The Gospel of the Aspergillum

By Jerry D. Ousley

            Some of you have heard this story before.  Of course; when you get to be my age you have probably told your stories more times than you are old.  So, as usual, if you’ve heard this one, please entertain me by pretending you haven’t.  Anyway, way back in 1984 I was a chaplain assistant in the U.S. Army, stationed at Fort Myer, Virginia.  We could walk out the back door, literally about ten paces and step over the wall into Arlington Cemetery.  Our purpose and job was to set up for various services including both Protestant and Catholic, for church gatherings, weddings and funerals.  We did some very high brass services, as well as just common everyday services.

            I learned a lot about religion during my time at Fort Myer, some good and some bad.  Now if you are Catholic, I ask you to please pardon me for this story.  I was just a spit of a young man from Southern Indiana who grew up in Pentecostal churches.  I knew nothing about the Catholic Mass and practices other than the name. 

My first experience with holy water took place when I was brand new at the chapel.  There are small, very fancy trays (called fonts) mounted to the wall at each entrance into the sanctuary where those participating in Catholic Mass would dip their finger and do the sign of the cross before fully entering the room.  These frequently were emptied and so I dutifully got a cup of water from the tap and filled them.  One day my NCO noticed what I was doing and stopped me.  He asked me if I knew proper process, to which I replied, “Of course.  I’m filling these with fresh water for the people coming to service.”  He then went on to explain the meaning of holy water and showed me that I was to get it from the large container in a special room where the priest blessed it. I complied like a dutiful soldier should.

            But then, as the large container (called an Urn) became empty, I inquired as to how we were to go about getting more holy water.  The answer was this:  Fill the Urn with tap water, go get the priest and have him bless it.  Seemed simple, but what I discovered was that the priest was usually so busy it took him sometimes several days to get the time to bless the Urn of water in order to make it holy. 

I witnessed it one time and the process took less than thirty seconds.  The priest entered the room, stood in front of the Urn and rapidly pronounced some words in Latin, did the sign of the cross and left.  Therefore, the next time we ran out of holy water, instead of getting the priest and going through several days of wondering if it was going to be blessed in time, I just said, “Lord, You know this process.  You and I both know that there is nothing holy about this water.  Please, don’t let anyone find out that I didn’t get a priest to bless it.”  He didn’t and so for the rest of my three-year duration at the chapel, whenever we needed holy water, I just filled it and didn’t say anything to anyone.  If they thought about it maybe they thought the last blessing was a miracle and God just kept filling it up.  Again, please, if you are Catholic, I mean no disrespect but a guy’s got to do what a guy’s got to do.

            However, another use of the holy water was the use of the aspergillum.  This was a long, golden tube that had a ball with holes in the end.  The entire assembly was either overlaid with gold or was made to look like gold.  Inside the ball was a sponge.  When the aspergillum was dipped in a bowl of holy water the sponge was soaked in the water and the priest would sprinkle it on the people or object.  The four main uses of it were at the dedication of new babies, at Easter, at a wedding, and at a funeral.

            It made me to think of the sprinkling of our Lord, Jesus Christ’s shed blood.  1 Peter 1:2 says, “… Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ:  Grace to you and peace be multiplied.”  This verse is a part of Peter’s greeting in his letter.  Did you ever think about the “sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ?”  Just like the use of the aspergillum, His blood was sprinkled, basically for the same for events:

            His blood is sprinkled on us when we are born again – when we accept the sacrificial act of Jesus to cover our sin and forgive us.  It is like we are a new creature, a new creation and we are once again an infant, although a grown infant, new in the body of Christ.  He sprinkles us with His blood to atone, or cover our sin so that God doesn’t see our sin but the blood of His Son.

            Then, we become a part of the Bride of Christ – His Church – and we are sprinkled anew in the fellowship of believers.  We spend the rest of our days witnessing to others encouraging them to become a part of the body too.  And we are sprinkled in sanctification as a member of the bride.

            We are sprinkled at death first because we have become a new man and the old man is passed away.  Secondly when physical death comes to us, the sprinkling of the blood of Christ assures us of a place in the house of God.

            And finally, we are sprinkled at Easter, not because of a cute little bunny with eggs, but because Easter is when we celebrate our Lord’s resurrection, and we are raised in Him in newness of life.  He rose as the first fruits conquering sin and death for us.  We too have conquered sin and death in His resurrection.

            So maybe the aspergillum has a meaning after all.  Now I’m not going to buy one and go around sprinkling people, but maybe, just maybe, we can learn a lesson from the use of it, a lesson that can wonderfully, and greatly enhance the meaning of our salvation.  Are you sprinkled?

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.?  Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.