How do sacramentals work?

[Shameless]

How do sacramentals work anyway. I have been struggling with impurity for years, so I now carry a blessed rosary, I wear a St. Benedict medal crucifix (specially blessed), Mir. Medal, St. Michael relic medal, carry a bible, wear the St. Joseph and St. Philomena cords. All this stuff is blessed and my sinning hasn’t gotten any better. Why isn’t this working?

 

[Elliott]

Sacramentals aren’t magick. Don’t rely too much on them. Confession helps alot. Whenever you are tempted pray the Lord’s Prayer, this does help.

 

[Shameless]

Elliott:

Sacramentals aren’t magick. Don’t rely too much on them. Confession helps alot. Whenever you are tempted pray the Lord’s Prayer, this does help.

But isn’t the St. Benedict medal supposed to keep evil away, I did have this properly blessed, I was there when the priest blessed it.

 

[FuzzyBunny116]

Well, I don’t think priests are supposed to bless it, and just because it says it keeps evil away, doesn’t mean all evil. Besides, I’ve always thought of it as evil like demons or whatever, as silly as it may sound. Have you tried praying the Rosary everyday?

 

[Fergal]

Sacramentals are sacred signs which prepare us to receive the grace of the actual sacraments through the Holy Spirit and dispose us to cooperate with it.

Their effct is full realsied through and depends upon the devotion, faith and love of those who use them.

 Sacramentals, as a rule, were not instituted by Christ (exorcism would be an obvious exception), but by the Church.

Taken from scborromeo.org/glad/c13.htm

 

[romano]

FuzzyBunny116:

Well, I don’t think priests are supposed to bless it. . .

Here’s something I found on the web about this:

**Approved Blessing of the Medal of St. Benedict

Medals of Saint Benedict are sacramentals that may be blessed legitimately by any priest or deacon – not necessarily a Benedictine (Instr., 26 Sept. 1964; Can. 1168). The following English form may be used.

V. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
R. Who made heaven and earth.

In the name of God the Father + almighty, who made heaven and earth, the seas and all that is in them, I exorcise these medals against the power and attacks of the evil one. May all who use these medals devoutly be blessed with health of soul and body. In the name of the Father + almighty, of the Son + Jesus Christ our Lord, and of the Holy + Spirit the Paraclete, and in the love of the same Lord Jesus Christ who will come on the last day to judge the living and the dead, and the world by fire.
Amen.

Let us pray. Almighty God, the boundless source of all good things, we humbly ask that, through the intercession of Saint Benedict, you pour out your blessings + upon these medals. May those who use them devoutly and earnestly strive to perform good works be blessed by you with health of soul and body, the grace of a holy life, and remission of the temporal punishment due to sin.

May they also with the help of your merciful love, resist the temptation of the evil one and strive to exercise true charity and justice toward all, so that one day they may appear sinless and holy in your sight. This we ask though Christ our Lord.

Amen.

The medals are then sprinkled with holy water.**

So it would seem that a priest can bless a St. Benedict medal.

 

[grammyof3]

Sacramentals are, among other things “Holy Reminders” as Mother Angelica would put it. Holy water is blessed water with some blessed oil and blessed salt. When an item is blessed and sprinkled, the blessing in the water is imparted to the item being sprinkled.

A blessing will only do so much for you. In the end whether or not a person sins is up to his free will. You can not expect the Saints to reject sin for you.

You must make up your mind to confess regularly, always with the intention that those same sins will not be committed again. Pray the Rosary and ask The Blessed Mother to assist you in the rejection of temptation.

You may have an obsession if the same sins or thoughts are repeatedly a problem for you. If that is the case you may need to see a therapist to discuss breaking the chain of events.

 

[Thal59]

Shameless:

How do sacramentals work anyway. I have been struggling with impurity for years, so I now carry a blessed rosary, I wear a St. Benedict medal crucifix (specially blessed), Mir. Medal, St. Michael relic medal, carry a bible, wear the St. Joseph and St. Philomena cords. All this stuff is blessed and my sinning hasn’t gotten any better. Why isn’t this working?

You have the instrumentality, but you are lacking the devotion. It would be like carrying a bible everywhere you go, but never reading it.

Find one sacramental that is a guidepost to a sacrament that you need most, and then devote yourself to that sacrament. In your case, I would advise a devotion that will draw you more profoundly to the Eucharist.

Thal59