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Why do we Catholics have lots of images
of Jesus when it has been written in the
Ten Commandments that we shouldn't bow
to other gods before the Father?
I know that Jesus and God are one, but
why do we also have to pray and kneel in front
of images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary?
Jen
{
Why
do we pray and kneel in front of images when
the Ten Commandments say we shouldn't? }
Eric
replied:
Hi, Jen —
Actually the Ten Commandments do
not mention the Father, they simply
say God. Moreover, the
word for God here, Elohim,
is plural, which is suggestive of
the Trinity, so I wouldn't restrict
it to the Father.
Catholicism upheld the use of images
in worship in the Seventh Ecumenical Council. An error arose, influenced
by Islam, known as Iconoclasm (breaking
of images). Here is what the Catechism
of the Catholic Church has to say
about the subject:
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." (Sirach 43:27-28) He is "the author of beauty." (Wisdom 13:3)
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. (cf.Numbers 21:4-9; Wisdom 16:5-14; John 3:14-15; Exodus 25:10-22; 1 Kings 6:23-28; 1 Kings 7:23-26)
2131 Basing itself on the mystery of the incarnate Word, the Seventh Ecumenical Council at Nicaea (787) 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. (St. Basil, De Spiritu Sancto 18,45:PG 32,149C; Council of Nicaea II: DS 601; cf. Council of Trent: DS 1821-1825; Vatican Council II: Vatican II, Sacrosanctum Concilium 126; Vatican II, Lumen Gentium 67) 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.
The point about the incarnation introducing
a new economy of images is
important.
Why did God forbid the user of
images in the Old Testament?
Because God could not be represented
by an image. He was invisible and
formless yet when He became man,
in Jesus Christ, the man Jesus became
the image (1 Corinthians 11:7, Colossians 1:15) and exact
representation (Hebrews 1:3)
of the Father. We now have an image
of God, and the reason for proscribing
images no longer applies. In fact,
one could say that Jesus fulfilled
the first commandment, that the first
commandment, as it were, cleared
the brush away and prepared the way
for the image of God to be revealed
in Jesus Christ.
But besides this who can make
an imitation of the invisible,
incorporeal, uncircumscribed,
formless God? Therefore to give
form to the Deity is the height
of folly and impiety. And hence
it is that in the Old Testament
the use of images was not common.
But after God in His bowels of
pity became in truth man for our
salvation, not as He was seen
by Abraham in the semblance of
man, nor as He was seen by the
prophets, but in being truly man,
and after He lived upon earth
and dwelt among men, worked miracles,
suffered... since all these things
actually took place and were seen
by men, they were written for
the remembrance and instruction
of us who were not alive at that
time in order that though we saw
not, we may still obtain the blessing
of the Lord. But seeing that not
everyone has a knowledge of letters nor
time for reading, the Fathers
gave their sanction to depicting
these events on images... When
we see the image of Christ's crucifixion...
we fall down and worship not the
material but that which is imaged;
just as we do not worship the
material of which the Gospels
are made, but what this typifies.
St. John Damascene 676-749 A.D. on the Exposition of the Orthodox
Faith
The Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical
Council decreed:
We define that the holy images,
whether in color, mosaic, or some
other material, should be exposed
in the holy churches of God...
Whenever these representations
are contemplated, they will cause
those who look at them to commemorate
and love their prototypes [those
they represent]. We define also
that they should be kissed and
they are an object of veneration
and honor (timitiki proskynesis),
but not of real worship (latreia),
which is reserved for Him who
is the Subject of our faith...
The honor rendered to the image
is in effect transmitted to the
prototype; he who venerates the
image, venerates in it the reality
for which it stands..."
Seventh Ecumenical
Council also known as the Second Council of Nicea. (787 A.D.)
Bowing is not inherently a form of
worship; it's just a form of respect.
Japanese bow to each other as a form
of greeting. The same was true among
the Hebrews. I'm sure you'll quote
the first commandment, but the exact
same Hebrew phraseology used in first
commandment in Exodus is used by
righteous Isaac in speaking to Jacob
in Genesis 27:29:
"May nations serve you and
peoples bow down to you."
Even the prophet Nathan, surely a
righteous man, bowed before the king.
So they told the king, saying:
“Here is Nathan the prophet.” And
when he came in before the king,
he bowed down before the king
with his face to the ground.
"Then David went out of the
cave and called out to Saul, 'My
Lord and king!' When Saul looked
behind him, David bowed down and
prostrated himself with his face
to the ground."
So bowing was commonly done between
human beings. It is not, therefore,
against God's law to bow down before
images, as long as it is done merely
to honor, and not to worship.
So, too, when we kneel before a statue,
we don't worship it, and when we
pray, we don't pray to the statue.
It's like a reminder of that particular
person and an act of veneration towards
them.
Also, clearly God did not forbid
all images, so it's not an absolute
prohibition. In fact he commanded
some of them, such as:
