Devotions, Devotionals, and the Catholic Character

After one of our weekday Masses a parishioner brought in donuts to share and there was a nice gathering in the conference room. I sat down and began talking to a group of ladies when the talk somehow turned to devotions.

We talked about St. Christopher and a friend mentioned she always prays for her son when he is driving by asking for the intercession of St. Christopher. Then, of course, talk of St. Christopher led to the discussion of how many thought he was no longer a "saint" when he was removed from the calendar. Ostensibly because he was something of a myth or legend; how could he literally carry the child Jesus across a river in the third century when Jesus had been dead over two hundred years by then? And yet, it's still okay to venerate him as a martyr. My thinking, as you may guess, is that myth and legend are perfectly legitimate ways of conveying deeper layers of meaning. How do we know it's okay to interpret myth as metaphor? Jesus told us so. "The kingdom of heaven is like..." He taught in parables. He spoke in parables. "Feed my sheep."

And then someone mentioned St. Dymphna as a good patroness for women. Interesting, because I had heard of her before thanks to the lovely Ubermilf. Which made me think of Our Lady of Happy Delivery--another of the patronages of Mary.

We talked about all of the layers of meaning and cryptic or hidden meanings within the tradition of Catholicism. Scratch something and you find a symbol. Shapes, colors, words, everything has more than one meaning. Rich doesn't begin to describe it.

And honestly? I think all of this is a good thing. I am in love with a great many Catholic devotionals and saints. Even at our Vacation Bible School we did not simply learn Bible verses; oh, no, no, no. We learned the Sign of the Cross, the Glory Be, the Grace Before Meals, the Hail Mary, the Lord's Prayer, the Act of Contrition, the Apostles Creed, and many more.

Where I start to have a problem is that murky line where devotionals and miracles cross over into superstition. It's very old school, but there are plenty of modern examples. Ever get one of those emails? You know, "send this to seven people in seven minutes and something wonderful will happen to you?" or "It's very powerful, don't break the chain, it's never been known to fail!" Never known to fail, that is, until it was sent to me. I'm still waiting for wonderful to happen. Ah, but I must not have prayed hard enough, or sent it out within precisely seven minutes, or, or...

And that is the problem I have with using these in a pastoral way. Because sometimes bad things happen. This sort of devotion prompts people to blame themselves when that bad thing happens. Your miracle didn't happen because you didn't really believe. Or you didn't pray hard enough. Your faith wasn't strong enough. That's why your mother died.

See?

That's what I'm talking about.

If you want to push someone into shaking their fist at God, go right ahead and talk about miracles.

I believe in approaching people where they are in their faith. I would never say miracles don't happen. I would never try to tell someone they shouldn't pray devotionals like the Rosary, or that they shouldn't meditate on the lives of the saints.

As for miracles, well I've seen the Holy Spirit work in people.

And I will pray for your spiritual and temporal needs.

But ultimately, God is not so much in the bad, the death, the disability, the accident--as He is present in the healing afterward.