Sacred
Only by Agreement

What is sacred?
  There is no such
thing as sacred—
  What is is, period

This ground is consecrated. This is holy ground. Suicides shall never bury here. Never. It would be an insult to God, to Jesus, to the Holy Spirit. To Christian decency.

But it’s just dirt.

It is not “just” dirt. This is consecrated dirt.

But how, how can you consecrate dirt? A thousand years ago, this dirt was just good ol’ dirt on this hillside, no? Stones, and pebbles, and soil and clay and mud and loam, nothing holy in sight.

As yet unconsecrated, yes.

And then you consecrated it. How?

The ritual is very straightforward: the person (priest, bishop, what have you) wanting to consecrate the ground (dirt) simply pours holy water on the area they want to consecrate while reciting the Latin blessing: Ritum sacrum hanc terram consecro.

The whole area? What if it’s large, say a brand new two-acre cemetery? Do you need to cover all the dirt with holy water? Do you need like a hose and nozzle to spray it? That’ll take a lot of holy water.

Oh, no, no. Just a sprinkle will do, on any part of the area.

But you must specify the area first, right?

Yes, of course.

So, if I wanted to consecrate planet Earth, I would just have to declare the entire planet “the area” and sprinkle some holy water and say: Ritum sacrum hanc terram consecro?

In principle, yes.

And, not to put too fine a point on this, but what, exactly, is holy water?

Holy water is water that has been blessed by a member of the clergy or a religious figure or derived from a well or spring considered holy.

Hm. Why not just bless the dirt, directly?

That’s a thought.

Can an ocean be considered holy?

I doubt it.

Tell me, will a consecrated Christian cemetery be considered holy by, say, a Hindu? Or a Buddhist?

No.

No?

No.

Why?

They don’t subscribe to our holy literature. They are, in effect, heathens.

Did you say heathens?

Yes, I did.

So it’s all a matter of where you were born? What you grew up with? What you agree with?

One way of putting it.

You know, I don’t agree. This is just dirt to me.

::

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