My favourite relic by a long way is the shroud because it serves the purpose of revealing what Jesus looked liked, what was inflicted on him, that he was carefully buried and had a supernatural resurrection.
Thank you for sharing all of your knowledge with us. We had an elderly friend gift us with a 1st class relic of St. Maria Goretti, and I’ve always wondered about how we were able to have a piece of her bone but were discouraged about future cremation for ourselves. You have explained it all perfectly and I can’t thank you enough for this!
I’m a Catholic….relics don’t do it for me….just feel really super uncomfortable about relics and the idea purposed behind them….but about everything else (Eucharist, Blessings, etc) is what makes me “whole” or feel a closeness with my Lord Jesus Christ. I’m not into imagery nor representations nor statues depicting Jesus, Mary nor Joseph-as a means to “help” me pray through as an intercession to God-smacks of idolatry but I get why most people feel compelled to pray to them rather than “through them”
For me, statues are like pictures, I certainly have pictures of my deceased relatives around. Especially my mother & father, who by the promise of eternal life are still living & I'm certain continue to pray for me. ♡
Jews and Muslims call Christians idol worshippers for calling a man God. Jesus became man and had a physical form. He could be touched, embraced, looked upon. It is this becoming man that the summit of our faith life is granted in the Eucharist. Art, symbolism, and physical creations that draw us to God are so because of their beauty, and in being beautiful convey truth, and truth being all good. Christ has redeemed us in our flesh and brought it up to him returning it to its original glory before the fall of man. It is important to note that Elisha’s bones brought a man back to life by mere contact in 2 Kings 13:21. In Acts 19:11-12 we see an item touched by a holy man heal others, “So extraordinary were the mighty deeds God accomplished at the hands of Paul that when face cloths or aprons that touched his skin were applied to the sick, their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.”
