22. Meaning of the Mass - Holy Water and the Lavabo

Holy Water fonts at the entrance to the Church bring to mind our Baptism, which is how we entered the Church, the spiritual Body of Christ. Dipping our fingers in a Holy Water and making the sign of the Cross is how we enter the Church the physical building. The action of the priest washing his hands goes back hundreds of years when it was a practical necessity to clean his hands after receiving all the community's various gifts during the offertory. Now we spiritualize that action and the priest prays for interior purification so that he can offer the sacrifice of the Eucharist with a pure mind, heart, and soul.