Q. Why does the priest add a drop of water to the wine in the chalice during the Offertory at Mass?
A. Thank you for asking this question. I know most people watch this action at each Mass.
The wine and the water represent two realities in the Eucharist. The water represents Jesus’ humanity and the wine His divinity. The mingling of the water and wine in the chalice symbolizes the Incarnation of Jesus. It also recalls Jesus’ Passion, when the soldiers pierced His side with a spear and out flowed blood and water (John 19:31 - 37), thus signifying baptism and Eucharist.
The wine also represents Jesus’ divinity and the water our humanity.
The act of co-mingling the water and wine for the sacrifice was a practice of the very early Church. St. Cyprian of Carthage (A.D. 250) writes in his epistle about the significance of mixing the water and wine:
Because Christ bore us all, in that he bore our sins, we see that by the water, people are signified, while in the wine, indeed, the blood of Christ is shown. And when the water is mixed with the wine in the cup, the people are made one with Christ, and the multitude of believers is coupled and joined to him in whom it believes.
St. Thomas Aquinas, a noted scholastic medieval author and theologian, in his Summa Theologica (art. 6) answers the question about whether water should be mixed with the wine:
Water ought to be mingled with the wine which is offered in this sacrament. First of all on account of its institution: for it is believed with probability that our Lord instituted this sacrament in wine tempered with water according to the custom of that country: hence it is written (Proverbs 9:5). Pope Alexander I says: “In the Lord’s chalice neither wine only nor water only ought to be offered, but both mixed because we read that both flowed from his side in the Passion.” Thirdly, because this is adapted for signifying the effect of this sacrament, since as Pope Julius says: “We see that the people are signified by the water, but Christ’s blood by the wine. Therefore, when water is mixed with the wine in the chalice, the people is made one with Christ.” Fourthly, because this is appropriate to the fourth effect of this sacrament, which is the entering into everlasting life: hence Ambrose says: “The water flows into the chalice, and springs forth unto everlasting life.”
During this action in the Mass, the priest says quietly:
“By the mystery of this water and wine, may we come to share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity.”
The Mass is the fascinating act of Catholic worship full of meaning, Scriptural and sacramental reality and symbolism. Thanks for your question.
This question was answered by a priest of the Diocese of Lincoln. Write to Ask the Register using our online form, or write to 3700 Sheridan Blvd., Suite 10, Lincoln NE 68506-6100. All questions are subject to editing. Editors decide which questions to publish. Personal questions cannot be answered. People with such questions are urged to take them to their nearest Catholic priest.
