Treating Holy Things As If They Were Holy

+JMJ+ I’ve heard it before and I heard it again this morning while watching some videos on YouTube. Dallas Jenkins (a Protestant and the creator, producer, director, writer of The Chosen) and Jonathan Roumie (a Catholic and, among other things, the actor who plays Jesus in The Chosen) had just visited St. Peter’s in Rome and spoke about it on camera for a few minutes afterward. And of course the conversation turned to statues and relics.

Dallas observed that Catholics seem to treat such things as if they were holy. He couldn’t understand that part. To his credit he did say that he thinks Protestants went too far in their rejection of sacred art and other things, but he seemed to think that the reverence he saw in St. Peter’s went too far in the other direction. (And, yes, I do watch The Chosen. It’s not Catholic, it’s not perfect, but I enjoy it. I’ll do a post about that at some point.)

I found some posts and some videos explaining what relics are and why we treat them as if they were holy. Hint: It’s because they are because of what God did (and still does!) through them. It’s important to get these things right, to understand them and be able to answer those who have questions.

Video, What Are Relics? The Meaning of a Saint’s Sign of Faith, by Aleteia, 3:03.

Video, Why Do Catholics Keep Relics? – Catholic Answers Ready Reasons – Joe Heschmeyer, 4:28.

Video, The Relics of the Saints, Franciscan Missionaries of the Eternal Word, Fr. Joseph Mary Wolfe and Dr. William A. Thomas, 35:20.

Articles about the veneration of relics:

Church Teaching on Relics, by Rev. Charles Mangan.
Why Do We Venerate Relics, by Fr. William Saunders.

I have a third class relic of Mother Angelica: a rosary that was touched to her after she died. A friend who works at EWTN gave it to me while I was recovering from a serious illness in the hospital a few years ago. Here’s a photo of it.

Thanks for visiting the blog and reading. May we grow in holiness and virtue this year, and, by His grace, and with the help of great Catholic art and books, become the saints the Lord intends us to be, then maybe someday someone will venerate our relics. Imagine that! God bless you, and may His peace be always with you. +JMJ+

Join me on Fridays for the Rosary Project Live on Twitter at 8pm ET, 7pm CT, to cultivate a culture of Light, Life, Love, Truth, Beauty, and Goodness, for the conversion of sinners, and for the salvation of souls. There’s also a Rosary on the blog you can use anytime.

“The Rosary is the ‘weapon’ for these times.” — Padre Pio

Subscribe via email: While you’re here, subscribe to get new blog posts, updates on projects like the ebooks, giveaways, and who knows what else. And thank you very much!

Image credit: A rosary given to me by a friend who works at EWTN, a rosary touched to Mother Angelica after she died. It was a gift given to me while I was in the hospital recovering from a serious illness.

Full disclosure: When you make any purchase through my Amazon affiliate links (or my general Amazon link) on this site, I may make a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you. And thank you for your prayers and support.