loading .properties in spring-context.xml and persistence.xml

is there a way to reference a .properties file in a spring-context.xml and a JPA persistence.xml?

I think I've seen somewhere an example of this in spring context files, though I can't remember where that was. Maybe someone knows this? About the persistence.xml I am actually unsure if this works at all.

My aim is to change some properties between development and distribution configuration. The idea I have currently is to replace all properties manually in the files via ant from a template config. Though there should be a better way to do this. :)