Holy Water? What Makes the Water of Baptism Holy Water?

As I've said in an earlier blog entry this week, I love the sacraments!

Whenever I baptize someone (I prefer dunking due to the powerful imagery and symbolism, but sprinkling or pouring will work just fine) I make it a point to note that the water we use for baptism is normal tap water. It's not some special water from the Jordan River (the river which Jesus was baptized in), or water that has been blessed by the Pope or some other "special" super-duper Christian person.

In fact there is nothing in particular about the water that makes the event of baptism any different than the shower or bath the person the person hopefully took earlier. It wouldn't matter if that water had come from the kitchen sink, or Jordan River, or the waters of Jupiter. It's not about the water. 

The thing that makes the event of baptism any different than all the other times that particular human being has gotten wet is that when we pray in faith and claim the promises of God through baptism, God takes that ordinary water and transforms it into the waters of baptism which seals and places a mark that will forever set that individual apart as belonging to God.

It's not the water that makes the difference. It's all God. It's all the promises of God. And it's all about placing our faith in the promises of God. And when that happens, God transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary.

Thanks be to God for his incredible promises and for the gift of baptism.