Simply put, I just couldn’t stay away. The call to see Christ’s cross called to me from the moment I left, … and I knew that I had to return, seeing that It would be there only one more evening. Moments from the entire experience kept reappearing in my mind, and I shared them with Leia and Annie during the day (and remembered the ones they would experience with me later that eveing):
The original relics from the Bible that were so important where God used material objects as a means (such as the woman who touched Christ’s cloak and the dead man raised by touching Elisha’s bones), the difference between a first-class relic (a piece of a saint) a second class relic (an item a saint owned and touched) and a third-class relic (an item touched to a saint or another relic), the knowledge that a relic that said “ex ossibus” actually meant I was looking at a piece of the bone while “ex vestitus” meant I was looking at a piece of clothing, the fact that all relics need to be inside a theca to keep them safe, Maria Goretti forgiving the unrepentant man who stabbed her fifteen times, Saint Bernadette the incorruptible who turned the atheist man performing the autopsy to the Catholic Church as he held her two-hundred year old liver dripping with fresh blood, Saint Helen who searched the Roman archives to find Golgatha and then found Christ’s True Cross by watching an ailing woman be cured by the only one (of so very many) that was the True Cross, the man who was crippled from birth who got up and walked last year after touching the relic of the True Cross, the little girl a few weeks ago stricken with cancer in her abdomen who felt sad at not feeling any different during the exposition of the relics but as soon as she got to her car realized that her tumor was gone, the fact that one of these saints was supposed to reach out and touch you in a significant way as you were venerating the relics and the remembrance that we should go home and learn all we can about that saint, the young woman who stayed kneeling at the relic of St. Lucy for an hour or more kissing her likeness again and again, thanking St. Luke for writing the nativity story, thanking St. Augustine for repenting from debauchery, kneeling in awe of the forgiveness of Maria Goretti (who I truly need to learn from), marveling at the boldness of St. Lawerence (“turn me over, I’m done on this side”), feeling the Holy Spirit yet again when I would come to kiss St. Therese, wishing that St. Anthony the Abbot was really St. Anthony of Padua (but touched our special coins to him anyway, hoping it would count), the gift of the “good for one kiss” coin Leia found directly before attending making it a relic, little Annie venerating St. Francis of Assisi because of his love of bunnies, and the realization that some people were moved and some definitely were not.
Leia Rose especially was very interested, asking more and more questions. When she heard we would all return after the Furman bluegrass concert that night to observe these things, Leia was actually excited! And, as her Mamma, I was excited that SHE was excited. I started gathering all sorts of things from around the house to make into third class relics this evening, the biggest being the large picture of The Divine Mercy that I wanted to touch to the piece of the True Cross and to the relic of Sr. Faustina.
Now, because of the time limitations of this evening, I had to admit that my heart was not as open to the power of the Holy Spirit. Although I shed tears each time I approached the Cross, the power of proximity had vanished as it was there before. Tears came only when I was kneeling in front of the relic itself. Part of the issue was throngs of children of many different nationalities running around the relics laughing in throngs. Among my wonder as to where the heck these kids’ parents were was also the echo of Jesus’ words:
Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. Mark 10:14-15
But still I remained in awe of the hundreds of first-class relics found here. There were six on the gold tables, six that we were allowed to touch but not pick up: a piece of the lance that pierced Jesus’ side, the piece of the True Cross of Christ, a piece of a thorn from the Crown of Thorns, a theca that contained a first-class relic of all the apostles, a piece of Mary’s veil, and a first-class relic of St. Joseph. Then there were at least a hundred first-class relics of the saint in yet another room on blue tables all of which we could pick up and hold. One of these, to my surprise, was a piece of the real manger Christ snuggled into in Bethlehem. I couldn’t possibly remember all of them, but I will record all of the ones that I can remember (only a few of them I didn’t know at all: St. Lucy, St. Nicholas, St. Patrick, St. Mother Cabrini, St. Clare, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Bernadette, St. Vincent de Paul (both of which are incorruptible and contained an actual piece of flesh or hair!), St. Gerard. St. Therese of Lesieux, St. Theresa of Avila, St. Luke, St. Longinus (the good thief who died beside Jesus), St. Lawrence, St. Nicholas, St. Gerard, St. Maria Goretti, St. Agnes, St. Rose of Lima, St. Anne, St. Dominic, St. Cecilia, St. Bernard, St. Catharine, St. Benedict, St. Augustine, St. Angela, St. Anthony the Abbot, St. Agatha, St. Stanislaus, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Iraeneus (who was so harsh with heretics), St. Helen (who found the True Cross), St. Rita, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Stephen, St. Veronica, the cap of Pope Pius… and someone who is not yet a saint, Mother Teresa of Calcutta (which contained a piece of hair).
The previous day, the special Mother’s Day Rosary (from this year from my girls in 2011) touched every single one. It would be the only relic God would make on the first day. I was most certainly touched by three different saints. Two I knew quite well, and one I only knew in a tiny way. Telling Leia about this would only serve to up her excitement.
1. As I was touching my Rosary to St. Lawrence and reading a bit about him, I looked down at the Rosary bead I was “on,” the one I was holding. It was strange, there was suddenly a burned hole in it. “Weird,” I thought, “Well, I’m sure that doesn’t mean anything. … Well, maybe if this little hole was the exact same shape as the relic bone of St. Lawrence. Maybe. That would never be.” I looked down at the hole again. It was burned black and resembled a figure “8” on its side, or the infinity symbol. “No way that would be the same shape as the relic,” I though. I looked down and, sure enough, the relic was EXACTLY the same shape, … even down to the size, as if it was popped out of my rosary and put on display. I would continually call that bead my “St. Lawrence” bead, … and continue to marvel at his martyrdom on a grille where he boldly proclaimed “turn me over, I’m done on this side.” I feel as if St. Lawrence feels a bit of comeraderie with me, … and my boldness in ministering to many heretics (Protestants) as well as true non-believers such as Josh Rinz and Jamie Wheeler. We both use jokes and laughter to being people closer to Christ.
2. As I picked up the relic of St. Luke, I kissed him and thanked him for writing the nativity story, … because if it weren’t for him, we would never even know about the Manger, the Three Kings, Bethlehem, etc. As I was praying and kissin gently , the back of the theca popped out forcefully and flew to the ground making a very loud sound!!! I felt as though St. Luke was coming out to show me the importance of Christ’s nativity personally!!!
3. The final saint who touched me, simply touched me with a feeling: Maria Goretti. Only eleven when she died, she gave fifteen lilies as a sign of forgiveness to the unrepentant murderer who stabbed her fifteen times with a farm file. I felt like she personally spoke to me both in the talk and in her relic veneration. I need to have forgiveness (not anger or disgust) with heretics, and pray for them to come to the Truth. And, oh, the sadness I felt at the Protestant heretics that I told about the relic of the True Cross and found so many other things to do that evening besides coming to see such an amazing part of Christ’s sacrifice!
4. Leia’s miracle involved her rose petal from St. Therese, as an answer to her very first prayer and rose from heaven. The petal had turned yellow from age, inside of the frame that housed both the petal and the picture of the teenage St. Therese. After Leia touched the petal to the first class relic of St. Therese, the petal turned pink again as if it were new.
It was a special thing to have my parents attend as well, although I wish I could have given them “the talk” that I heard the night before as I spoke it to the girls this day. My poor Mom said, when I asked her if she was enjoying this, she said, “No, because I don’t really know what aI am supposed to be doing and if I am going to be able to get it all done.” Poor Mom was more concerned with only making the relics and not with the amazing miracles that stood all around her. It was as if she missed the glory of my “first day” doing this, and went right to the “work” of the second day.
Little Leia and Annie dealt with this exposition in a very special way, Annie (although we struggle with her at Mass sometimes) seemed to become pensive and quiet, touching her little Rosary made of rosewood (the one that smelled of roses until left unchecked in the open air) to all of the different relics. Leia Rose was most taken with Christ’s True Cross as well as the relic of Maria Goretti and St. Rose (“but not St. Therese because I already knew so much about her”). As for Brian, he was most taken with the manger from Bethlehem, … and I’ll never forget him kneeling in front of it with the two girls, venerating quietly.
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