From a reader…
QUAERITUR:
Is it a sin to drink/use to cook/use for other purposes BLESSED WATER A/O SALT?
No, it is not a sin! On the contrary. Blessed salt and bless water are meant, among other purposes, also for consumption. There is a caveat, however.
In the traditional exorcism of the salt, the priest prays: “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.” And it its blessing, he prays: “May all who use it find in it a remedy for body and mind.”
There are also blessings for many other foods, intended to help especially the sick, such as the blessing for wine and all manner of foods. If it is common fare, there’s probably a blessing for it.
The problem is that sometimes Holy Water is not “fresh”. The salt slows the water going bad, but it doesn’t hold it off indefinitely. I would not use anything for cooking or consumption that wasn’t just blessed and then stored well. That goes for every other kind of waters.
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I keep a 5 gallon jug of Epiphany water near my kitchen with a hand pump on it. My parents were visiting, and my dad, thinking it was regular water filled up my coffee maker reservoir with it. At least I know if there was any evil spirits occupying my coffee maker they were gone shortly thereafter.
This reminds me that I want to get a case of wine to be blessed on the feast of St. John and used throughout the year.
A few years ago we used a cooler for our drinking water. At that time we had five jugs of water (like in the picture above) blessed for the feast of the Epiphany. We used four of them for drinking, until they were gone and then kept the fifth for use through the year, for filling our Holy water font, sprinkling the house each evening, and blessing the children. (We even snuck some into the font at a church that was being opened for one day for a special Mass) We just finished it off recently.
We also get our table salt blessed. That, also, needs replenishing.
What about oil Father? Can we use blessed oil in our food and our baking?
MrsMacD says: Can we use blessed oil
Of course! Again, I recommend cooking with good, fresh oil!
I had a priest refuse to bless my olive oil according to the Ritual because “We, as Catholics, don’t do that anymore.”
Philmont,
I’ve noticed that there has been a move away from Blessing oil for lay people to use because those of a more Charismatic Movement abuse it and treat like the the oils the bishop blesses (consecrates??) at the Chrism Mass.
I am still doubting that Holy Water is meant for profane purposes, like drinking or cooking. This would favor magical expectations. [No. No more than the way any sacramentals can be abused.] Blessing our food and drink at the table is another thing.
The same thoughts about oil. The blessed oil for baptism is different from the blessed oil for anointing the sick. Blessing oil for home use is again something else. I would not fry my eggs for breakfast in sacramental oils.
[There isn’t much of a difference between use of Holy Water for health of soul and body by sprinkling, touching and making the Sign of the Cross, and consuming.]