Day 186 - Is it permissible to venerate relics? // What is the purpose of a pilgrimage?
Is it permissible to venerate relics?
The veneration of relics is a natural human need, a way of showing respect and reverence to the persons who are venerated. Relics of saints are properly venerated when the faithful praise God's work in people who have devoted themselves completely to God.
What is the purpose of a pilgrimage?
Someone who goes on a pilgrimage "prays with his feet" and experiences with all his senses that his entire life is one long journey to God. In ancient Israel people made pilgrimages to the Temple in Jerusalem. Christians adopted this custom. And so this developed, especially in the Middle Ages, into a regular pilgrimage movement to the holy places. Often people went on pilgrimage so as to do penance, and sometimes their actions were affected by the false notion that one had to justify oneself before God by tormenting and punishing oneself. Today pilgrimages are experiencing a unique revival. People are looking for the peace and the strength that come from those grace-filled localities. They are tired of going it alone; they want to get out of the rut of the daily routine, get rid of some ballast, and start moving toward God. (YOUCAT questions 275, 276)
Dig Deeper: CCC section (1674) and other references here.
Part 2: The Celebration of the Christian Mystery (1066 - 1690)
Section 2: The Seven Sacraments of the Church (1210 - 1690)
Chapter 4: Other Liturgical Celebrations (1667 - 1690)
Article 1: Sacramentals (1667 - 1679)
Popular piety ⇡
Besides sacramental liturgy and sacramentals, catechesis must take into account the forms of piety and popular devotions among the faithful. The religious sense of the Christian people has always found expression in various forms of piety surrounding the Church's sacramental life, such as the veneration of relics, visits to sanctuaries, pilgrimages, processions, the stations of the cross, religious dances, the rosary, medals,180 etc.
180.
Cf. Council of Nicaea II: DS 601; 603; Council of Trent: DS 1822.