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In the most recent Catholic Converts poll veneration of relics/images/etc is taking about 50% of the vote. This is very interesting me. Partly because this is an area that I have very little knowledge of. To be honest my first real life encounter with the topic came during this past Easter Triduum with the veneration of the Cross. I admit that I was actually somewhat uncomfortable at the time and I'm still not real excited about the whole idea. Therefore, I intend to try to educate myself. I will also try to pull together some of what I find for a post here since it seems to be a common issue among converts to the Catholic Faith.
That being said, I don't know when I'll get it done. My researching and blogging is vastly slowed by the dinosar computer that I am now using (see post below). I haven't tried to open a pdf on this machine yet and I'm afraid that it is going to be difficult. I'm having trouble enough with the content of today's webpages that has so vastly evolved since this computer was last in regular use.
6 comments:
Chris, I'm with 'ya about feeling weirded out by the veneration of the cross during Easter Triduum. I couldn't bring myself to kiss it so I just knelt beside it. Funny thing is my young daughters all kissed it...faith like a child, huh?! ;)
Martha
I'm no theologian, and I'm a cradle Catholic, not a convert, but I want to comment on this anyway! When I was younger, I, too, was uncomfortable with this devotion. It's not a requirement, and for a long time I didn't participate. However, now that I'm older, my thoughts and feelings about it have changed. We aren't pure spirits, so we need physical actions and physical objects in our spiritual life. What we do with our bodies is what we are also doing with our spirits. When we kiss the cross, we are doing a concrete action that embodies our reverence for Jesus and for his cross. I also find that kissing the cross is an act of humility for me. I am acknowledging my dependence on Christ and his cross through this action. Because I was a teenager not long after Vatican II, I had teachers who ridiculed some of the Catholic devotions, but there is a wisdom to the devotions that has struck me more and more as I get older. I hope that this makes some sense to you.
Hey, I'm a Catholic convert who entered the Church March 25. I just found your blog and added the badge to mine. The biggest hurdle for me to overcome when becoming Catholic was the primacy of the pope. Anyway, my blog is here:
http://meanderinghome.blogspot.com/
And my conversion story is here:
http://meanderinghome.blogspot.com/2007/01/rushing-rapids-and-comforting-stream-my.html
Grace and peace!
I like what Jeannine said. I bet if you look around your house, you have many decorations, many of which include photos.
I have a beloved photo of my grandfather who passed away a few years ago. I sometimes give him a kiss. For me, it is so logical to kiss an icon or to kiss a cross because the kiss does not mean we worship the item. We are loving the person or the item because it is our only tangible link we have to the loved one or God.
Great points Jeannine and RCM!
Jeannine, convert or cradle, comments are always welcome. In fact, if you have a blog there is a section in the sidebar where I link to cradle Catholic's who support this site with links.
Frankly I'm genuinely surprised at any reticence about kneeling and kissing the cross. Indeed when I was looking into the Catholic Church before converting ten years or so ago (at a fully traditional ceremony) one of the many things which drew me into the Catholic faith were the pious devotions such as reverencing the cross, solemn benediction of the blessed sacrament kneeling at the communion rail for holy communion and the various sacramentals such as solemn blessings and wearing the brown scapular. They all helped make me understand how the Cathoic church really was the true Church and the very special Catholic nature of these devotions (along side the traditional latin mass) were what for me marked out the Church from non catholic sects and which helped attract me irrevocably to submit myself to the Catholic faith - to which needless to say I am deeply committed.
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