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so just recently I was with my ward on
fire team filming in Milan Italy and we
saw all kinds of wonderful things I
remember especially the baptistry where
Saint Augustine was baptized by Saint
Ambrose in the year 387 and it's still
quite well preserved and very moving to
see that spot but by far the most
extraordinary thing I saw in Milan was
the skeletal remains of st. Ambrose
himself so you go to the church of San
Ambrogio in Milan and you see behind a
grill there's the skeleton of Ambrose
and he's in his liturgical vestments and
his skull is topped by a bishops mitre
and it was just extraordinary to look
through and see these remains we also
were able to photograph it with some
height you know definition and very
strong lenses so we got these remarkable
photographs of this skull of Ambrose and
I couldn't help but notice his very
impressive teeth so after you know 1,600
years these powerful teeth are still on
display and I also couldn't help but
think of the lips that once covered
those teeth and here's why
there's a famous scene in the
confessions of Agustin when Agustin
remarks that he saw st. Ambrose reading
and see the custom in the ancient world
was when you read even by yourself you
you said the words quietly aloud you
moved your lips and Ambrose was the
first person that the great Agustin ever
saw reading without moving his lips
anyway all that was crossing my mind as
I was looking at the remarkable skull
and teeth of st. Ambrose well we put
that photo up on our Facebook page and
excited let's say a lot of very lively
commentary so many people thought it was
wonderful and fascinating and look at
that and how extraordinary but there
were substantial number of people who
thought it was kind of weird
kind of creepy how come the Catholic
Church is showing the the skeleton of
this poor man why don't they just bury
him you know are we idolizing him isn't
it frightening to children I mean all
these things said we don't regard to
that last one I can testify there there
was a whole gaggle of kids looking
through the grille at Ambrose with me
and believe me they were far more
fascinating than frightened so i think i
can i could put that objection to rest
but creepy weird inappropriate how come
we just don't bury the poor man well it
caused me to reflect a little bit on
this whole custom of relics what this
means in the life of the church i go
back now to John Henry Newman one of my
intellectual heroes and Newman's very
illuminating because he found himself at
different points in his life on both
sides of this question as a young man
he's still an Anglican at this point and
with a couple friends he goes on a tour
of Italy and in Italy he sees lots of
things they loved in the church that
were redolent for him of the ancient
church the Church of the father's right
but there were other things he saw that
he didn't like so for example the you
know that he thought the idolatry of the
Pope he thought of preoccupation with
Mary and the Saints and this problem of
relics the Young Newman like a lot of
the people on my Facebook feed thought
it was kind of weird kind of creepy okay
Newman about midlife becomes a Roman
Catholic and he undergoes a transition
in regard to this very question Newman
begins to see something namely first of
all what an ancient practice this was
namely the practice of reverencing
relics from the earliest days you know
that the martyrs for example people
would put cloth to catch the the blood
of the martyrs the the heads the skulls
the skeletons that the remains of
martyrs were reverence were placed
inside of altars Newman realized this is
not some kind of weird late Roman
Catholic obsession but rather was part
of the Christian thing almost from the
beginning
and then he began to ask even more
searching questions how come how come
from the earliest centuries the church
has reverenced relics his answer was
this relics are redolent of and in some
ways a continuation of the incarnation
this central claim of Christianity that
God in Christ becomes human he takes to
himself a human nature and mind you that
means not just a human mind not just
human will not just human ideas that
means taking to himself a body you know
hands and feet and fingers and a skull
and teeth that's the human nature that
God took to himself in Christ and
therefore this incarnation 'el
sensibility runs right through
Christianity you see it for example
strongly in the sacraments
so for Catholics it's not simply a
matter of proclaiming the word as
important as that is but rather it's the
materiality of the sacraments the water
of baptism the bread and wine that
become the body blood of Christ oil of
confirmation that hands imposed at the
forgiveness of sins in all these ways
the sacraments continue this incarnation
'el momentum newman saw that relics
especially are a powerful way to fight
the Gnostic element now I spoke of this
before because I think it's the most
enduring of all the great heresies go
back to the second century the Gnostic
view that there was a sharp divide
between spirit matter between mind and
body spirit mind good body matter fallen
right the whole idea of the spiritual
life for the Gnostics was to escape from
the body well it was st. Irenaeus and
many others of a church fathers who
fought this and they fought it on
incarnation 'el grande Christianity is
not a dualistic game it's not a game of
spirit escaping from matter but rather
it's about the salvation of the whole
person body and soul
and so you know as I say this would be
video for another day but the Gnostic
problem indoors trust me to this very
day in all kinds of different forms one
of the best ways to fight it I think is
with this idea of reverencing the relics
of the saints one of the best ways to
fight Nazism is with those still
impressive teeth of Saint Ambrose
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