The power of blessed salt Blessed Salt - A Powerful Sacramental of the Catholic Church Salt blessed by the priest, is a sacramental, and is used in much the same way as holy water, to invoke a blessing. It is an instrument of grace that helps in keeping one from evil, sickness, and demonic influence. *****The power of blessed salt does not come from the salt itself, but in the blessing given by the Catholic Church.**** You can sprinkle a modest amount of salt in your bedrooms, across thresholds to prevent burglary, in your car for safety and most especially for cooking. Results are always dependent on ones faith and devotion to Jesus when using the sacramental. BLESSED SALT Rev. John H. Hampsch, C.M.F. There is a renewed interest today in the ancient sacramental of blessed salt, especially by charismatics, in healing and deliverance situations. To understand its proper use and its efficacy, it is helpful to review the Scriptural symbolism and its history, since Vatican II urges us to participate intelligently and actively in the use of sacramentals, just as in the use of Sacraments. Salt in the ancient world was a precious commodity (even monopolized by the royalty in Egypt and Persia). Roman soldiers were partially paid with packets of salt (sal in Latin); this was the origin of our word salary and of phrases like worth his salt,. Being costly, salt was an appropriate offering to God as a covenant of salt (Lev. 2:13; II Chron. 13:5; Num. 18:19) used in sacrifices by the Israelites (Ezck. 43:24) and for the accompanying sacrificial meal (Gen. 31:54). Belief in salts preservative and healing properties led to its use to dry and harden the skin of newborns (Ezek. 16:4) and to prevent umbilical cord infection. Used for 3500 years to preserve meats from deterioration, it became a symbol of preservation and spiritual incorruptibility that was to characterize anyone offering sacrificial worship. Shared at the sacrificial meal, salt became a symbol of friendship and hospitality, a custom and symbolism still used today in Arab culture. Jesus referred to this salt symbolized friendship covenant in Mark 9:50: Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another–that is. preserve that quality (flavor) that makes you a blessing to one another. (Note the double symbol of preservation and flavoring.) This double primary symbolization is also found in Paul’s advice in Col. 4:6: Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. That is, let it be wholesome and savory, preserved from the corrupting conversation of worldlings (3:8 and Eph 4:29). (His use of the word salt may also have referred to another of its symbols: spiritual wisdom, since the Latin word for savor or taste, sapientia, is the same as for wisdom.) Some or all of these symbols may have been implied in Jesus’ words to his chosen ones, describing them as the salt of the earth (Matt. 5:13). He especially indicated that they were to oppose the world’s corruption, reminding them that, as salt must preserve its own anti-corruptive quality, they too must preserve their anti-corruptive influence in a sin-corrupted world. (See Luke 14:34). The blessing promised by God on food and water, as well as the prevention of miscarriages and agricultural catastrophes (Exod. 23:25-26) was extended by God through Elisha in Jericho (II Kings 2:20-21), when he was inspired to put salt into the contaminated water. Adding salt to already brackish water to decontaminate it made the miracle all the more impressive, since one would expect the opposite effect. This first miracle of Elisha is the primary Scriptural basis for the sacramental use of blessed salt today, as the Roman Ritual indicates. As a Catholic sacramental, salt blessed by the liturgical prayer of a priest may be used by itself, unmixed, as in exorcisms, and formerly in the exorcistic prayer at baptism, or it may be mixed with water to make holy water, as the Ritual prescribes (reminiscent of Elisha’s miracle). In whichever form, it is intended to be an instrument of grace to preserve one from the corruption of evil occurring as sin sickness, demonic influence, or other manifestation. As in the case of all sacramentals, its power comes not from the sign itself, but by means of the Church’s official (liturgical, not private) prayer of blessing–a power the Church derives from Christ himself (see Matt. 16:19 and 18:18). As the Vatican II document on the Liturgy states (art. 61), both Sacraments and sacramentals sanctify us, not of themselves, but by power flowing from the redemptive act of Jesus, elicited by the Church’s intercession to be directed through those external signs and elements. Hence sacramentals like blessed salt and holy water are not to be used superstitiously as having self-contained power, but as focus-points funneling one’s faith toward Jesus, just as a flag is used as a focus-point of patriotism, or