Not On My Watch, God

I know that airport security officers are a law unto themselves, but I did not realize they were prepared to take on the Almighty Himself.

The Vatican has recently started a low-cost, charter-based airline service from Rome to carry pilgrims to Catholic shrines in Europe. Perhaps the most well known of these is Lourdes, in France. For the uninitiated, Lourdes is the spot where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to a shepherd girl in 1858. The devout believe that the waters from its natural springs have miraculous healing powers. So, naturally, the first thing they would think to bring home was a bottle or two of the stuff to sprinkle on their ailing relatives, right?

Wrong. Airport security mandates that no liquids more than 100 ml (3 ½ ounces) can be placed inside carry-on luggage. Larger bottles of water are taboo, holy or otherwise. Even the fact that most of the holy water was packaged in cute little plastic bottles in the shape of a little Madonna did not move the stone-hearted security cops. So now, Lourdes airport is awash in a couple of hundred bottles of holy water, which will probably fetch the airport guys a neat profit on the black market. Either that or they’ll be the healthiest airport police in Europe.

Aren’t we taking this security business to ridiculous extremes? I know rules are rules, but how about showing a little discretion – not to mention compassion? At most, they could have tasted the stuff. I refuse to believe that terrorist weapons have become so remarkably sophisticated that a liquid explosive could be made to taste like H2O. The ‘miracle’ water probably meant a lot to the pilgrims. It is an expression of their faith – as much as a Bible would signify to a Baptist. Maybe a bit of the Holy Spirit needs to enter their hearts.