How the church prays

During the Introductory Rites of Sunday Mass, the blessing and sprinkling of water may replace the act of penitence (the new name for the penitential rite) and the Kyrie. The steps for this rite are as follows: 1) invitation to pray, 2) brief silent prayer, 3) blessing of water, 4) optional blessing of and adding salt to the water, 5) sprinkling of all while an antiphon or song is sung, 6) concluding prayer, and 7) assent of the people. The priest begins this ritual act with an invitation to pray using these or similar words:

Dear friends,
this water will be used
to remind us of our baptism.
Let us ask God to bless it,
and to keep us faithful
to the Spirit he has given us.

In the opening address:
God almighty, creator of all life …
water brings life and freshness …
[water] washes away our sins …
[water] brings us eternal life.

In the blessing of water:
We ask you to bless this water …
a fountain of salvation …
[recalling] freedom through the Red Sea … [the] new covenant … Christ’s baptism.

In the blessing of the people:
Renew the living spring of life within us …;
protect us in spirit and body …;
free [us] from sin … illness … [the] power of evil …;
renew us in holiness …;
remind us of baptism …;
admit us into your presence
to receive your gift of salvation.

While Eucharist is at the heart of our sacramental life, baptism is the beginning of it. The church urges this first sacrament be celebrated during the Easter Vigil or on a Sunday because that is the Lord’s Day, the day of resurrection. In baptism, each new person in Christ is “washed clean of sin and freed from all defilement” (Easter proclamation). This is why, every year at the Easter Vigil and on Easter Sunday in the United States, each member of the faithful recalls this burial washing by renewing baptismal promises and being sprinkled with baptismal water.

What the church learns by believing

Baptism is so necessary to the church’s belief and sacramental understanding that its members look for frequent ways to remember this truth. The faithful go to the baptismal font every time they come into the church and sign themselves with water. People are encouraged to keep blessed water in their homes for blessing things and themselves. Ministers carry holy water with them on visits to the sick and the dying.

No one should regret that the act of penitence is replaced by the blessing and sprinkling of water. Another name for penance is “second baptism” or “second conversion” (see Catechism of the Catholic Church 1425–1429). In this sacrament of healing, the purity and forgiveness of baptismal washing is restored. The act of penitence during Mass, which “lacks the efficacy of the Sacrament of Penance” (General Instruction of the Roman Missal 51), invites and urges us to celebrate it with frequency. Sprinkling does the same, for in the concluding prayer the priest prays:

May almighty God cleanse us of our sins,
and through the eucharist we celebrate
make us worthy to sit at his table
in his heavenly kingdom.

Lord Jesus, from your wounded side flowed streams of cleansing water: the world was washed of all its sin, all life made new again, alleluia (Roman Missal, Appendix 1, “Rite of Blessing and Sprinkling Holy Water, 4).

• General Instruction of the Roman Missal 51
• Introduction to the Order of Mass 74
• Paul Turner’s book Let Us Pray: A Guide to the Rubrics of Sunday Mass, especially paragraphs 227–241 ML

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