Dear Editor, As usual this week (7/11/13) I read The Irish Catholic and got a lot out of it. However I was surprised to read the letter from Margaret Ahearne denouncing relics. Her ignorance is appalling!
The Church has venerated relics even from the time of the catacombs to give us hope in the work of the saints who have been followers of Christ and through their holiness to be like them so that we too may follow Christ, no matter what happens in our lives.
Another thing she gripes about is that more Catholics should read the Word of God in the Scriptures.
Well, we get valuable Scripture readings in the Eucharist every day and we can reflect on these afterwards. If you look at the lives of the saints you will see that their efforts were imbibed with the love of Christ and His Word in Scripture. It should also be noted that while Scripture does lend itself to listening to the will of God the Church in her wisdom says (and I believe this) that the Spirit will go where He wills and there are also so many other forms of prayers open to us in which we can also discern God speaking to us.
The relics of saints are not trophies. They are reminders of the great love of God in our lives and never to give up on it.
Maybe people who have a problem with relics should become a Presbyterian or Methodist who don’t have relics. But they don’t have the Mass either, which maybe some see as a trophy too.
Yours etc.,
Hilda Nelson,
Dublin 12.
