I had a classmate in college who was a Protestant (Southern Baptist), but who was slowly converting to Catholicism. One of his obstacles though was our Catholic understanding of Saints and Relics. Whenever he saw Catholics praying in front of statues or venerating Relics, he thought they were believers in magic and superstition. He would often ask, “Why would God need us to venerate relics to give us his grace? Are relics a way of demanding God to give us help?” “Why have saints when we have Christ?”
As Catholics, we must understand a few things. First off, all grace, blessings, and healing come from God alone. God is the source. Yet God chooses to work His grace and miracles through people or material objects. They are God’s instruments, He created them in the first place. Relics then, are the remains of a saint, perhaps a body part, the clothing or instruments he or she would have used. They do have some background in scripture. The Book of Kings recounts how a man was brought back to life by touching the bones of the holy prophet Elisha. “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 Kings 13:20-21). In the Acts of the Apostles we read “So extraordinary were the mighty deeds God accomplished at the hands of Paul, that when the face cloths or aprons that touched his skin were applied to the sick, their diseases left the, and the evil spirits came out of them”(Acts 19:11-12). Both these passages illustrate how God performed mighty deeds through His holy saints. When people touched or venerated the relics of the saints, they received healing or strength.
I want to conclude by noting that whenever we venerate relics at St. Jude Parish or elsewhere, we are above all reminded to live a holy way of life. They should inspire us to live like they did, pleasing God. When we honor the saints, we remember the women and men who rejected evil and sin in order to do God’s will. Whenever I look at a statue of St. Jude, I think about how he followed Christ without conditions, even to the point of death. In the same way, I must follow Christ without reservations and serve my brothers and sisters. Statues and relics are visible reminders of the saints who lived life worshipping God. “Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of His holy ones[saints]”Psalm 116.
