Jenny
Ruz
wrote:
|
Hi guys!
I'm Jenny, here in the Philippines. I believe
Catholic doctrines, but one thing in my mind
is unclear. I just want an honest, true, clear,
and reliable explanation as to why our Catholic
churches have images of Saints, images of the
Virgin Mary, images of Christ in the church,
etc., when the Second Commandment states:
You shall not make for yourself any carved
image, or any likeness of anything that is
in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath,
or that is in the water under the earth; you
shall not bow down to them nor serve them.
For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the
children to the third and fourth generations
of those who hate me, but showing mercy to
thousands, to those who love Me and keep My
commandments.
Deuteronomy 5:8-10
Please explain this so I can clearly understand.
I have no one else to turn to. You are my last
resort.
Thank you so much!
Jenny
|
{
Why does
our Church have these images in violation of the
Second Commandment? }
|
Mike replied:
Hi Jenny,
I'm going to throw in my two cents from the Catechism.
This is what the Catechism teaches:
CCC 2129 - 2132
IV. "You Shall Not Make For Yourself A Graven Image . . ."
2129 The divine injunction included the prohibition of every representation
of God by the hand of man. Deuteronomy explains: "Since you saw
no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst
of the fire, beware lest you act corruptly by making a graven image for
yourselves, in the form of any figure. . . . " (Deuteronomy 4:15-16.)
It is the absolutely transcendent God who revealed himself to Israel. "He
is the all," but at the same time "he is greater than all his
works."
He is "the author of beauty."
2130 Nevertheless, already in the Old Testament, God ordained or permitted
the making of images that pointed symbolically toward salvation by the
incarnate Word: so it was with the bronze serpent, the ark of the covenant,
and the cherubim.
2131 Basing itself on the mystery of the incarnate Word, the seventh
ecumenical council at Nicaea (787 A.D.) justified against the iconoclasts
the veneration of icons - of Christ, but also of the Mother of God, the
angels, and all the saints.
By becoming incarnate, the Son of God introduced
a new "economy" of images.
2132 The Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the first
commandment which proscribes idols. Indeed, "the honor rendered
to an image passes to its prototype," and "whoever venerates
an image venerates the person portrayed in it." The honor paid
to sacred images is a "respectful veneration," not the adoration
due to God alone:
Religious worship is not directed to images in themselves, considered
as mere things, but under their distinctive aspect as images leading
us on to God incarnate. The movement toward the image does not terminate
in it as image, but tends toward that whose image it is.
(St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II,81,3 ad 3.)
and
Holy images
CCC 1159 - 1162
1159 The sacred image, the liturgical icon, principally represents Christ.
It cannot represent the invisible and incomprehensible God, but the incarnation
of the Son of God has ushered in a new "economy" of images:
Previously God, who has neither a body nor a face, absolutely could
not be represented by an image. But now that he has made himself visible
in the flesh and has lived with men, I can make an image of what I
have seen of God . . . and contemplate the glory of the Lord, his face
unveiled.
1160 Christian iconography expresses in images the same Gospel message
that Scripture communicates by words. Image and word illuminate each
other:
We declare that we preserve intact all the written and unwritten traditions
of the Church which have been entrusted to us. One of these traditions
consists in the production of representational artwork, which accords
with the history of the preaching of the Gospel. For it confirms that
the incarnation of the Word of God was real and not imaginary, and
to our benefit as well, for realities that illustrate each other undoubtedly
reflect each other's meaning.
1161 All the signs in the liturgical celebrations are related to Christ:
as are sacred images of the holy Mother of God and of the saints as well.
They truly signify Christ, who is glorified in them. They make manifest
the "cloud of witnesses" who continue to participate in the
salvation of the world and to whom we are united, above all in sacramental
celebrations. Through their icons, it is man "in the image of God," finally
transfigured "into his likeness," who is revealed to our
faith. So too are the angels, who also are recapitulated in Christ:
Following the divinely inspired teaching of our holy Fathers and the
tradition of the Catholic Church (for we know that this tradition comes
from the Holy Spirit who dwells in her) we rightly define with full
certainty and correctness that, like the figure of the precious and
life-giving cross, venerable and holy images of our Lord and God and
Savior, Jesus Christ, our inviolate Lady, the holy Mother of God, and
the venerated angels, all the saints and the just, whether painted
or made of mosaic or another suitable material, are to be exhibited
in the holy churches of God, on sacred vessels and vestments, walls
and panels, in houses and on streets.
1162 "The beauty of the images moves me to contemplation, as a
meadow delights the eyes and subtly infuses the soul with the glory of
God." Similarly, the contemplation of sacred icons, united with
meditation on the Word of God and the singing of liturgical hymns, enters
into the harmony of the signs of celebration so that the mystery celebrated
is imprinted in the heart's memory and is then expressed in the new life
of the faithful.
Hope this helps,
Mike
|
|
|