What Is Your Holy Water?

I volunteer as a substitute teacher for the Religious Education program in our parish.  I never know what age group I will have until they call me to take a class. The last time I was called, it happened to be the Kindergarten class.  They were a lively bunch but well-behaved.  

I noticed one of the little girls brought a bottle of holy water with her.  She carefully placed it on the desk she was using, and I couldn’t help but be curious about its presence with her.  She cautioned the boys who tried to pick it up not to touch it, so I knew it had to be important to her.  

I finally had to ask! She told me she has times when she is “bad,” doing things she was told not to or fighting with her siblings. When this happens, she pulls out this bottle of holy water and gives herself a good dose of it!  I couldn’t help but smile even though she was very serious about it.  

I had not met her before this night, but remembered hearing this story from her Stepmother and Dad, who are a part of the RCIA group I am helping with this year.   We laughed about it in that class when they shared her belief in using the holy water; but seeing the look on her face in person made it so real.

This little girl knows when she is misbehaving; but like all of us, she is human and it is difficult to keep from sinning.  Since she has not received the Sacrament of Reconciliation yet, this holy water has become her help to try to avoid sinning.  

On those really bad days, she thinks she might need to use it on her whole self – not just that sign of the cross!  We can find this amusing, but as I thought about it, I wondered what each of us need as our “holy water” each day? “...although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike” (Luke 10:21).

I discovered a long time ago that we can learn so much from the youngest of the young.  Perhaps it is because they might be misbehaving, but they can still maintain that sense of innocence.  We, as adults, lose that sense of innocence; and finding that “holy water” help can be a real challenge.

Scripture tells us we need to encounter life like a child.  What does that mean?  It’s so easy to stay at the intellectual level, to think I have nothing to learn because I already know.  We can hide from difficult truths that way.  

Being childlike means being teachable, seeing things without pretending we know it all before it happens.  If what is in front of me is delightful, I am delighted.  If it is upsetting, I am upset.  Don’t distance yourself from things to avoid feeling them.

So whatever it takes to be your “holy water” help, use it with the same depth of belief as this little girl.   I know her thoughts and heart are probably in the right place, just like all of us.  But we can always use that little bit of reminder that we are not perfect and it is good to have something to lean on for those tough times.  

God always gives us another chance; he always forgives us when we are truly sorry. Even if we may need that “holy water” help in the 32-ounce size!