While the holy water fonts are emptied from the Mass of the Lord's Supper until they are refilled with water blessed at the Easter Vigil, they should not be emptied prior to Holy Thursday. The following letter from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments rejects this practice. Note the strong bias
(reason 1) against inventing practices not called for in the liturgical law.
Forcibly rejected is the argument used by some to justify their abuses that "It is not forbidden, so I can do it." In reality, no one may do in that liturgy that which is not prescribed by the Church, specifically the Apostolic See, who alone has authority over it (SC 22, canon 838.
CONGREGATION DE CULTU DIVINO ET DISCIPLINA
SACRAMENTORUM
Prot. N. 569/00/L Dear Father:
March 14, 2000
This Congregation for Divine
Worship has received your letter sent by fax in which you ask
whether it is in accord with liturgical law to remove the Holy
Water from the fonts for the duration of the season of Lent.
This Dicastery is able to respond
that the removing of Holy Water from the fonts during the season
of Lent is not permitted, in particular, for two reasons:
1. The liturgical
legislation in force does not foresee this innovation, which
in addition to being praeter legem is contrary to a
balanced understanding of the season of Lent, which though
truly being a season of penance, is also a season rich in the
symbolism of water and baptism, constantly evoked in
liturgical texts.
2. The encouragement of the
Church that the faithful avail themselves frequently of
the [sic] of her sacraments and sacramentals is to
be understood to apply also to the season of Lent. The
"fast" and "abstinence" which the faithful
embrace in this season does not extend to abstaining from the
sacraments or sacramentals of the Church. The practice of the
Church has been to empty the Holy Water fonts on the days of
the Sacred Triduum in preparation of the blessing of the water
at the Easter Vigil, and it corresponds to those days on which
the Eucharist is not celebrated (i.e., Good Friday and Holy
Saturday).
Hoping that this resolves the
question and with every good wish and kind regard, I am,
Sincerely yours in Christ,
[signed]
Mons. Mario Marini Undersecretary
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