Posted on 09/16/2009 2:56:48 PM PDT by Steelfish
The Relics And Bones That Bring Us Closer To God
Christopher Howse 16 Sep 2009
Thousands will turn out to see the relics of Teresa of Lisieux
A woman who has been dead for 112 years arrives in Plymouth today, and at the weekend thousands are expected to turn out when she moves on to Birmingham.
Thérèse Martin will be the centre of attention in a month-long tour of England and Wales, but while her picture dominates dozens of venues, all to be seen of her in person is a casket that holds her mortal remains.
These old bones of St Thérèse, or Teresa of Lisieux, as she is better known, will not be treated with the unease that relatives show departed loved ones, but as a sort of gateway into heaven for worshippers' devotions. Some will even hope for healing.
Hunger for relics may be universal – one of Michael Jackson's gloves has just been auctioned for £30,000 – but dead bodies are a special kind.
I have often seen visitors to Westminster Cathedral recoil after inspecting a glass case in a side chapel. It holds the body of St John Southworth, a kindly man who worked in the slums nearby in the 17th century, and was executed just for being a Catholic priest. His body is decorously dressed in a red chasuble and his face covered in a silver mask. It is just that tourists, curious as they may be to see the world, through the optic of their mobile-phone cameras, are not used to stumbling across dead bodies.
So what's the official line on relics? The Catechism of the Catholic Church puts them in the same category as pilgrimages and holy medals, as expressions of popular piety. But there is a deeply mysterious...
The rational argument is...
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
They do not bring you closer. Bury them respectfully. Stop playing with them like dogs with a chew toy.
If your faith depends on seeing a place, an ancient temple, a finger bone or piece of wood ... I would say that you have a very weak faith.
Doesn’t appear like you read the entire article and the reason for the veneration.
Ping!
Calling all Catholics...
bookmark
***If your faith depends on seeing a place, an ancient temple, a finger bone or piece of wood ... I would say that you have a very weak faith.***
My faith doesn’t depend on any of those things. It’s a very strong faith, and therefor I would consider it a privilege to pay honor to St. Theresa. Tell me, do you salute the American flag or stand for the Star Spangled Banner? If so, does that mean that you don’t believe in our Constitution?
Thanks.
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