Have you ever watched the Antiques Roadshow on PBS? A team of professional appraisers travel from one state to another where locals may bring in old "stuff" to see if its worth anything. It's always fascinating to watch someone bring up an old spoon passed down through the family and relate its 'oral' history. The appraiser then examines the spoon to demonstrate, by its markings or design, the actual history of this particular item. Most of the time, when the appraiser announces that the spoon is worth $$$$$$, the owner is amazed but then quickly states that its value is personal and they could never part with this family treasure.
It's the same with relics. Their value is strictly personal in the Church. We evaluate relics the same way we evaluate the bona fides of anything else. Did George Washington really sleep in a particular bed? We have to do some detective work to find out. We may never know for sure. We may have to rely on probabilities. On the other hand, we might have incontrovertible proof, that could be disbelieved only by the skeptic who insists George Washington never existed at all.
The veneration of relics is seen explicitly as early as the account of Polycarp’s martyrdom written by the Smyrnaeans in A.D. 156. In it, the Christians describe the events following his burning at the stake: "We took up his bones, which are more valuable than precious stones and finer than refined gold, and laid them in a suitable place, where the Lord will permit us to gather ourselves together, as we are able, in gladness and joy and to celebrate the birthday of his martyrdom."
Keep in mind what the Church says about relics. It doesn’t say there is some magical power in them. There is nothing in the relic itself, whether a bone of the apostle Peter or water from Lourdes, that has any curative ability. The Church just says that relics may be the occasion of God’s miracles, and in this the Church follows Scripture.
The use of the bones of Elisha brought a dead man to life: "So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year. And as a man was being buried, lo, a marauding band was seen and the man was cast into the grave of Elisha; and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood on his feet" (2 Kgs. 13:20-21). This is an unequivocal biblical example of a miracle being performed by God through contact with the relics of a saint!
Similar are the cases of the woman cured of a hemorrhage by touching the hem of Christ’s cloak (Matt. 9:20-22) and the sick who were healed when Peter’s shadow passed over them (Acts 5:14-16). "And God did extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them" (Acts 19:11-12).
If these aren’t examples of the use of relics, what are? In the case of Elisha, a Lazarus-like return from the dead was brought about through the prophet’s bones. In the New Testament cases, physical things (the cloak, the shadow, handkerchiefs and aprons) were used to effect cures. There is a perfect congruity between present-day Catholic practice and ancient practice. If you reject all Catholic relics today as frauds, you should also reject these biblical accounts as frauds.
“The Church just says that relics may be the occasion of God’s miracles, and in this the Church follows Scripture. The use of the bones of Elisha brought a dead man to life”
1. This wasn’t written about the church. It was written to Jews.
2. The Bible never encourages, commands or exhorts us to kiss, worship, venerate, fondle, pray to, etc any so called “relics”.
3. In the NT, we are not told to venerate shadows or hemorrages either... shadows and hemorrages are not even relics... unless you can show me the encased shadow of Peter?
“There is a perfect congruity between present-day Catholic practice and ancient practice.”
Ancient practice, sure. New Testament practice or Biblical teaching, no.
“If you reject all Catholic relics today as frauds, you should also reject these biblical accounts as frauds.”
What a Christian must reject is turning the miracles of Christ into an idol, turning a story into a doctrine, turning from the whole point of salvation to false religious practice.
Catholics and their “relics” don’t do much for me. Stories of Constantine’s mother Helen traveling to Jerusalem
and claiming to find splinters of wood from the cross 300 years later make a person look upon such things with a weary eye.
I don’t reject them as frauds. It seems that some become icons to be worshipped and adored. That’s wrong.
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Note: this topic is from a while back (forgot the date by the time I did this). |
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