More than a decade ago I was on a travel forum where a question was asked about holy relics in Italy.
Do devout Catholics still revere these relics? Are they only important to one if the particular saint is significant to one? Are they thought to have some power if one prays near them? Or was the whole gathering and displaying of relics a crusades-era thing that died out centuries ago?
Many answers were given, and they were more or less respectful of the Catholic faith. I think, however, that my response ended the conversation. lol.
Hi M******e,
You asked good questions there. I'm Catholic. I myself wonder when we bring our children to churches in Europe and they see the relics if they understand the significance of these religious things to their faith. There are so many churches devoted to saints and Mary (like St. Peter's, St. Denis, Notre Dame, Santa Mary Maggiore), that sometimes I remind them that we worship (with emphasis) God and we honor, venerate and revere the saints.
Thus, when we kneel in front of these relics or the hand of St. Francis Xavier in the Church of the Gesu, for instance (This gives a new perspective to the teenspeak "Talk to the hand!"), I hope my kids are not worshipping the relics themselves but rather, are recalling the lives of the saints and are edified by their examples. In the same way we don't worship the bible, yet we kneel with a bible in our hands, or we have pictures of family members in the wallet but we don't idolize them, we use the relics as an aid to prayer, to remind ourselves of God and his special friends, the saints. Also, when the children view the bodies of the saints, like St. Catherine Laboure in her chapel beside Le Bon Marche, they discover up-close that saints are real and not just legends or myths. There is this powerful, visual impact that makes them realize – without having to explain in a thousand words - that saints were born ordinary too, only they strove for extraordinary lives AND they themselves can choose to be like that with God's grace of course.
In this sense, the displaying of relics, though they must have started long before the crusades (remember St. Helena, mother of Constantine, who took the Scala Santa back to Rome), still serves a purpose for modern Catholics.
But when one of my children asks if the relics have special powers or if they'll get an answered prayer after wiping the feet of a statue (did you see how one foot of St. Peter is rubbed down at the Basilica?), I reply that THE saints or Mary intercede for us, through Christ. (Just like when I say to a friend in trouble that she's in my prayer, I'm "interceding" but no way am I as holy...) If a miracle does occur, it is simply God's will being fulfilled, not because the relic became a magic wand.
Hope this helps.
So why am I bringing this up here in this Bitches' blog?
I don't have any holy relics at home, and you all know very well that I don't pretend to be a saint. But if you need prayers (or good thoughts and vibes), we can still pray for each other here, like a community of saints…errr…bitchesoverdramas.
I'll start off.
I pray for the sick, and for those undergoing a surgery today.
I pray for grandparents who live far from their families. Please keep them safe and healthy till they're reunited with their loved ones.
I pray for @Cleopatra.
I pray for world leaders that they may be guided by their right conscience and display Solomonic wisdom in their decisions.
Go ahead and share your prayer requests. No pressure. 
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