The Visit of the Relic to the Diocese of Shrewsbury and an Invitation to come and pray.

What is a relic?
A relic is a physical object that has a proven link to the person who has been canonised. It may be an actual part of their body, or something (e.g.clothing) associated closely with their life. By touching or venerating such an object, we have a tangible link with that holy man or woman. This is a reminder that our faith is not merely spiritual; the Son of God “became flesh” as St John tells us in the Prologue (John 1:18), and the apostles witnessed the fact that Christ rose bodily from the tomb (John 20:26-29). Physical matter matters to God.
Some people think that, in venerating relics, Catholic and Orthodox believers either adore the saints, engage in superstition or even in a form of idolatry. That is a mistake. In obedience to the First Commandment, we never ADORE anyone other than God, whom Jesus Christ revealed to be Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We
HONOUR his Mother, the Virgin Mary, with special affection because, with St John, we have received her as our own mother from Jesus on the Cross. And we VENERATE saints, as being our close relatives in the family of God.
Saints do not, of course, need such veneration, for they are already completely happy with God. It is we who are helped and inspired by the contact across time and space with people who walked this earth, like us, and were so open to God that their lives were radiant beacons of his.
People ask for the biblical basis for the practice of venerating relics. This is a fair question, since all Christian faith and practice must ultimately be anchored in the Scriptures. However, since it was impossible to imagine any direct access to the dead before death itself had been overcome, and since that was only achieved by
Jesus’ bodily Resurrection, it would be unreasonable to look for the veneration of relics in the Old Testament. What, then, of the New Testament? In the Gospel, we are told of a woman who had had “a flow of blood for twelve years and had suffered much under many physicians” (Mark 5:25-34). Being utterly
desperate and having heard the reports about Jesus the healer, she thought: “If I touch even his garments, I shall be made well”. Coming up behind him in the crowd, she reached out and did just that. Immediately, St Mark tells us, the haemorrhage ceased. Jesus, who had not seen the woman but was aware that “power had gone forth from him”, looked around in the crowd: “Who touched my garments?” he asked. The woman came forward “in fear and trembling and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth”. Jesus then said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease”. Quite a remarkable event.
Two things were necessary for this healing: contact with Jesus (in this instance, with the hem of his garment) and the faith that draws from him the Father’s power to create and recreate. That, you might say, is Jesus; but what of the saints? Let us turn to the Acts of the Apostles, where we read: “God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them” (19:11-12). No explanation is given of this practice. It is simply stated as a fact.
Relics are an important part of the expression of religious faith and devotion, and they touch a deeper human need that finds its expression in the way that people cling to souvenir from a person they loved or admired or a place that they have been to that holds particular significant memories. Such a relic or personal object
connects this moment with the treasured moment that is now past; somehow that object holds a spiritual and emotive power. With relics there is also a dialogue between the venerator and the venerated. The saints intercede for us from the place in heaven, they have completed their journey in holiness and what we see and
venerate in their relics is a concrete reminder of their humanity. In venerating the relic of a saint we acknowledge their sanctity as we ask for their intercession with God, whilst seeing their humanity in the relic; and so we caught up in a deepening awareness to do likewise: to become a saint by truly living out our Faith.
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Bishop Mark Davies has asked Bishop Guy Bagnard of Ars (pronounced ARZE), to allow the relic of the heart of the St John-Marie Vianney to visit the Diocese of Shrewsbury.
You are, then, warmly invited to come and venerate this relic of the heart of a saint whose life was full to bursting of the Love of God. John-Marie Vianney sought by every means possible to bring everyone to know God’s Love, and to love that Love in return. “The only happiness we have on earth,” he used to say, “lies in loving God and knowing that God loves us.”

For More information about the Life of St John Mary Vianney visit:
http://www.dioceseofshrewsbury.org/news