Choose a topic from Part 2B:
1. Sometimes the truths and practices of the true religionare misinterpreted or misused, and this is a kind of superstition.It is true doctrine, for instance, that the souls in purgatory arehelped by our prayers. But it would be superstition to believe thata certain formula of prayer, or a certain number of prayers, givesabsolute assurance of the deliverance of a certain soul frompurgatory.
2. And the good and useful practices of Catholics-inpenitential acts, for instance, and in using medals, scapulars, andother blessed objects-are sometimes turned into superstitioususages by mistaken persons who invest such practices with a kind ofmagical power, instead of using them, according to the mind of theChurch, as means of stirring up reverence and devotion to God intheir own hearts.
"As the flesh is nourished by food, so is man supported by prayers"
St Augustine
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"Obedience is the true holocaust which we sacrifice to God on the altar of our hearts."
St Philip Neri
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"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
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