As Easter is the greatest Feast in the Christian Year, it is fitting that the Easter Season – Eastertide – is the longest season. This week we begin the Third Week of Easter and the emphasis remains on the Resurrection Stories. The last task we looked at examined the Empty Tomb and asked the question why was the tomb empty.

The traditional Christian Teaching is that Jesus rose physically and spiritually from the dead.

The followers of Jesus would not have taken his body as this would have been so disrespectful and they would not have considered such an act. Futhermore, access to the tomb was guarded by Roman Soldiers. The Romans and the Jewish Authorities saw Jesus as a threat and wanted his him literally dead and buried so that his followers could not make any claims. Neither would take the body.

History tells us that the tomb of Jesus was empty except for the shroud in which his body was wrapped.

The Catholic Church has a great tradition of relics of saints and many people use relics in their prayers and to support their faith. These relics can be very varied and can include small portions of materials with which the saint had contact. The term ‘first class relic’ can include the saint’s body of a portion of the body. In Rome, in the Church of San Sylvestre, you can view the skull of John the Baptist. A church in Motherwell which serves the local Polish Community treasures drops of the blood of St Pope John Paul II.

Devotion involving relics might not seem attractive to all but the concept is not that strange. Many of us will have some of the belongings to people who we love and who have died. These articles will have special meaning. Some of us may have, away in a drawer, the first tooth of the a lock of hair from our children’s first hair cut.
Such have meaning because they belong to a person we love.

Throughout the World in the Catholic Tradition there are so many relics – you may even have a small relic of your favourite saint, most likely a small article associated with them. Yet, in over 2000 years there has never been a claim worth considering about a relic from the body of Jesus. There are many relics associated with Jesus but none from the his body. He was resurrected and ascended body and soul into heaven.

Your task today.

1. Do you have a relic of a saint in your house or do your grandparents. Ask them…

2. Find out information about a relic of a saint and write a short paragraph.