Charles Freeman is a sceptic and I am not, therefore there are plenty of times during this book when if the dialogue between reader and author had been transposed from the page to the pub voices would have been raised and pints slammed down on the table.
Having said that I should also be clear that I completely agree with the vast majority of the picture of hypocrisy and self-interested money grabbing that became the trade in relics. But was ever relic a sham? Was ever shrine director lining their own pocket?
We went of an exhibitionat the British Museum, the Treasures of Heaven, in September, and as I reflected then the prayers of the faithful create a spiritual reality which goes beyond the provable (or disprovable) history of the relic. Just because you can prove a fragment of the True Cross is only 200 years old does not necessary deny its power or its holiness.
As with pilgrimage, yes God is everywhere but to go somewhere else, to travel, is a statement of intent that can often allow an experience of greater depth from the one found in your own front room. It is not that there are certain places in the world where God is paying more attention to us, but that we have come and framed our minds and bodies to pay more attention to Him.
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