What is superstition?

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I think bad supersition begins when you place a lot or all effort on certain sacred items up to the ppint where you no longer feel the need of personal effort.
Or of course if the object or idea of fear has nothing to do with God and Christian faith. Like fearing black cats. That is just fear of the supernatural, not faith.
But as a passing stage superstition is not bad. St. Paul was saved on the island because locals seeing the miiracles God was doing thought he was a god himself and saved him. But Paul did not take up their wrong belief and asked for a temple or encouraged them to believe he was a god. I don’t think the local pagans did wrong in not killing him.
Superstition comes from an uncontrollable sensitivity to the unseen world. With the right guidance and/or personal effort it can lead the person to having faith in God but in itself it cannot lead the person to God.
 
anon91549587 said:
It is said that putting St Benedict medals along each corner of the house repels evil . I dont doubt the power of Christ in that but how do we define superstition .

If i were not Christian and told the above or read the rituals in Leviticus , i would think it is superstition .
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Matthew 9
20 And behold a woman who was troubled with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment. 21 For she said within herself: If I shall touch only his garment, I shall be healed. 22 But Jesus turning and seeing her, said: Be of good heart, daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.
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Not trying to troll or stir stew but would it work if i believed a leaf could heal an ailment through faith in the father?
 
That is quite a nice example you gave there. In other words the pieces of metal that constitute the medal have no power at all and believing that they have any power by themselves is superstition.
Belief in the power of Jesus who can choose to convey it through material things is not.
We believe that the bread and wine for example cease to be bread and wine and become the body blood and divinity of our Lord after the word of consecration are said in the sacrifice of the mass. Jesus chose to come to us every day that we partake in the mass in a very material way.
Even ascribing good luck or bad luck is superstitious.
When I find a good parking space I do not thank my good fortune, rather I thank my guardian Angel for helping me out. I am certain he is looking out for me as I have Jesus words for it. Good luck, bad luck I don’t have any concrete evidence for it.
Back to your medals when you get them, they are just metal, then you have them blesses by a priest or a deacon who has been given power by Jesus. The blessing the medals receive is as true as the bread and wine and the power they receive is not “good luck” is the power of Jesus against the evil that roams the world seeking our destruction.
By themselves they are nothing when we see them they remind us that Jesus is with us He never abandons us. He will fight the evil one and keep him at bay.
 
Belief that any object by itself can change the “universe” is superstition.
Placing blessed medals of St. Benedict around ones house, can change us, by reminding us, that the power of the almighty is real and is protecting us from evil.
Belief in the blessing they received is not superstition since we have the words of the Lord Himself for assurance.
Can the blessing affect the “universe”?
You betcha!!
It is called a Miracle and they do happen. If it is the will of God!
 
Two pertinent paragraphs from the catechism

Sacramentals:
1670 Sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the Church’s prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it. "For well-disposed members of the faithful, the liturgy of the sacraments and sacramentals sanctifies almost every event of their lives with the divine grace which flows from the Paschal mystery of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ. From this source all sacraments and sacramentals draw their power. There is scarcely any proper use of material things which cannot be thus directed toward the sanctification of men and the praise of God."176
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Superstition:
2111 Superstition is the deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer the true God, e.g., when one attributes an importance in some way magical to certain practices otherwise lawful or necessary. To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from the interior dispositions that they demand, is to fall into superstition.41
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So, with regards to the medals in your house: If you think the medals, in and of themselves (absent prayer and intentionality), are capable of repelling demons, then you are using them for superstitious ends.

If, however, you view the medals as a sign of prayers to God asking him to protect your home, and if you therefore acknowledge that it is prayer and faith that preserve your home, then you are not using the medals to superstitious ends.
 
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Thank you everybody for the micro detailed explainations. I have one blessed and exorcised en route to me. With intensions to wear it , i needed the right mindset .

The saints were tormented by demons often and i do know that God is in control at all times. So having a St Benedict medal doesnt seem to hold water ( sorry St.Benedict of Nursia ).
 
Aquinas11 said:
Our faith is backed by reason since it’s based on God revealing himself to people
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Not sure about that. Revelation and reason are usually opposed to each other in classic theology… especially private revelation which is what you seem, to be suggesting.
Your phrase “backed by reason” is somewhat ambiguous.

Obviously being in accord with reason is not the same as proven by reason.
Nor is being in accord with reason (ie rational) always the same as being reasonable.
 
