Can someone explain wearing saint medals?

[Kellypat18]

Good evening all! I hope you all had a beautiful week. Our priest told me that asking for intercessory prayers from Saint Benedict and getting a medal of his and getting it blessed would be a good idea for me. This is related to spiritual attacks that I’ve had for a number of years since my conversion back to Christianity. I’m a revert (I think that’s the correct term) baptized Catholic, but nor raised in it except for attending mass a handful of times as a child. I’m coming out of a reformed Protestant church for the last 4 years. Anyhow, I understand that we Catholics don’t use medals like good luck charms and I understand intercessory prayer of the saints. Does a medal I wear become a stronger reminder because it’s blessed? Or does the blessing actually repel harm/evil? Sometimes I just understand concepts better when I read/hear it in the context of someone’s personal testimony or experience. Thank you! And God bless.

 

[awesomecatholic]

Medals do not repel evil. They represent our intercession to the Saints and remind us of the Saint they represent. I love the idea of wearing medals. I wear one of St. Clare, St. Rose of Lima, St. Audrey and one of Our Lady of Consolation. They remind me that the Saints are always praying for me and are with me.

 

[Kellypat18]

Thanks for the responses. So they’re like a wedding band, a reminder. I guess it’s the part of getting them blessed that confused me.

 

[Dan_Defender]

A medal of the type you are describing is a sacramental. The sacramental prepares a person to receive grace and disposes him to cooperate with it; in this way, the medal reminds us of a holy person, which in turn opens us to grace to follow his example. When the medal is blessed, there may be a partial indulgence associated, but I am not sure, there are others on CAF who know about that.

 

[Kellypat18]

Thanks for the explanation

 

[TK421]

Blessed items are mysterious and not fully understood, but the practice of blessing items is something that has been done since the early Church and has roots in Old Testament parallels. An ordained minister is required to bless an item and not a laymen. There is a gift some mystics have called “hierognosis” in which they can visibly distinguish a blessed item from a regular item. The blessed item is seen as radiating light and healing.

A blessed item isn’t a lucky charm and God’s grace always requires the consent of the soul to God’s will, but a blessed item isn’t really an “ordinary” item either. It is more than just a symbolic reminder. It is its own thing.

If you’re kind of confused, then yeah, it’s kind of confusing. But if you have a deacon or priest to bless an item that you use for devotional purposes, then you should do so.