Holy water glasses for holy people

At its worst, Protestantism has long been deeply suspicious of all holy things, of the very notion that a physical object can carry anything of the sacred. At its best, such a suspicion is aimed instead at the notion of holier things—of an elite, rarefied sacrality that sets a few things utterly apart.

So I’m not among those rolling my eyes at Rep. Bob Brady for seeing something holy in a glass of water. Where I part ways with Brady is over the fact that it had to be the pope’s water glass—the suggestion that everything Pope Francis touches is singularly blessed. (To be clear, Brady represents one Catholic view here but hardly the only one.)

Clint Schnekloth posted a helpful comment about this: