Venerating saints body parts makes me uncomfortable

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Heresay doesn’t mean it happened

You should fact check first 😎
 
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I took ‘overdoing it ‘ as judging. Has anyone told you yet that you are overdoing your Catholic being . Its a common secular statement
 
Roseeurekacross said:
We only worship God.
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I think it better to say that we are only supposed to worship God. Many devotions fall in to corruption and are misused by some Catholics… I’ve been a direct witness to it coming both from Priests and lay folk. It happens and as Catholics I think we would be better served to admit the mistakes and work to eradicate them.
 
No doubt, in the future, these things will make better sense. 😎
 
This is what I was meaning thank you not in a judgmental way but sometimes people seem to be over taken with certain things that take away from God (obviously not on purpose but I have personally seen peoples devotionals go “too far”)
 
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Thank you this was a great eye opener and helpful for me to understand Saint relic veneration better!
 
I have never witnessed it.

We can’t generalise and say Catholics are confused between who they worship and who they venerate, we can not look at others either, and decide they are worshipping rather then venerating, imploring etc.

OP what makes you think a devotion is being taken too far
 
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If it makes you uncomfortable, stay away from it. It is not a requirement. A lot of spiritual things are optional and they are there as an aid. If they don’t help do something else.
 
Have you ever heard of saint expedite? Specifically this saint a lot of people I’ve seen do things almost ritualistic like make a shrine to him, make him a pound cake (I think its pound cake) and place it at the center of his shrine as a gift, then they pray to him for certain things and I’ve read that with this ritual if you do it wrong you will be “punished” I don’t know its very creepy but things like that seem more like worship to the saints than just Veneration/ devotional
 
I’m not saying everyone does this like you think I am I’m just saying some people I’ve seen take things too far and maybe not realize it just like that example.
 
I found a very thin paper copy of a prayer card to him left at an adoration chapel in my area. Never heard of him before. It smattered of superstition, and possibly Santeria which is really common in our area. No thanks. I later looked him up on the web and found similar sentiments of punishment. So if there really was a St. Expedite his current PR firm is messing up big time!

It’s this sort of nonsense my anti-catholic relatives think we do.
 
Yes its very frustration trying to explain that’s not Catholic
 
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Yes you are right it is weird.
I was told it is because the spiritual anointing can be contained in the bones. Isaiah or someone like that healed a person when they were tossed into his grave.
 
I understand what you are saying OP. I myself dont like all these bits of bones of saints on show in glass ‘coffins’. I have seen St Padre Pio in his glass coffin and St Therese of Liseux. It was very surreal. It felt wrong. They are my two most fav saints though. I love them.

One priest i know has over 20 relics of different priests in 2 glass cabinets.

Yes, we should honour them. They will help anyone. I dont know what God thinks of all those 1,000s of bones around the world displayed in His churches?
 
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As a convert to the Catholic Church, I agree with you, OP. Practices such as venerating relics represent a major stumbling block to many Protestants journeying toward the Catholic Church. Thankfully, such devotions are not essential to the faith. Focusing on the Gospel and Sacraments, and the beauty and fullness of our faith will help win hearts and minds. If relics assist one in grower closer to Christ, wonderful! If such things repel and freak one out, it’s okay. Regardless, our main focus should be Christ and the pouring out of our lives in self-sacrificial love.
 
I can understand what you are feeling. I’ve been Catholic for two years now. The artwork of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary used to creep me out, honestly thought it was quite gross. Now, I find myself drawn to these pictures because I am looking past the physical and focusing on the sacrifice. That said, I have never seen what you are referring to. I truly do not understand why the Church does this, but I believe if it is important, the Holy Spirit will help me understand. As a teen, I can remember my first time inside a Catholic Church. The statues made me very uncomfortable and I had a nightmare about them that night. Now, I think they are beautiful reminders of those they represent.
 
margaret_mander said:
it seems like without some Catholics realising it, they’re kind of “worshipping” these things…
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I can understand your discomfort, but worship is a conscious act of the will. One cannot worship “without realizing”.

That being said, some people do seem to take their devotions to the extreme.
margaret_mander said:
Like I said this never hit me until right now, but it just seems morbid to want to touch the dead body of a saint, I know they are holy people but they’re still not God… Does anyone know what I’m trying to say?
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There is a tradition about holy relics that far predates Christ:

2 Kings 13:21 And as a man was being buried, lo, a marauding band was seen and the man was cast into the grave of Eli′sha; and as soon as the man touched the bones of Eli′sha, he revived, and stood on his feet.
 
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