as handkerchiefs were used to focus faith for healing and deliverance by Paul (Acts 19:12). Thus used non-superstitiously, modest amounts of salt may be sprinkled in one’s bedroom, or across thresholds to prevent burglary, in cars for safety, etc. A few grains in drinking water or used in cooking or as food seasoning often bring astonishing spiritual and physical benefits, as I have personally witnessed many times. As with the use of Sacraments, much depends on the faith and devotion of the person using salt or any sacramental. This faith must be Jesus-centered, as was the faith of the blind man in John 9; he had faith in Jesus, not in the mud and spittle used by Jesus to heal him. In light of this, we can see why Vatican II states that there is hardly any proper use of material things which cannot thus be directed toward the sanctification of persons and the praise of God. (art. 61 of Liturgy document). Hence new sacramentals may also be added when rituals are revised (art. 79). { Blessed salt is certainly not a new sacramental, but the Holy Spirit seems to be leading many to a new interest in its remarkable power as an instrument of grace and healing.} Any amount may be presented to a priest for his blessing, using the following official prayer from the Roman Ritual: Almighty God, we ask you to bless this salt, as once you blessed the salt scattered over the water by the prophet Elisha. Wherever this salt (and water) is sprinkled, drive away the power of evil, and protect us always by the presence of your Holy Spirit. Grant this through Christ our Lord Amen. Blessed Salt - A Powerful Sacramental of the Catholic Church Salt blessed by the priest, is a sacramental, and is used in much the same way as holy water, to invoke a blessing. It is an instrument of grace that helps in keeping one from evil, sickness, and demonic influence. The power of blessed salt does not come from the salt itself, but in the blessing given by the Catholic Church. You can sprinkle a modest amount of salt in your bedrooms, across thresholds to prevent burglary, in your car for safety and most especially for cooking. Results are always dependent on ones faith and devotion to Jesus when using the sacramental. We had the Salt Blessed by our Roman Catholic Priest with the following Prayer: Almighty God, we ask you to bless this salt, as once you blessed the salt scattered over the water by the prophet Elisha. Wherever this salt (and water) is sprinkled, drive away the power of evil, and protect us always by the presence of your Holy Spirit. Grant this through Christ our Lord Amen. We had the Salt Blessed by our Roman Catholic Priest with the following Prayer: Almighty God, we ask you to bless this salt, as once you blessed the salt scattered over the water by the prophet Elisha. Wherever this salt (and water) is sprinkled, drive away the power of evil, and protect us always by the presence of your Holy Spirit. Grant this through Christ our Lord Amen. Sacramentals of Protection compiled by Catherine Fournier Sacramentals are devotional actions and objects instituted by the Church to assist us in practicing the acts of virtue which obtain Gods graces. Unlike sacraments which actually deliver grace, sacramentals prepare us to receive grace. Perhaps more than anything else, it is sacramentals which make us distinctively Catholic. Sacramentals are not the whole of our faith, by any means, they are not sacraments, they do not redeem souls, they are optional items. But sacramentals teach. A sign of the Cross, a crucifix in every room, a rosary in our pocket, going to the Church for First Fridays or the Stations of the Cross, celebrating a saints feast day, these are the things that show us as Catholic to our neighbour and teach our faith to our children. They open our hearts to Gods graces, and they also open us to the scrutiny and questions of those around us. A good thing. The sacramentals of protection are those actions and objects which turn our hearts towards God, always remembering that He is our refuge and our hope. They acknowledge our helplessness against the snares of the devil and the lures of the world, our weakness against sin without Gods help. And as they need to be, these sacramentals are very powerful. Blessed Salt by Maria Hernandez, used with permission. This information is taken from a pamphlet written by Father Hampsch. You can obtain the entire pamphlet, tapes, and books by contacting his ministry at Claretian Tape Ministry, P.O. Box 19100, Los Angeles, CA 90019 Blessed salt is an instrument of grace to preserve one from the corruption of evil occurring as sin, sickness, demonic influence, etc. As in the case of all sacramentals, its power comes not from the sign itself, but by means of the Churchs official (liturgical, not private) prayer of blessing -- a power the Church derives from Christ Himself. (see Matt. 16:19 and 18:18). As the Vatican II document on the Liturgy states, both Sacraments and sacramentals sanctify us, not of themselves, but by power flowing from the redemptive act of Jesus, elicited by the Churchs intercession to be directed through those external signs and elements. Hence sacramentals like blessed salt, holy water, medals, etc., are not to be used superstitiously as having self-contained power, but as focus points funneling ones faith toward Jesus, just as a flag is used as a focus point of patriotism, or as handkerchiefs were used to focus faith for healing and deliverance (Acts 19:12). Thus, used non-superstitiously, modest amounts of blessed salt may be sprinkled in ones bedroom, or across thresholds to prevent burglary, in cars for safety, etc. A few grains of blessed salt in drinking water or used in cooking or as food seasoning often bring astonishing spiritual and physical benefits. As with the use of Sacraments, much depends on the faith and devotion of the person using salt or any sacramental. This faith must be Jesus-centered, as was the faith of the blind man in John 9; he had faith in Jesus, not in the mud and spittle used by Jesus to heal him. Blessed salt is not a new sacramental, but the Holy Spirit seems to be leading many to a new interest in its remarkable power as an instrument of grace and healing. Any amount of salt may be presented to a priest for his blessing using the following official prayer from the Roman Ritual: Almighty God, we ask you to bless this salt, as once you blessed the salt scattered over the water by the prophet Elisha. Wherever this salt (and water) is sprinkled, drive away the power of evil, and protect us always by the presence of your Holy Spirit. Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen If you are interested in getting blessed salt, print this information out and present the blessing prayer to your parish priest. Ask him to bless the salt for you using the official prayer from the Roman Ritual printed above. If its not possible for you to get your priest to do this, you can write me for a starter supply of blessed salt. Please send a stamped self addressed envelope to: M. Hernandez, 15581 W. 141 St, Olathe, KS 66062. Mention that youd like the blessed salt. I dont include any information about its use, as its all printed here, so print this information out for yourself if you want the blessed salt. I can personally attest to the power of this sacramental to keep away evil. When we first moved to this house, a very evil family lived next door. The man and woman were not married, he was a drug dealer, she was ...I dont know what. Their teenaged boys were almost worse, loud, destructive and violent. We had rocks and bricks thrown against our house, the childrens bikes were stolen, their basketball net was broken and our lawn was regularily littered with broken bottles. We considered moving to get our children away from this family and the danger they presented. A family friend presented us with a large container of blessed salt, and (feeling very conspicuous) I sprinkled it around the perimeter of our yard. Within a week, there was a For Sale sign. Next door. Holy Oils (Olea Sacra) Holy Oil represents strength, sweetness and spiritual activity. Christians are referred to as the athletes of Christ and so are anointed with holy oil to remain spiritually strong. The Church uses three oils in its liturgies: the Oil of Catechumens at Baptism and Holy Orders, the Holy Chrism at Baptism, Confirmation and Episcopal Ordinations, and the Oil of the Sick, used in the Anointing of the Sick. None of these oils are appropriate for use in the home. There are other oils available that are used as sacramentals, to anoint the sick or family members. This oil is typically taken from oil lamps burning at a shrine. Saint Josephs Oil is obtained from Saint Josephs Oratory in Montreal, and blessed Saint Philomena Oil is available for a donation from: The Universal Living Rosary Association, P.O. Box 1303, Dickinson, TX 77539. Again, the oil itself has no healing properties, it is the faith of the user that is powerful. The oils may be used to rub sore muscles or anoint a child who is struggling with a problem at school or with friends. Medals Medals are also effective protection for our home and family in situations where salt or water will be washed off (even nine year old boys bathe occasionally!) The commonest of these sacramental protections are Saint Benedict medals which can be placed above the doorways of your home for safety and protection. Blessed Saint Benedict medals can be ordered for 15 cents each from: The Benedictine Mission House, P.O. Box 528, Schuyler, NE 68661-0528. Many people wear medals on chains around their necks. These are also protective sacramentals. Holy Water This is a very common and well-known sacramental that should be in every home. It