishes of the great sea, a very great multitude:

Ezechiel 47:11 
But on the shore thereof, and in the fenny places they shall not be healed, because they shall be turned into saltpits.

Ezechiel 47:12 
And by the torrent on the banks thereof on both sides shall grow all trees that bear fruit: their leaf shall not fall off, and their fruit shall not fail: every month shall they bring forth firstfruits, because the waters thereof shall issue out of the sanctuary: and the fruits thereof shall be for food, and the leaves thereof for medicine.

The Baptism of Jesus

Matthew 3:13 
Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to the Jordan, unto John, to be baptized by him.

Matthew 3:14 
But John stayed him, saying: I ought to be baptized by thee, and comest thou to me?

Matthew 3:15 
And Jesus answering, said to him: Suffer it to be so now. For so it becometh us to fulfil all justice. Then he suffered him.

Matthew 3:16 
And Jesus being baptized, forthwith came out of the water: and lo, the heavens were opened to him: and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon him.

Matthew 3:17 
And behold a voice from heaven saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

The Cure at the Pool of Bethsaida

John 5:1 
After these things was a festival day of the Jews: and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

John 5:2 
Now there is at Jerusalem a pond, called Probatica, which in Hebrew is named Bethsaida, having five porches.

John 5:3 
In these lay a great multitude of sick, of blind, of lame, of withered: waiting for the moving of the water.

John 5:4 
And an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond and the water was moved. And he that went down first into the pond after the motion of the water was made whole of whatsoever infirmity he lay under.

John 5:5 
And there was a certain man there that had been eight and thirty years under his infirmity.

John 5:6 
Him when Jesus had seen lying, and knew that he had been now a long time, he saith to him: Wilt thou be made whole?

John 5:7 
The infirm man answered him: Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pond. For whilst I am coming, another goeth down before me.

John 5:8 
Jesus saith to him: Arise, take up thy bed and walk.

John 5:9 
And immediately the man was made whole: and he took up his bed and walked. And it was the sabbath that day.

Blood and Water

John 19:34 
But one of the soldiers with a spear opened his side: and immediately there came out blood and water.

Water and Spirit

John 3:5 
Jesus answered: Amen, amen, I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.