Why is this seemingly acceptable?

[CFTraveler]

I just want to comment, that one of the tests for sainthood is the disinterment of the body after a number of years and making sure it does not rot- if it rots it's not a saint. So chances are, the arm isn't a piece of rotten flesh- it's more than likely mummified and not 'too' gross.
I once visited a relic in the Cathedral of San Juan (I don't remember which Saint they have there) but you really couldn't see anything, or at least I don't remember what he looked like.
Funny how memory works.

[ButterflyWoman]

I was intrigued, so I looked it up. It's the relic of Carlos Manuel Rodriguez Santiago, the first Puerto Rican ever to be beatified. Apparently, he's still only Blessed and not Sainted, though according to Wikipedia, the odds are high that he'll eventually become a saint.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlos_...Dguez_Santiago

Interesting stuff you pick up around this place, sometimes.

[CFTraveler]

I was thinking about that time- I was about six or seven years ago, and we were visiting our families. We decided to all get together and go to the castles (El Morro and San Cristobal) and while we were there, we decided to pop inside the Cathedral to look at the architecture, and I remember walking to the niche in which he is, I remember looking inside the 'cage' where the coffin (or box, or table) was, and I remember reading the placard and wondering how they could have a corpse there in the heat (no central air, but it's usually not hot because of the sea breeze, unless it's summertime.) I remember walking around the walk with everyone, and I also remember seeing how my grandma was getting frail, and starting to lose it. I remember seeing her standing looking mildly confused, in my mind as if it were yesterday- but I can't remember what the dead guy looked like, or even if it was a body or a skeleton or anything.
Like I said earlier, memory is interesting.
But I digress.

[Beekeeper]

To forgive is the key here

I have no problem with forgiveness and only mentioned it to be fair. I just think that the choice of saint was a poor one.

[ButterflyWoman]

Thinking a bit more about this.

There are still people who see various material substances or objects as being inherently magical or spiritual. Some people view and experience crystals/stones this way. Some people experience various mystical results from running water. Some people experience mystical effects from essential oils or incense. Is it really such a stretch to think that people might experience what they consider to be miracles from being in the presence of a saintly relic?

[SiriusTraveler]

Yeah.. just felt dumb,because I have a necklace that I think works in a certain "magical" way :S. Shouldn't be so fast to judge other beliefs.
But the more I think of it the more I believe that "magical" effects doen not come from the object itself, but instead from the belief in the magical properties. Im saying that belief = placebo effect. Not always perhaps, but many times. I certainly believe in the body and mind's capacity to heal and do other stuff so it wouldn't be a stretch to say that it could be placebo.

Hmm, why do I get deja vu by writing this... have to check my earlier posts so that Im not repeating msyelf.

Edit: Nope, didnt write that before. Oh well

[ButterflyWoman]

I have some enchanted/blessed/magical jewellery and other items, too. I think it's my own belief in them that makes them work, frankly. The key is not actually the object or substance or whatever, but the energy of believe behind it. The object just creates a kind of "window" through which reality can move and flow and change.

[CFTraveler]

We're cocreators with Source. Everything we call magic is the channeling of that awareness, or the making it automatic.
.02

[DarkChylde]

howcome there are are no living saints around these days?

or at least those with prominent status of sainthood (if you consider the delcaration of beatitude to be cardinal following death only)

[CFTraveler]

We can't know that, can we? I'm sure there are.