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Burying St Joseph statues upside down to help sell your house…

Wearing the scapular and believing that if you die with it in, you’re guaranteed heaven…

Believing that putting St Benedict medals in the corner of your house repels evil…

All silly superstition that should be discourages and called out as such
 
anon91549587 said:
Thank you everybody for the micro detailed explainations. I have one blessed and exorcised en route to me. With intensions to wear it , i needed the right mindset .

The saints were tormented by demons often and i do know that God is in control at all times. So having a St Benedict medal doesnt seem to hold water ( sorry St.Benedict of Nursia ).
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There are some Sacramentals that can have a Minor Exorcism attached to them.

A Benedictine medal is one of them.

I believe that Holy Water is another, and Blessed Salt is another.

Editing to add:

Here is some more information about Sacramentals with information regarding Exorcism from the Vatican’s website:

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c4a1.htm
 
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oldgraymare2 said:
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anon91549587:
Thank you everybody for the micro detailed explainations. I have one blessed and exorcised en route to me. With intensions to wear it , i needed the right mindset .

The saints were tormented by demons often and i do know that God is in control at all times. So having a St Benedict medal doesnt seem to hold water ( sorry St.Benedict of Nursia ).
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There are some Sacramentals that can have a Minor Exorcism attached to them.

A Benedictine medal is one of them.

I believe that Holy Water is another, and Blessed Salt is another.

Editing to add:

Here is some more information about Sacramentals with information regarding Exorcism from the Vatican’s website:

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c4a1.htm
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Your source does not seem to support your view from what I can see.
There is no mention of sacramentals having a minor exorcism attached to them (whatever you mean by that strange expression).

It does mention that Baptism is a minor form of exorcism…however Baptism is not a “sacramental” it is a Sacrament.

All it really says is that exorcism proper is an authority given to the leaders of the Church.
 
All priests are able to give minor exorcisms.
 
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Sophie111 said:
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oldgraymare2:
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anon91549587:
Thank you everybody for the micro detailed explainations. I have one blessed and exorcised en route to me. With intensions to wear it , i needed the right mindset .

The saints were tormented by demons often and i do know that God is in control at all times. So having a St Benedict medal doesnt seem to hold water ( sorry St.Benedict of Nursia ).
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There are some Sacramentals that can have a Minor Exorcism attached to them.

A Benedictine medal is one of them.

I believe that Holy Water is another, and Blessed Salt is another.

Editing to add:

Here is some more information about Sacramentals with information regarding Exorcism from the Vatican’s website:

http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p2s2c4a1.htm
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Your source does not seem to support your view from what I can see.
There is no mention of sacramentals having a minor exorcism attached to them (whatever you mean by that strange expression).

It does mention that Baptism is a minor form of exorcism…however Baptism is not a “sacramental” it is a Sacrament.

All it really says is that exorcism proper is an authority given to the leaders of the Church.
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I do not want to take this subject “off-topic.”

In the footnotes of the article, it explains what Exorcism is.

Sacramentals are an extension of the Sacraments of the church.

Sometimes people don’t understand this concept. They also don’t understand that Sacramentals can have minor exorcisms attached to them as well.

A minor exorcism is not a strange concept. It is a form of blessing that can be given by the clergy.

A major exorcism is done only by a priest or a bishop and to someone who is possessed.

Here is more information about Exorcisms:

http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-wor...ramentals/sacramentals-blessings/exorcism.cfm

Since I don’t want to derail this thread further, I won’t be responding further. If you like, you can do a search for more information if you’re interested in this particular topic.

May God bless you. 🙂
 
Ok you don’t have to support your contention. Nothing in my post requires private revelation. Would be true if every God revelation to people and saints was private which of course is false.
 
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Aquinas11 isn’t being clear. I’m a Thomist and even his responses confused me. It is superstitious to believe the medal itself repels evil. However, it is the prayer to God inscribed in the medal and the witness of faith by wearing it that God uses to repel evil. God uses the medal as a conduit of his grace.
 
I simply observe that what you want your sources to say they do not say.

You seem to believe that “a minor exorcism” somehow attaches to “sacramentals” (by which you seem to mean a medal, water, a medal, salt, holy water).

Unless you can find an authoritative source that actually says this I believe you are confused.
Material things can only be blessed or consecrated. They cannot be endowed with some intrinsic power over the devil as I gather you seem to be saying.

The Catholic Encyclopedia (old) article on the St Benedict medal says no such thing.
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13338a.htm

What you are suggesting seems to be no more than pious folk beliefs often associated with the medal which have no foundation in Church theology and which, if anything, seem to veer off towards superstitious exaggeration as old Catholic folk beliefs often do.
 
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