From Forums of the Virgin Mary [translated]:
The secret that is hidden in the sacramentals.
Catholics generally use medals, Crucifixes and other objects made by human hands, placing trust in them that they are elements of Divine protection.
Basically: protection against the evil one and against the forces of evil, because, as Saint Paul said, our fight is not against the flesh but against the spirits of evil
But Evangelicals, and other groups that were born from the Lutheran protest, call those who place their trust in these objects idolaters.
It is their rudimentary misinterpretation that Catholics think power lies in the object itself, as those who practice New Age and various occult disciplines believe.
Catholics call these objects sacramental.
And a good part of the devotional life of a faithful Catholic revolves around them.
We at Forums have published an article where we detail what sacramentals are and what the protection lies for the person who uses them.
I recommend you read it, because it is a good guide to understand its power and use, and I leave the link in the description of this video.
Where then does the protection that sacramentals give us come from?
Who is truly protected by sacramentals and who is not?
And what are the sacramentals we are specifically referring to?
I will answer these questions in a moment.
Behind a sacramental is the idea of blessing.
Every sacrament is something blessed.
And a blessing is an invocation of the protection of the Church by appealing to God.
That is why the Church blesses people and objects.
A blessing is a request to God to grant something good to an individual, either directly or indirectly, through an object that individual is going to use.
Once the priest or deacon imparts a blessing, for example to water turning it into Holy Water or to a medal turning it into a sacramental, they make the object the bearer of a Church blessing.
In other words, when it was blessed, it became the bearer of the blessing.
And where is the power, then?
The object itself is not the source of power.
But it is a sign and material bearer of a blessing and the power is in the prayers of the Church through the centuries and the Church as a Holy institution created by God.
Only God has power and there are no powerful objects in and of themselves.
But when the Church blesses an object, it is asking God to protect its bearer, for the merits of the Church itself and the merits that the bearer will do. [scroll for more:]
I repeat, a blessed object contains the Church’s request to God to protect the bearer; the Church puts all its power in it.
And that request is activated when the person who uses the sacramental is in the Grace of God and fulfills His Commandments.
Sacramental actions can range from the Sign of the Cross to postures within the Church, for example, kneeling or standing in prayers.
They can be objects of nature, such as the water that is blessed.
Also, objects made by man that are blessed, such as medals, scapulars, statues, icons, paintings, rosaries, etcetera.
And gifts from the Church, such as indulgences.
Therefore, they are objects that predispose people to receive the Graces of God.
So let’s not fall into the fetishism of thinking that objects have power in themselves and that when used by people who do not believe in God and are not in a state of Grace, they are as effective as used by the faithful.
And what are the effects we can expect from blessed or sacramental objects?
One of the effects is to drive away evil spirits.
And that is why the Church uses sacramentals in exorcisms.
Furthermore, the Rite of Exorcism is a great sacramental, where Holy Water, the Crucifix, the Holy Rosary, the Bible, and prayers are used, which are also sacramentals.
The experience in exorcisms is that these sacramentals produce great violence to the demonic spirits and end up expelling them from the possessed person.
And this is where the power of sacramentals is most directly verified.
Another effect is the protection of the soul against sin and the penalties due for it.
That is why in the blessing of a Crucifix or any other sacramental, the Church asks that that object receive the heavenly blessing, so that all those who place their trust in God, believing in the power of God, can receive greater contrition and forgiveness from the faults committed
And a third effect of sacramentals is to obtain temporal favors, because the Church blesses objects that are used in daily life.
In this way, sacramentals, that is, blessed objects, stimulate pious emotions and affections of the heart, preserve and restore bodily health, and ask for abundance.
A house is blessed asking for abundance and peace among the inhabitants of the home.
And a business is blessed by asking that there is no shortage of bread and that the enterprise is economically successful.
In these blessings, the characteristic signs are prayer over the object or person asking for the blessing, the laying on of hands, the Sign of the Cross, and the sprinkling of Holy WQater.
Finally we must remember that purity of intention is essential so that superstition does not play a role in the use of these sacramentals.
Because I repeat again, a sacramental is an object from which the Church calls on God to protect the user and confer graces.
But this is activated when the user fulfills God’s commandments.
It is clear then that the power does not lie in the object itself, as Protestants often say, but in the faith deposited in God through the mediation of the Church.
In Virgin Mary Forums, we have published an article that has much more information.
And it even contains prayers to make use of sacramentals, such as Holy Water, blessed salt, and blessed oil
It is very important information and that is why I recommend you read it, the link is in the description of this video.
And I would like to ask you if it is clear to you that it is a sacramental and the difference it has with a talisman that is given power in itself.
And if it is not clear to you, please ask your questions in the comments, so that the Virgin Mary Forums community can answer them.