When I was growing up, I was both awed and intimidated by church. It is hard to describe the wonder and fear that I felt in the face of all of that stained glass, all of those icons. It is either something that you have experienced, or something that you have not. Everything about church was pretty impressive to my child like mind. I fancied that the communion was really turning into the body and blood of Christ when I ate it. I thought that God was listening in to our particular church to hear the prayers and judge each person by the quality of his or her soul, but the biggest miracle for me was the holy water.
When I would wash my hands in the church holy water on the way in, I would suddenly feel clean and purified. It wasn't a subtle, intangible thing. It was like a shock to my whole being, something that was as concrete as if I had been blasted by a sudden waft of hot air. Suddenly, whatever I had been thinking a minute before when I was walking into the church was not important. The only thing that mattered was the service that was just about to start.
When I grew up, I stayed away from church for many, many years, but I finally came back again when I needed it most. Strangely enough, it was holy water that brought me back finally. I had been quite sick for a long time with a disease that none of my doctors could really figure out. No matter what I did, it would not go away. I did everything I could. I even took a trip to the holy river Ganges to bathe in the holy water there, but it did not help. Then, finally I turned back to my own faith. I went to the fountain of Lourdes to be healed. I bathed in Lourdes holy spring water, and wouldn't you no it, it worked! I was cured almost immediately. Within a week, the disease was completely gone from my body.
I am not saying that holy water will heal everyone. I am sure that my faith had some part in my healing, but nonetheless, it worked. You really can not argue with results. Nowadays, I go to church each and every Sunday to give thanks to the miraculous healing that I had.
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