Saint Therese is here to grant us many favours and blessings
Bishop looks forward to arrival in town of relics
Paisley’s Roman Catholics are looking forward to a big weekend as the relics of a famous saint come to the town.
The Pilgrimage of the Relics of Saint Therese will arrive at St Mirin’s Cathedral on Saturday and will stay in the church until Monday.
The relics, which include some of the 19th century saint’s bones, are coming to Paisley Diocese as part of a pilgrimage around all eight dioceses of Scotland.
Rt Rev John Keenan, Roman Catholic Bishop of Paisley, said: “Saint Therese of Lisieux, a little French nun who died in an enclosed Carmelite convent unknown to the world, is now regarded by Catholics as the greatest saint of modern times, and there is hardly a church in the world without a shrine to her.
“The great Mother Theresa of Calcutta chose her religious name after her.
“Saint Therese’s fame spread rapidly across the Catholic world after her death upon the publication of her memoirs The Story of a Soul.
“In it she proposed a new and simple way, her Little Way, for ordinary people to become saints just by seeing themselves as children of a loving Father God and offering up to him all their daily acts of love carried out in their families, neighbourhoods or at work.
“She promised she would spend all her time in Heaven doing good on earth and would send showers of roses to show she heard our prayers and cared.
“Since then millions of ordinary Catholics say that when they prayed to her they have received countless answers to their personal problems and often came across a rose in unusual circumstances as a sign.”
The veneration of relics may seem macabre to those who have a rationalist and materialistic view of the world, the bishop added.
“Catholics venerate relics because they somehow know there is more to the world than mere matter and it is full of human significance that cannot be limited to observable data,” he said.
“Catholics know they somehow experience real ‘flesh and bone’ contact with the saint whose presence and help somehow lingers in their relics, much as we hold onto the clothes and possessions of loved ones who have died believing creation is so structured that they have real significance and allow some human connection with those we love.
“In faith, Catholics also believe in the resurrection of our bodies, just as Jesus rose flesh and soul from the dead and left an empty tomb.
“So, the relics of the saints in Heaven are sources of miraculous grace, not just because as their mortal remains on earth, but somehow because they are awaiting their mysteriously resurrection to divine life with Christ.”
The Bishop said he was looking forward to Saint Therese coming to the diocese and would invite everyone, Catholic or otherwise, to go along to the church.
“I am convinced Saint Therese is coming to grant us many favours and blessings and will fill Paisley with the wonderful fragrance of her roses,” he added.
There will be a Mass at St Mirin’s Cathedral on Sunday at noon.