One of my sacristans and I were having a discussion this morning. For the past year or more, we’ve had purificators (see right) disappear. My friend has seen them used in place of pyxes. But our ministry to the sick is very well-organized, even people who bring Communion to their spouses. I have about twenty of the proper containers in my office. People know to ask me … don’t they? I think they do.
Another friend was overhearing some of our conversation–why our laundering crew was now on three-a-week washing. He mentioned that he fished a few purificators out of the sacristy trash the other week. Hmm.
Just enough to make you wonder. The hamper for laundry is well-marked. And the trash often has dead flowers and stems of plants in it. It’s not like they make these things like disposable diapers, after all.
One of a liturgist’s many mysteries.
Catholic Sensibility 