St. Anthony's Chapel in the holy city of Pittsburgh has the most prominent collection of relics in the U.S., but a Catholic in Reading (or is it a little lay group?) is no slouch: he's doing his part to foster veneration of the relics of the saints.
(Via Fr. Sibley.)
"Many beginners are discontent with the spirituality God has given them. They go around melancholy and petulant because they cannot access the consolation they crave in their spiritual practices. They are greedy.
These are the ones who cannot get enough of listening to spiritual counsels, of studying religious precepts, of acquiring and consuming sacred literature. Their efforts are imbalanced toward these pursuits and away from the simple commitment to cultivating inner poverty of spirit. They load themselves down with exotic images and artifacts. They let go of some only to take on others. They exchange this one for that one, and then they change back again. First they have to have one particular holy object, next a different one. They prefer one string of prayer beads over another because it's fancier. Some gather spiritaul relics and amulets like children hoarding trinkets.
All I am condemning is the attachment of the heart to the style, multitude, and intricacy of these objects. This is contrary to the poverty of spirit which concerns itself with nothing but the substance of devotion, which is statisfied with whatever fulfills this simple end, and which tires of multiplicity and ornamentation. True devotion springs from the heart. It is the truth spiritual objects represent that matters. All the rest is mere attachment. For the soul to pass into perfection, such cravings need to fall away."
- Excerpted from "Dark Night of the Soul," by St. John of the Cross (pp. 42-43), Mirabai Starr, Translator (Riverhead Books, 2002). There are some things about the translation method of Starr that I don't like, but the translation, overall is unbeatable for clarity and readability.
Just one small correction: Pittsburgh is not "the holy city." Rather, it has the good fortune to be near the holy city of Steubenville.