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I don't get it

LibraryLady

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LibraryLady
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Seriously. Mother Teresa's relics are coming to visit Baltimore.

The relics will be received at Gift of Hope at 4 p.m. Wednesday and may be venerated by visitors until 8:30 p.m. Mass will be celebrated at 8 a.m. Thursday at St. Wenceslaus, followed by a holy hour and veneration of relics until noon.
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Can anyone tell me what's involved in venerating?
 
From wikipedia:

Veneration (Latin veneratio, Greek δουλεία, douleia), or veneration of saints, is a special act of honoring a saint: a dead person who has been identified as singular in the traditions of the religion. It is practiced by the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic, Eastern Catholic Churches, Anglican Communion, and Lutheran Church. Veneration is often shown outwardly by respectfully bowing or making the sign of the cross before a saint's icon, relics, or statue. These items may also be kissed.
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This was always one of the odder aspects to catholicism for me. Even when I was religious, I thought that kissing a statue (or in this case, a vial of blood and pair of sandals), was more than a little creepy.
 
I remember the veneration of the cross on good friday when I was a kid. You would all have to line up to kiss jesus' feet one at a time while singing dirgey miserable hymns and the reproaches( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Improperia) which I had to lead once. My brother was an altar boy, so sometimes had the dubious honour of wiping the cross clean in between people. He hated old ladies with thick lipstick on...
 
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Veneration: the act of making inanimate object feel good about themselves.
 
Catholicism strikes me as odd. Venerating? What's up with that? If you worship God, shouldn't you focus on Him - Her and not on others who have done good things in His name?
My wife's aunt is trying to get us to go to her place this Saturday because it was her week to have the Blessed Mary in her home. A statue. Isn't that akin to idol worship? I'm not a catholic, don't worship statues and don't want to prepare food to celebrate the fact that she feels extra holy this week.
This is turning into a rant. Sorry. I could go on with a bit of encouragement.
 
sinclairmcevoy said:
Catholicism strikes me as odd. Venerating? What's up with that? If you worship God, shouldn't you focus on Him - Her and not on others who have done good things in His name?
My wife's aunt is trying to get us to go to her place this Saturday because it was her week to have the Blessed Mary in her home. A statue. Isn't that akin to idol worship? I'm not a catholic, don't worship statues and don't want to prepare food to celebrate the fact that she feels extra holy this week.
This is turning into a rant. Sorry. I could go on with a bit of encouragement.
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Catholics believe in the the Pope and he relieves in young boys.
 
sinclairmcevoy said:
Catholicism strikes me as odd. Venerating? What's up with that? If you worship God, shouldn't you focus on Him - Her and not on others who have done good things in His name?
My wife's aunt is trying to get us to go to her place this Saturday because it was her week to have the Blessed Mary in her home. A statue. Isn't that akin to idol worship? I'm not a catholic, don't worship statues and don't want to prepare food to celebrate the fact that she feels extra holy this week.
This is turning into a rant. Sorry. I could go on with a bit of encouragement.
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I think there is a common confusion between worship and veneration. I've heard people in one christian sect slam Catholicism because they say it supports worship of saints and images, when actually it is the veneration (as in the definition someone posted earlier) that is taught: not worship per se.

I'm not defending the practice, but here's how I understood it: for saints, they aren't god, but by being recognized as saints, they have achieved what all other Catholics are trying for. And besides that, though no longer alive, they aren't really completely separated from the 'church': the are part of the 'body', as all Christians (or Catholics, etc) so communicating with them, or venerating them, is sort of like doing that to a venerable person - only more intensely.

I've seen it a bit like those traditions who venerate their elders, and that kind of veneration continues even after their ancestors die. But they don't worship them, as they do their deities.

ETA: And for relics, I suppose it is because they are somehow still connected, or ascended, with the saint? Or at least somehow a strong symbol and reminder of the saint, and so a way to increase a person's faith? I'm not as sure as relics go.
 
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Denver said:
ETA: And for relics, I suppose it is because they are somehow still connected, or ascended, with the saint? Or at least somehow a strong symbol and reminder of the saint, and so a way to increase a person's faith? I'm not as sure as relics go.
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They're used as an amplification and phasing device to bring prayer beams into coherence, in order to cut through metal and sinners.

:D
 
When I was a young Catholic lad a major prize was one of those rosaries with the chunk-o-saint sealed inside the little compartment in the crucifix.
Usually a bit of bone of unknown provenance... Seriously icky.
 
Denver said:
I think there is a common confusion between worship and veneration. I've heard people in one christian sect slam Catholicism because they say it supports worship of saints and images, when actually it is the veneration (as in the definition someone posted earlier) that is taught: not worship per se.

I'm not defending the practice, but here's how I understood it: for saints, they aren't god, but by being recognized as saints, they have achieved what all other Catholics are trying for. And besides that, though no longer alive, they aren't really completely separated from the 'church': the are part of the 'body', as all Christians (or Catholics, etc) so communicating with them, or venerating them, is sort of like doing that to a venerable person - only more intensely.

I've seen it a bit like those traditions who venerate their elders, and that kind of veneration continues even after their ancestors die. But they don't worship them, as they do their deities.

ETA: And for relics, I suppose it is because they are somehow still connected, or ascended, with the saint? Or at least somehow a strong symbol and reminder of the saint, and so a way to increase a person's faith? I'm not as sure as relics go.
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This actually answers a lot of my questions. It still strikes me as very odd, but considering what my religion does to little boys...
 
fuelair said:
Pray over, look devotedly at, beg to touch them so she can heal you.:)
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And if your cold suddenly (over the next week or so) gets better, call the Vatican, and this will be entered as testimony as to the healing powers of her toenails or whatever bits they're using, and this will help her be promoted to saint.
 
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