Veneration of Images
Does the Catholic Church endorse the veneration of images?
The Catholic Catechism endorses the veneration (honoring or revering) of images:
“The Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the first commandment which proscribes [prohibits] 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’ ” (para. 2132).
Although the Catholic Catechism states that “the honor paid to sacred images is a ‘respectful veneration,’ not the adoration due to God alone,” it goes on to identify it as religious worship. Although it says that the “religious worship is not directed to images in themselves, considered as mere things” and that the images are to lead one on to God, it also tells us that “the movement toward the image does not terminate in it as image, but tends toward that whose image it is.” So, even though the intention might be to lead one to God, if an image of Mary or some other saint is being honored or revered with religious worship, that person is being honored or revered with religious worship. In contrast, the Bible tells us we should worship no one but God. The Bible tells us what happened when the apostle John saw an angel, a real angel, not just the image of one:
“It is I, John, who heard and saw these things, and when I heard and saw them I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me. But he said to me, ‘Don’t! I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brothers the prophets and of those who keep the message of this book. Worship God’ ” (Revelation 22:8, 9).
Like the angel that appeared to John, the saints are also fellow servants and not God. Therefore they should not be worshiped in any manner whatsoever. Jesus Himself told us,
“ ‘It is written: “You shall worship the Lord, your God, and him alone shall you serve” ’ ” (Luke 4:8; italics added).
Additionally, even though the Catholic Catechism calls statues or paintings of saints “sacred images” instead of “idols” and does not consider a person’s bowing down before a statue of a saint to be worship of that saint, the Bible tells us,
“You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; you shall not bow down before them or worship them” (Exodus 20:4, 5).
Deuteronomy 4:15–19 explains further:
“You saw no form at all on the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire. Be strictly on your guard, therefore, not to degrade yourselves by fashioning an idol to represent any figure, whether it be the form of a man or of a woman, of any animal on the earth or of any bird that flies in the sky, of anything that crawls on the ground or of any fish in the waters under the earth. And when you look up to the heavens and behold the sun or the moon or any star among the heavenly hosts, do not be led astray into adoring them and serving them.”
So, even though the Catholic Church calls them “sacred images” and not “idols,” these verses tell us that (1) we should not worship anything in the form of a man or woman and (2) that we should not even bow down to them.
____________________________________________________________
If you would like a free copy of the book
for yourself or to share with family or
friends, simply e-mail me at:
Joe@TeachingsOfTheCatholicChurch.com
and I will be happy to send one to you.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
