Choose a topic from Part 2B:

92. Vices Opposed to Religion: Superstition

1. Superstition is a vice opposed to religion. It offersdivine worship to whom it should not, or it offers divine worshipto God in an unworthy manner. The name superstition comes from theLatin superstes which means "a survivor." Itsuggests that what are called superstitions are survivors or"holdovers" from the false pre-Christian religions knowncollectively as paganism.

2. Superstition takes various forms: (a) idolatrygives divine honor to a creature; (b) divination consultsdemons, thus attributing divine powers to creatures; (c) falseobservances are outer expressions of the belief that divinepowers are found in certain creatures.

"For what would it profit us to know the whole Bible by heart and the principles of all the philosophers if we live without grace and the love of God?"
Thomas á Kempis

* * *

"The supreme perfection of man in this life is to be so united to God that all his soul with all its faculties and powers are so gathered into the Lord God that he becomes one spirit with him, and remembers nothing except God, is aware of and recognises nothing but God, but with all his desires unified by the joy of love, he rests contentedly in the enjoyment of his Maker alone."
St Albert the Great

* * *

"God gives us some things, as the beginning of faith, even when we do not pray. Other things, such as perseverance, he has only provided for those who pray."
St Augustine

* * *