Devotion
How to Bless Your Home and Use Holy Water
Catholic devotion · 6 steps
Household blessings from the Book of Blessings, the right use of holy water at home, the Epiphany chalk blessing, blessing religious articles, and keeping a prayer corner.
6 steps · About 15 minutes
Sacramentals are sacred signs instituted by the Church — blessings, holy water, blessed objects — which prepare us to receive grace and sanctify the ordinary occasions of life. Among them the Catechism gives first place to blessings, and it notes that while some blessings are reserved to the ordained, lay people may preside over certain of them, above all parents over their children and households. The Church's Book of Blessings therefore gives an order for the blessing of a home, and Catholic tradition surrounds the home with holy water at the door, the Epiphany inscription over it, a crucifix and an image of Our Lady on the wall, and a corner where the family prays. None of these are magic; all of them are the faith made visible where you live.
What you need
- Holy water, taken from the parish font or dispenser in a small bottle
- A crucifix and, if you wish, an image of Our Lady or a saint for the wall
- A copy of the household blessings — the Book of Blessings, or the USCCB's Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers
- For Epiphany, blessed chalk from the parish, or ordinary chalk you ask the priest to bless
When to pray it
A home blessing by a priest or deacon is usually asked for when a family moves in, and many parishes bless homes during the Easter season; the Epiphany blessing is done in the days around 6 January. Holy water is used daily, at the door and at bedtime.
Steps
Step 1: Ask the parish for a house blessing
Phone or visit the parish office and ask whether a priest or deacon could come to bless your home; most are glad to, and some parishes announce home blessings during the Easter season or around Epiphany. The Book of Blessings provides the order: a short greeting, a reading from Scripture (often Luke 19, Zacchaeus receiving Jesus into his house, or Luke 10, the disciples' greeting of peace), intercessions, the prayer of blessing asking that God's peace and protection rest on the house and all who live in it, and the sprinkling of the rooms with holy water. Have the family present, clear a table for a crucifix and candle, and walk with the minister from room to room; the blessing is of the household, not only of the walls.
Tips
- Holy water is taken, not bought: parishes keep a dispenser or will fill a bottle from the font, especially after the Easter Vigil, when the baptismal water has just been blessed.
- When holy water is old or a blessed object is beyond use, pour the water onto the earth and burn or bury the object; blessed things are not put in the rubbish.
- A blessing by a lay person is a real blessing, but it is not the same rite as a priest's. Invite the priest for the house; bless your children yourself every night.
- Keep the prayer corner simple and used. One crucifix in front of which the family actually prays is worth more than a wall of unnoticed images.