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HOLY SATURDAY

tion, so that one and the same element might have the mysterious power to make an end of vice and
a beginning of virtue : look down, O Lord, on the face of Thy Church, and multiply on her Thy
regenerations, Who by the streams of Thy abundant grace makest Thy city glad, and openest to the
whole world the font of baptism for the renewal of the nations, so that under Thy great command
they may receive from the Holy Ghost the grace of Thy Son. (The priest divides the water in
the form of a cross). May this water, prepared for the rebirth of men, be rendered fruitful by
the secret coming of His divine power; so that those who are sanctified in the stainless
womb of this divine font, and born again new creatures, may come forth as
heavenly offspring, and that all, however distinguished by age in time, or by sex in body, be
brought forth into one new infancy by grace, their mother. Therefore may all unclean
spirits by Thy command, O Lord, depart from hence; may all the malice of diabolical wiles be
entirely banished. Let no power of opposition intrude here, nor creep into it by stealth, nor
taint it by poison. (The priest touches the water with his hand). May this holy and innocent
creature be free from all assaults of the enemy, and cleansed by the removal of all wickedness. May
it become a font of life, a water of new birth, purifying stream; that all those that are to
be washed in this saving bath may, by the working of the Holy Spirit, obtain the grace of a perfect
cleansing. (The priest makes the sign of the cross thrice over the font, saying :) Therefore I
bless thee, water, by the living God, by the true God, by the holy God; by that God,
Whose word in the beginning separated thee from the dry land, and whose spirit brooded over
thee. (Here the priest divides the water with his hand, and throws some of it toward the four
quarters of the earth.) Who caused thee to flow