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People venerate relics of the Blessed Virgin, St. Joseph and the Apostles in St. Bruno Church Dec. 10. (Photo by Nicholas Wolfram Smith/Catholic San Francisco)
December 20, 2018
Nicholas Wolfram Smith
Three years ago, Church of the Epiphany parishioners Bea Zamora and her husband, Deacon Chito Zamora, first approached a priest about bringing his traveling relics exposition to the Bay Area. This December, their hope was fulfilled, as Companions of the Cross Father Carlos Martins visited three parishes in the Archdiocese of San Francisco with 150 relics of the saints.
“It’s a very blessed event, and an opportunity for many graces,” Bea Zamora told Catholic San Francisco. “We want the whole world to be able to go.”
The relics of 150 saints came to St. Bruno, St. Francis of Assisi and Church of the Epiphany the second week of December. (Photo by Nicholas Wolfram Smith/Catholic San Francisco)
In presentations at St. Bruno, St. Francis of Assisi and Church of the Epiphany, Father Martins discussed the church’s teaching on relics and their place in the Christian life. There are three classes of relics: fragments of the body, something a saint personally owned, and something a saint touched or that touched a relic of the saint.
Relics show the holiness of the body, Father Martins said, and also reflect the early history of the church, when Mass would be said over the tombs of saints.
Relics have long been linked to miracles, like in the Gospels where a woman was healed by touching Christ’s cloak. Father Martins said the Bible illustrates that “God brings about healing using a material object that is touched.”
But relics do not have any intrinsic power. “They are not magic,” he said. Instead, they are one means God uses to heal people, and draw attention to the saints.
Even without bringing physical healing, venerating the relics can bring emotional or spiritual healing, Bea Zamora said.
“We need all kinds of healing, even the people who look fit and healthy. There’s a lot of brokenness out there,” she said.
Father Martins also included a call for spiritual revival, asking his listeners to live closer to Christ and making them a promise.
“If you permit God to be lord of your life – and every part of your life – then you will experience the presence and power of God today in a way you never have before,” he said.
Father Martins discussed four common obstacles preventing God from entering into people’s hearts: refusal to attend Sunday Mass, to go to confession, to make a complete disclosure of sins in confession, and to extend forgiveness.
Each, he said, involved a rejection of God’s power to work in human hearts, and he asked his listeners to examine their consciences for any ways they refused God’s help.
Extending forgiveness is the most difficult change to make, Father Martins acknowledged, but was important to faith.
“No one deserves forgiveness,” he said, but it should be offered to let God work in every person’s life.
People also need to extend forgiveness to themselves, he said, since “we can’t fully receive God’s grace if we don’t forgive ourselves.”
Demetrius Montano, a Holy Angels parishioner, said he liked the discussion on forgiveness.
“It’s a big aspect of the Catholic faith, being able to go out and forgive those who have wronged you so that one day they might have the chance to have their life transformed by forgiveness,” he said.
After the talk finished, the collection of relics brought by Father Martins – including fragments of Christ’s cross, the Blessed Virgin’s veil, St. Joseph and the Apostles – was available for veneration. In the parish hall at St. Bruno, people touched rosaries, prayer cards, and pictures to relics or placed the reliquaries against their foreheads or lips.
Catholic school teacher Annette Belmessieri said it was “amazing to see all the saints I’ve taught students about.” She said she was thankful to come and have rosaries blessed, adding that “I can’t wait to share this with the kids.”
Bea Zamora said she was grateful Father Martins came to the Bay Area, and hoped it would lead “to a mighty release of miracles for people in the Bay Area.”
“It’s a beautiful Christmas gift from the Lord to all of us who were able to attend,” she said.