Superstition
Steven Riddle had an interesting post the other day about a disturbing strain of Catholicism.
The formula, said to be a private revelation to Saint Bridget, reminds me of the scapular and the instruction that whoever wears it will avoid hell. Our Dominican father points out that the intention of wearing the scapular must be to clothe yourself in solidarity with the Carmelite order and therefore to follow God. It follows that if you follow God you will be saved.
I think some of this type of stuff is related to fear. My guess is that the more one teaches about hell and its dangers and likelihood, the more you will have superstitious "amulet" type deals to dodge hell and give us security. Since the moderns believe hell to be mostly empty, we are less likely to fall for superstitions.
But to my ears, some of it sounds similar to OT Leviticus type stuff. Even in the NT, there is the story of the woman who was healed after touching Jesus' garment which sounded close to superstition. She could've asked Jesus for healing, although I guess she did - in a way. Perhaps that is what people are indirectly doing with these devotions.
Regardless, it certainly gives a bad witness. The Protestant preacher I listen to said he'll never forget the time when he was a child and he went on a car trip with his uncle, a Catholic. He'd just pulled out of the driveway and went down the street before becoming panicked and agitated. He raced the car back home. He ran into the house like a man possessed and came back out to the car. He had forgotten his St. Christoper medal. Ouch.
Of course, as Kathy suggested, it's possible this story got embelled, much as the fisherman's fish gets bigger with each re-telling.
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