can be kept in a holy water font in a prominent place so that members of the family can bless themselves upon entering and leaving the house, and before bedtime. It can be sprinkled on family members during blessings, around the home while invoking the protection of the saints and angels, and even drunk. Your parishs years supply of Holy Water is blessed at the Easter Vigil. It is a wonderfully moving ceremony, one that has been celebrated in every parish around the world for hundreds of years. You feel part of the tradition of centuries while watching it. Some people fiddle around with adding plain water to Holy Water in order to stretch their supply and caution not to exceed certain proportions of each. Holy Water is simple enough to obtain and used in such minute quantities, even when used a lot, that this should not be necessary. Worshippers march to keep gangs away VIDEO: Churchgoers in a formerly violent part of Santa Ana put their faith in an annual walk. By AMY TAXIN The Orange County Register SANTA ANA – Singing softly, parishioners from St. Joseph Church wound through the streets of Santa Ana, trailing a cluster of Catholic priests who doused the pavement with holy water. More than 200 people filled the streets of the parish Sunday for an annual tradition – a blessing of the streets to ask for peace in a neighborhood once ravaged by gang violence. And while the tree-lined neighborhood has improved, parishioners say they wont give up a ritual they say has answered their prayers. We feel the spirit of God, the power of God was over this whole area, said Nive Brown of Santa Ana. (Story continues below...) The blessing of the streets dates to 1993, when two gangs were battling for control of the densely packed Minter Street neighborhood, leaving teens and a 2-year-old dead in the gunfire. Christopher Smith, then a pastor at St. Joseph Church, was working with teens caught up in gangs, trying to find a way to reduce the violence. We thought: We need to take the streets back for God. Smith got together with parishioners and other clergy and organized a Palm Sunday procession as a way of cleaning the neighborhood of violence at the entry to the holiest week of the year for Catholics, when they mark the final hours and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Over time, the blessing of the streets became a tradition. On Sunday, St. Joseph pastor John Moneypenny led the procession, stopping and kneeling to pray at altars along the way. Worshippers followed him, chanting prayers in Spanish and English to the strumming of guitars while students served as crossing guards, directing traffic. In an opening prayer in the church, Moneypenny asked parishioners to keep praying for peace in residents homes to root out drug use and domestic violence. He asked for prayer for those who have lost homes in the housing crisis or are suffering in the economic downturn. We thank God for the reduction in violence, but there is still a lot we need to pray for, he said. On the walk, parents pushed children in strollers. One woman carried a rosary. Rain fell as the group meandered through the streets and neighbors popped out to wave or join in. It is beautiful, said Coti Garcia, who continues to walks every year with her husband, Roberto, even though they moved to Anaheim. Mary Zimmerman said she remembers walking past apartment buildings covered in graffiti when the tradition began – a sight she no longer sees near the church shes attended for nearly 60 years. The whole thing is, its the community together. We feel that if we continue to bless the streets, these people will leave us alone. ASKING FOR PEACE: St. Joseph Church in Santa Ana holds its annual blessing of the streets during Palm Sunday. MINDY SCHAUER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER POWER OF BLESSED SALT FOUND IN CHURCH TRADITIONS AND REMARKABLE TESTIMONIES See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.Its said that what is good is the salt of the earth and so we give to the earth salt that is blessed instead of succumbing to the pepper of the enemy. It is a remedy for our time, a remedy whose time has come. As the priest in blessing it says, O salt, creature of God, I exorcise you by the living (blesses) God, by the true (blesses) God, by the holy (blesses) God, by the God who ordered you to be poured into the water by Elisha the prophet, so that its life-giving powers might be restored. I exorcise you so that you may become a means of salvation for believers, that you may bring health of soul and body to all who make use of you, and that you may put to flight and drive away from the places where you are sprinkled every apparition, villainy, turn of devilish deceit, and every unclean spirit; adjured by him who will come to judge the living and the dead and the world by fire. This is powerful stuff! After a recent retreat