Remarkable Relics

Venerating religious and regular relics

09/14/2020

John 3:13-17 Jesus said to Nicodemus: “No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

Catholics are routinely criticized for our veneration of relics and religious objects, like rosaries, statues, and medals. Just look around at our beautiful church filled with items that catch the eyes, and you can see why we might be susceptible to such reproaches. Naysayers say Catholics not only admire these material things, we adore them, investing them with value they do not naturally possess as just wood or purely plaster or plastic. My answer to such anti-Catholic complaints is to point out we do exactly the same thing in many other areas of life, for example, in sports.

Last year, on July 17, 2019, Mark McGwire’s bat, used during his famous 1998 season to reach a record 70 homeruns, was auctioned off for $26,896. Paying that much money for a 34 inch, 32 oz. long piece of wood made from an Ash tree seems like admiration reaching the heights of adoration. But we know Cardinal fans do not worship their players no matter how much they might admire them. Notice, however, that what made McGwire’s bat so special, indeed, worth nearly $27,000, was that he touched it and used it to achieve an amazing feat: a new homerun record. And that is the basis of Catholic veneration – not worship, mind you – of relics: someone we admire (one of the saints) touched a material item and God’s grace made their whole life an amazing feat of holiness.

September 14 we venerate one of the most remarkable relics of all: the Cross of Christ. The cross, you might say, is the piece of wood that Jesus used to hit the spiritual homerun of our salvation. That’s why we venerate the true cross, because Jesus touched it, and for Catholics, that’s not worth $27,000; it is priceless. The history of this veneration stretches all the way back to the early centuries of Christianity. In 326 St. Helen, the mother of Emperor Constantine made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where she discovered the true Cross and had the Church of the Holy Sepulcher built on the site.

According to tradition all three crosses of Calvary were recovered, Christ’s Cross, but also the crosses of the two thieves. In order to test which one belonged to Jesus, each cross was touched to a woman who was deathly ill. The Cross that caused the woman to recover completely was deemed to be the Savior’s. One third of the Cross was left in Jerusalem, one third deposited in Rome at the church called “Santa Croce” (Holy Cross), and one third taken to Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul, Turkey). We Catholics venerate the Cross of Christ because our Lord touched it and performed the amazing feat of our salvation. Indeed, with the Cross, he ushered in “a new heavens and a new earth” as we read in Rev. 21:1.

My friends, take a minute today to notice all the little material things we daily invest with immense value and hold dear to our hearts, the little personal relics of our lives. We cherish our wedding rings, and if we lose them we lose sleep until we find them. We prominently place pictures of our grandparents and our grandbabies where everyone can see and admire them. We carry special notes and letter that special people have sent us over the years in wallets or purses, or even in safety deposit boxes. All this veneration of these material things – made merely of metal or plastic and paper – is very natural and normal for human beings. Why? They were touched by someone we admire and they used it to achieve an amazing feat, that is, to show us they love us.

Praised be Jesus Christ!