My dear friends,
The relics of St. Therese of Lisieux, the Little Flower, visited South Florida, inspiring thousands to prayer and thousands more — including Catholics — to bewilderment: Why all this fuss about the bones of a saint? Isn't that a little morbid? And doesn't it border on idolatry, this devotion Catholics have to their saints?
Clearly, our veneration of saints — not worship — requires an explanation, as does our understanding of the role they play in our faith. The first thing to define is veneration, as opposed to worship or adoration. Worship is the kind of homage we give to God alone. Veneration is the esteem we hold for people who have distinguished themselves in some way.
Obviously, the Lord has the supreme place in our church, in our life and in our faith. Him alone do we worship and adore. Then comes Mary, the mother of Jesus. She is not divine but enjoys the first place among all human beings because she was privileged to be the mother of God and therefore, according to our theology, preserved from original sin. This is the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, whose feast day we celebrate Dec. 8.
After Mary come the rest of us, ordinary human beings striving to imitate the Lord as best we can under the circumstances in which we live. Some people do this extremely well, and they are the ones we recognize, both officially and unofficially, as saints.
Such recognition is a perfectly normal aspect of life. Do we not use the term “venerable judge” or “venerable doctor” to describe individuals whose conduct is exemplary and worthy of emulation? That is precisely the category in which we hold the saints — as role models. That is why we study their lives and read their writings.
Why did Mother Theresa draw crowds wherever she went? Everyone called her a living saint. We recognized in her a certain holiness that we hoped would rub off on ourselves. That is precisely why Catholics identify and venerate saints.
But we do more than that. We also ask the saints to intercede for us. Why? Because our doctrine on the “communion of saints” states that the community of believers is one, whether its members have achieved perfection in heaven or are struggling to gain it on earth or in purgatory.
Asking the saints to “intercede” with God on our behalf is the religious embodiment of a perfectly natural human tendency. I remember when I became a bishop and my mother was alive, how people would use her to get to me. She would ask a question or make a comment about a particular matter which obviously concerned someone else. But her mention of it would force me to re-examine my view in a new light. How can you not listen to your mother?
It's the same with Mary, the mother of Jesus. She is the supreme intercessor. But all of us pray to other saints at other times, depending on our needs. Just as we hire attorneys to represent us in court, we ask the saints to represent us before the Lord — because they have such a wonderful standing before God.
Neither is it coincidence that every saint has a specialty in some area, such as St. Anthony helping us find lost items. Again, this is a religious application of a perfectly human tendency. Why bother the Lord with such trivial matters as our lost car keys? Pray to God about your salvation, and let saintly subordinates handle the mundane tasks.
As for the relics of saints: Do we not go to the cemetery to visit the graves of our loved ones? Do we not treasure items that have been in our families for generations: jewelry, antiques, a wedding dress or baptismal gown that belonged to our grandmother or great-grandmother?
By their physical presence, these items put us in the presence of our loved ones; they remind us of our family, of our history and traditions, of the traits that characterize us. That is also what the relics of saints do for us as Christians. They bring us closer to those who went before us. They remind us of their lives and example.
Do these relics have magical powers? No more than a preacher whose homily sparks our dormant faith, or a life-changing event that forces us to re-examine our priorities. Some people encounter God while climbing a mountain. That does not mean the mountain is magical, but God may use that experience to work wonders in our lives.
The veneration of saints and their relics is not intrinsic to our faith. These are devotional aids to help us along the way. Some people might need these aids more than others. But the heart of our faith is the Eucharist, and the central act of our devotion is the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
The problem arises when the auxiliary aids become the center of our lives. This often happens with people, both in life and in religion. They tend to go overboard in one area, to the detriment of everything else. Their cause — animal rights, the death penalty, the environment — is the only one that matters.
Does that happen in the Catholic Church? Of course. But then the real issue is not whether we venerate saints and their relics, but whether we view them in the proper light. The church teaches that we must maintain a proper balance between all these devotions and the Eucharist, which is truly the center of our religious practice.
If we pray the rosary daily, or follow the relics of St. Therese from place to place, but don't attend mass on Sunday or live by the Ten Commandments, we are missing the point. Such excess can be just as dangerous as believing in nothing at all.
