Meditation (3): The Feast of the Holy RELICS (2)

for

The Feast of the Holy RELICS (2)

Obligation to Honor the Relics

Of the Saints

THERE are several reasons which oblige us to honor the precious relics of the saints, especially those enshrined in this place.

First, we should honor all that God honors. Almighty God honors to such a degree everything belonging to His saints that He counts the hairs of their heads and performs miracles by their bones and ashes, so that they become venerated by all men, even by kings and princes, who think themselves privileged to be allowed to touch and honor saintly relics.

Secondly, we should honor all creatures by which God is honored. Almighty God is greatly honored by the relics of the saints because the bodies of the saints have cooperated with their souls i n the heroic virtue they performed for the glory of God; thus, all honor given to the saints and their relics proceeds to God, the Saint of saints and the fount of all sanctity.

Thirdly, we must venerate saintly relics because St. Paul testifies that the bodies of the faithful are the members of Jesus Christ, who is their Head, and members of the mystical body of Jesus, namely, His Church.

Fourthly, St. Paul also affirms that the bodies of true Christians are temples of the Holy Ghost, and that Jesus Christ will raise them up because the Holy Ghost has taken up His dwelling i n them: "He (2). Some religious communities celebrate this feast on November 5, during the Octave of the Feast of All Saints.

Special Days of the Year 343

shall quicken also your mortal bodies, because of his Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Rom. 8, 11). This is why the Church, in the funeral ceremonies of a Christian, blesses the grave and asks God that His Holy Spirit may descend into it with the body to be placed there, in order to raise it up on the day of General judgment.

Finally, Holy Mother Church, animated and guided by the Holy Ghost, has always held the relics of the saints in such veneration that St. Gregory Naziance, quoted by the great Cardinal Baronius in his Ecclesiastical Annals, says that the bodies of the holy martyrs have the same power as their souls if we touch or venerate them; and that drops of their blood and small tokens of their sufferings have the same power as their bodies. St. Gregory says, furthermore, that the veneration of the Saints was so widespread, that a little dust of the remains of a bone were honored as equivalent to the whole body, and that even the name of a saint, without the presence of any relics at all, was enshrined in the place of the martyr's body and possessed equal power. With good reason he exclaimed: "0 prodigious thing! Their very memory alone gives life."

Dispositions with Which We Should

Honor Holy Relics

The first disposition is deep humility, acknowledging to ourselves that, as sinners, we are unworthy not only to touch but even to gaze upon the holy relics of the saints.

The second disposition is the purification of our souls from all sin and from all affection to sin by means of true contrition; because holy things should be-treated in a holy manner.

The third disposition is thanksgiving to our Lord Jesus Christ for all the glory He has rendered His Father by the saints whose relics are here present, for the countless favors He has bestowed upon them and for the rich graces He has given us through their intercession. We must also return thanks to the saints themselves for the wealth of honor they have rendered unto God and for the great assistance they have given us by their prayers and merits.

The fourth disposition is to give ourselves to Jesus Christ, the Saint of saints, and to ask Him to make us sharers in the spirit, in the love, in the charity, humility and other virtues of His saints and to unite us to all the love and all the glory that they have rendered and will eternally render with Him to the Most Holy Trinity. We must likewise offer ourselves to the saints and implore them to give us to Jesus and His most holy Mother, and to employ the God-given power to destroy in us anything that is displeasing to them. We must beg the saints to make us sharers in their ardent love and in all their magnificent virtues, to make us their associates in the praise which they send up and will forever send up before the throne of the most High, and to obtain for us the grace to imitate the holy life they lived while on earth.

Ejaculatory prayer:

"God is wonderful in his saints." Mirabilis Deus in sanctis suis (Ps. 67, 36).

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Meditation for

Christmas Day

Our Duties to the Child Jesus

Adoration, Praise and Thanksgiving

0 DIVINE and adorable Child Jesus, prostrate at Thy feet, I adore Thee, praise Thee and thank Thee with Thy Blessed Mother, with St. Joseph, with the whole Church and in the name of all creatures. I adore, praise and thank the Blessed Trinity through Thee and in Thee. May everything in me and i n the universe offer adoration, praise and thanks to the Blessed Trinity that reigns so perfectly i n Thee.

Humiliation and Satisfaction

0 Divine Child Jesus, Thou art the joy of the angels in heaven. The glory and the happiness of Thy Eternal Father arc Thine from the very first moment of Thy mortal existence. Nevertheless, I now behold Thee lying in a stable, suffering the humiliation and pains of childhood. 0 Infant Jesus, my sins are the cause of Thy suffering. I hate and detest them with all my heart and in satisfaction I offer Thee all the tears and pains of Thy Holy Childhood, and I give myself to Thee to suffer in union with Thee whatsoever suffering it may please Thee to send me.

Love and Oblation

0 Loving Child Jesus, Thou art all love for me and I wish to be all love for Thee. I give Thee my heart with all my affection, in union with the Eternal Father, the Holy Spirit, Thy Blessed Mother, and all Thine angels and saints. Take full possession of my soul forever.

0 Most Sweet Jesus, Thou dost give Thyself to me with infinite love. In union with the same love, I give, consecrate and sacrifice myself entirely to Thee with every created being. If I had an infinity of worlds, I would gladly sacrifice them an infinite number of times if it were possible. 0 Almighty Child, use Thine infinite power to take full possession of me, to annihilate in me everything that is contrary to the spirit of Thy Holy Childhood, and to sacrifice me wholly with Thee to the glory of Thy Father.

Ejaculatory prayer:

"We adore Thee, 0 dear Child Jesus." Adoramus Te, Domine Jesu Infans.

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