in San Francisco, those who attended bought many pounds of salt and spread it from Berkeley and Haight-Asbury all the way down to Camarillo on the outskirts of Los Angeles! Thats much of California. Last year, we did the same in the East Coast of Florida (and will speak more about it at an upcoming retreat in a truly special city, St. Augustine, to be followed, God-willing, by retreats in the Chicago and Philadelphia areas). We urge the spreading of salt everywhere -- especially in those places where evil seeks to defeat what is holy. Many already had done so. More need to. One person suggested spreading blessed salt in local rivers and lakes. How about Hollywood. How about government offices. How about near genetic labs. One viewer sprinkled some in the Supreme Court. Said another named Tosca: Do you remember a couple of years ago when my sister first came back to the Church after 34 years? I told her about the exorcised salt and how I had sprinkled it in her house in New Hampshire every time I went to visit. She was told that a priest had blessed all the road salt that would be used that winter, so every time the salt trucks went out they spread blessed salt. Think how much was tracked into homes, businesses, and was thrown up under car frames! Are you going to New York, or Disney World? Can you pinch it out the window of your car wherever you live? Might it have made a difference in New Orleans? Just sprinkle the salt and spray the Holy Water, says Tony Rocha of Saginaw, Michigan. Dont say anything to anyone and watch how the mood changes. When it is particularly bad here, there is an ex-Catholic, practicing witch in the office next to mine. I spray the Holy Water every hour or so and play the Divine Mercy chaplet softly on my computer with the live picture of the Blessed Sacrament. Also there are five hundred Miraculous Medals around our diocese that no one knows about. I enjoyed reading your leading article on spreading blessed salt, said a woman named Carole. I have spread many Miraculous Medals thru out the USA. Once while visiting New Orleans a few years before the hurricane, I went down the street leading to the cathedral and there were tables set up for palm reading, tarot cards, and so forth. Satan was alive and well. I flipped a few Miraculous Medals on the ground and prayed for all those involved in Satanic rituals and anyone walking by. Next day we took a bus tour thru the city and my husband told me Mary was working. The street I had spread the medals was closed for the day for maintenance and no one was there with their tables. At least, for a day we saw some results. I have asked many people to bury a scapular or Miraculous Medal on the four corners of their property. I also go around our yard several times a year and spread holy water and pray for protection and that no one commit a mortal sin inside our property. I now plan to do the same with blessed salt. I was a delegate to the Episcopalian Churchs General Convention in Denver in 2000, writes another, Rev. Canon Nelson Koscheski, now priest-in-charge of St. Johns Anglican Church, Brownwood, Texas (and serving in this denomination thats in turmoil over gay marriage). I placed blessed salt under some diocesan deputy tables, under the Presidents Chair, and under each speakers platform. When the sodomite lobby and their mainline supporters discovered their blessing, they were furious. I was forced to resign my office by the bishop of Dallas and his chancellor -- even though they had known beforehand what I was doing. They denied any knowledge of the act. Point being: when sacramentals appear, the evil reaction is sometimes very severe. Be ready and know that you are a witness! Just to confirm the power of blessed salt -- our deliverance team that includes three priests has been praying with a woman who borders on possession, manifesting strong infestation, writes a charismatic Los Angeles evangelist, Kathleen Beckman. This past week the enemy reacted violently when the priests poured official Roman Rite blessed salt. I was a little surprised because usually the Holy Water causes this effect. But the power of blessed salt seemed to do greater harm to the evil spirits. Added a monsignor who wrote us: As the old pre-Vatican II blessing for Holy Water, is now permissible again, thanks to the Italian exorcists petitioning the Holy See for it, the first part, the old Blessing of Salt, is permissible again too. It can be found in any pre-1965 Ritual book, or at the back of an old Missal for those priests who still know Latin. Or, the old blessing for Holy Water is in an appendix to the new Rite of Exorcism. The old Blessing of Salt is much longer than the one paragraph prayer you quoted from the new Sacramentary and it is a much more powerful prayer, when one realizes that wherever the Blessed Salt is sprinkled, the whole prayer is again effected [see below for prayer]. It is a power that breaks through darkness. It is a power that always wins in the end. I was at the conference in San Francisco, writes Eileen Carol. Regarding the importance of salt -- in Leviticus 2:13: You shall season all your cereal offerings with salt; you shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be lacking from your cereal offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt. The Navarre Bible explains (word for word): Salt was one of the necessary ingredients in certain kinds of sacrifice (Ezra 6:9). It was used to add savor to the foods stuffs offered on sacrifice and then eaten in the sacred meal. But it was used mainly because of its quality of preserving things from corruption -- thereby symbolizing the enduring, inviolable quality of the covenant (2 Chronicles 13:5). Thank you for your article on blessed salt, added a viewer named Anna Castillo. I use it all the time. One of my friends also sprinkled the blessed salt wherever the Call to Action group (those promoting women priests and other practices) were planning to meet. That group would then have to move and would not be able to meet at the designated locations. She followed them all over the city. It created quite a problem for them. I was given to understand that the power to withdraw various regions of the earth from Satans dominion by means of a blessing is signified by the words: Ye are the salt of the earth. For the same reason is salt one of the ingredients of holy water. benedictinchairWas not one of the Popes most famous books entitled Salt of the Earth? Recounts a woman named Darlene Serbicki from Kendall, New York: When we first moved here in 1999 we suspected that there might be problems at this location. We bought an old farmhouse in the country on a corner that is sometimes called Dead Man’s Curve. Everywhere I went, as soon as people found out where I lived, the stories would come out. It seems that everyone in town hit our fence, our barn, our porch, or knew someone who did. We bought the house in August and worked on it until November when we moved in. The main road has quite a curve to it. At the apex of this curve a small county road ts into it. The first winter wasn’t bad. The pole with the corner streetlamp on it was knocked over, but that was about it. That spring though the high school coach went off the road into the creek bed -- a 15-foot drop. That accident was for us the first of many. I think the power pole in front of our home was next. It was snapped off at the base. Luckily no one was hurt, not even when the driver went back into the car with power lines lying across it to retrieve his cell phone. The electric lines were ripped off our home and a new electric box had to be installed. The day that the power company came out to do that, some one hit the pole again. There have been many, many more accidents. Our garage was hit. Luckily, if you believe in luck, my husband had moved the gas cans the day before. I hate to think what would have happened when those teenagers came through the garage wall with two full gas cans sitting there against it! Our barn has been hit two or three times. After the last time we took it down, the damage was too great. Cars have been pulled out of the creek bed several times. They’ve ended up in our orchard or in drainage ditches and there isn’t much left to the fence on the corner. My husband started sleeping with a bright orange shirt nearby on stormy nights in case he was needed. Sometimes you wouldn’t hear the accident, but there would be someone pounding on our door in the middle of the night. I’ve had very drunk, bleeding people sitting in our dining room waiting for the sheriff to arrive. We’ve gotten to know the volunteer fireman better than most people. I stopped telling people about the accidents. Unless you live near here it’s too unbelievable. I started noticing the funny look people would give me when I told them that there was another one. I think some people were starting to think that I was just making it up. August 2005 was the worst. Until then, although cars had been totaled, no serious injuries had occurred. One week after the power pole in front of our house had been taken out again, a woman on a motorcycle lost control and hit the walnut tree in our front yard. Our family prayer a Divine Mercy chaplet for her as the paramedics worked on her on the front lawn. She died right there. We were horrified, we felt somehow responsible. We had to do something. We got some blessed salt, a bottle of holy water, and grabbed our rosaries. My husband and I circled our property and the intersection while we sprinkled and prayed. We lost count after twenty accidents in six years, but now it’s quiet. It’s been 19 months and no major mishaps. That’s two winters, praise God!
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 09:55:07 +0000