Holy Water Fonts

Dave was raised as a Lutheran. His mother was Lutheran. His mother's parents had been Lutheran. He came from a strong family tradition. His father was not Lutheran, though. His father was Catholic, a man raised by a woman with an extremely strong Catholic faith.

His father was the oldest son. When his grandmother passed away, many of her personal effects were passed on to Dave's father. The box contained personal papers, a crucifix and something we could not quite identify. It was porcelain. A angel figure was at the top. The bottom was a small basin. It looked like there were hard water deposits in it, but we could not figure out what it was or what it meant.

Dave did some research. He found out it was a holy water font. Based on the design, it was probably one which had been located in a child's room at one time. Traditionally, it would hold holy water for family blessings or blessings of the room where it was. We discussed it and prayed about it, and felt called to place it by our front door. It rested there for several years, getting sporadic use. We had good intentions, but good intentions do not always translate into action.

We had some remodeling done on our home and took down the holy water font to ensure it was not damaged. After the remodeling was completed, the font did not go back up. Time passed by and one day we realized how long it had been since it was in place.

We talked again, and prayed some more. The holy water font from Dave's grandmother's home was put away, for now. It was old and fragile and we were afraid it would be broken. Instead, as a family, we chose a new holy water font for our front door and a holy water font for each of the boys' bedrooms.

The holy water font has a place by our front door again. It is the Holy Family. At the bottom is a slightly larger basin. We fill it with holy water from our Church. Each weekday morning, we have family prayer before we go our separate ways to work and to school. At the end of our prayer, each member of the family receives a blessing with holy water.

The font stays full. Some of us choose to bless ourselves more than just in the morning. Some of us choose to stay with just the one blessing. Some of us make different choices on different days. It is always available, though.

Bringing forward an older tradition has brought our family closer together, both our family living with us and our immediate ancestors. I think of Dave's grandmother. I wonder if she felt with her sons the way I feel with mine as I make the sign of the cross on their foreheads. I wonder if this will be a tradition my children bring to their homes when they grow up. Will they feel like I do when they make the sign of the cross on their children's foreheads?