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Sorry R C Matt but you need a good class in your Catholic Faith, and especially in the use and understanding of Sacramentals. If the holy Medal your parents gave you for Confirmation means no more to you than that, then they wasted their efforts. Just explain to me what you mean when you say there is a world of difference between a Holy Medal and a garment. According to you, wearing a holy medal is not much different than wearing a watch or ring.
A medal or any sacramental is a choice in how one directs and observes their devotional life. Mass on Sunday is a requirement, since Christ, present in the Eucharist, is our King and Lord and we must attend and bow the knee to him as his subjects; subjects, not citizens in the same way we live in democracy. I can, on the other hand, direct my own personal life of devotion to Jesus any number of ways, as the Second of the Triune persons and King, as the sacrificial Lamb of God, or to the love he bore us in his Sacred Heart, any number of other ways. It’s a choice we all make, the rosary is a devotional and the beads can be sacramentals, we can devote our intercessions through any number of saints who best reflect how we feel about approaching the Throne of God.
I observe a devotion to St. Dymphna, a 7th cent. virgin princess martyred by her father when she refused his erotic advances. I wrote a book (really, an unpublished manuscript) based on her devotion. I pray the rosary, I ask the intercession of Jesus through the good offices of the Virgin Mary in any number of ways and attitudes. But I am not required to wear crucifixes, medals, pins, or ribbons as a sign of my devotion. I choose to. Something which many don’t nowadays. As a child, I might even have worn underwear that my mother had blessed–good ole Stanfield’s, Nova Scotia made, even if the family was presbyterian Scots–Mother’s, what can you do? That was her choice, and the priest might have raised an eyebrow or two. But no priest or bishop is going to hold me in contempt of devotion for not wearing my blessed socks and skivvies. In fact, most clergy would scratch their head at someone who asked them to bless their skivvies. Ain’t that so, gang?
Having talked to my share of Mormons, attended their services and listened to their Bible and BoM studies, it’s a religion that takes control of people’s lives. Yes, they tend to take much of the Bible out of context, most everyone does, that’s nothing new, but they force an interpolation of Biblical passages, frontier American life (ca. 1800 - 1850), their own desires into the genie bottle of religion. There is no record of archaelogical veracity to what the BoM claims about the civilizations that are said to have taken root from Israel (ca. 600BCE). Granted that Smith used a period of social and military upheaval in Judah to set the beginning of his tale, but since the BoM is so archaic in literary form, attempting to mimic the Authorized Version of 1611 (KJV), the story from book to book is almost unreadable, with its “Then it came to pass …” repeated in every other sentence.
To be Mormon, you have to give up any semblance of rational thought and fundamental understanding of history, literature, and literacy. Catholics have faith in Jesus Christ, but they don’t and would not accept the Bible and the teaching of the clergy if a social and historical basis of fact did not underpin it. Jesus existed, we have noted third party sources to back up the assertion; Moroni left nothing behind of any real value that can be studied and evaluated in terms of Smith’s assertions. No cities have been found, no written sources of history similar to or even copies of the Golden Plates on parchment, skins, even lead plates are available. Things that are rational and proper questions are forced into the background by Mormons when they tell people that they should ask for some kind of blessing that Mormonism is true. But making the assertion and actually managing to be credible without real, tangible proof is the sign of a cult, not a rational understanding of theology and faith. Biblical sources have hundreds of manuscripts from which to draw for translation and study. They have not been hidden or returned to heaven. The Roman Catholic Church and its members wrote the NT, eventually decided its canonical structure, and teaches it to this day. We don’t need to have a set of holy underwear to prove our devotion
But one thing puzzles me, if you wear this underwear all the time, why don’t Mormon’s smell more? After all, they aren’t allowed to take it off, or can they have a couple of changes?
:bounce: