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CHAPTER XIX
SACRED IMAGES (ICONS) & SACRAMENTALS
“Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing,
nor the likeness of anything that is in heaven above,
or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth.”
Exodus 20:4
(part of the Ten Commandments)!
SACRED IMAGES:[111]
The adoration of Christ and the veneration of His Saints and Angels through the use of their images are a cherished devotion in the Catholic Church. They offer the following advantages:
1. Religious paintings and statues embellish the house of God. We decorate our homes with pictures and knickknacks. What can be more appropriate than to surround the Sanctuary of Jesus Christ with the portraits of the Saints, especially of Mary and of the Apostles, who, in their life, ministered to His Sacred Person?
2. Religious paintings can serve as a Catechism, teaching various Catholic Truths. Descriptive pictures (like the Stations of The Cross) will teach our littlest “angels”, who may not yet know how to read, about the Truths found in the Holy Images. They also help teach visitors who may not be Catholic and to reinforce what older Catholics have learned or are learning.
3. Religious paintings are an eloquent profession of our Faith. Visit someone’s home and notice how it is decorated. It gives and indication of what the homeowner considers important to them. Home with religious pictures, crucifixes, etc in places of honor demonstrate that GOD is important in their lives. A home with many pictures of family members, show that family is also important in their lives. A home with patriotic pictures places importance on patriotism. The homes of sportsmen will be decorated with whatever interests them. Look at how a persons home is decorated and you will see what is important to them. Decorating your home with Sacred Images is a profession of Faith to all who visit your home.
4. Sacred Pictures aid our devotion and love for those whom the pictures represent. Beautiful pictures of The Sacred Heart or Christ The King aid us in our affection and awe of Our Lord. Beautiful pictures of The Blessed Virgin and the other Saints, aid us when we pray to them. Pictures in the Stations Of The Cross and gazing at the Crucifix help us to better appreciate the Passion of Christ and increase our Love for Him. Sacred Pictures help us to lift up our minds and hearts to God, which it the definition of Prayer.
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5. Portraits of the Saints remind us to try to imitate their holiness. This is one of the
main reasons why the Church encourages the use of pious representations. One object, it is true, is to honor the Saints; another is to invoke them; but the principal end is to incite in us to an imitation of their holy lives.
Non-Catholic Objections to Sacred Images:
1. The making of “graven images” if forbidden by the Second Commandment of
God! Why did the Catholic Church cut out the 2nd Commandment forbidding images of things above, on and under the earth! See Exodus 20:4 (under Title above).
CATHOLIC RESPONSE:
Exodus 20:4 only forbids images to be used and worshiped as gods it does not forbid all images:
Protestants contend that these words contain an absolute prohibition against the making of images, while The Catholic Church insists that the commandment referred to, merely prohibits us from worshiping them as gods.
Its silly to say all images are forbidden, even non-Catholics have pictures (images) of family and friends in their homes. There are even statues of “Great Men” in our public buildings (Washington, Lincoln, etc), non-Catholics don’t object to them. They often even have pictures of Christ as the “Good Shepherd” or as “Knocking on our Door”. They therefore really know that this Commandment refers to images used as idols and worshiped as gods, as the “golden calf” or the idols of pagans. However they fool many people, who don’t stop to think about it, claiming that Catholic statues and pictures are forbidden by Exodus 20:4.
It is wrong to claim this passage forbids all images, because other passages in Holy Scripture directed the Hebrews to make “images”. For example:
In Exodus 25:18 He commands that two cherubim (angels) of beaten gold be made and placed on each side of the oracle.
In Numbers 21:8 He commands Moses to make a brazen serpent, and to set it up for a sign that “whosoever being struck by the fiery serpents shall look upon it, shall live.”
Are not Angels and serpents the likeness of creatures above or on or under the earth? These commands do not contradict Exodus 20:4 because these images are not intended for adoration as gods. Therefore the Catholic position is the correct one. Exodus 20:4 forbids the making of images as idols to be worshiped as gods. It does not forbid the making of any image as some Protestants pretend to believe.
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The Catholic Church has not thrown out the Second Commandment:
Catholics did not throw out the Second Commandment of God! Protestants split the First Commandment into two and in order not to have eleven Commandments, they combined the last two Commandments.
Look in both the Catholic Bible and the non-Catholic Bible in Exodus 20 and you will find that the Ten Commandments are not numbered. In Baltimore Catechism No. 2 you will find the First Commandment listed as:
“I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the hours of bondage. Thou shalt not have strange gods before Me. Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth. Thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them”
In the Baltimore Catechism No. 1 (for little children) this Commandment is simplified to Its essence as:
“I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt not have strange gods before Me.”
This form is easier for small children to understand and gives the essential meaning of the First Commandment.
In order to justify their attack on Catholic Statues, the Protestants list the First Commandment as:
“I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt not have strange gods before Me.”
They then list the 2nd Commandment as:
“Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth, Thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them.”
These Commands are really only one Commandment against false gods and not two commandments. The Protestants are not justified in breaking up the First Commandment into two Commandments. Never the less, they then refer to Catholic Catechisms with the simplified form for the 1st Commandment and say that Catholics threw out the 2nd Commandment! This of course is a lie. It is told to the unsuspecting to keep them from The Catholic Faith!
For Catholics the Second Commandment is:
“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.”
For Protestants, this is the Third Commandment. In order not to have eleven Commandments, the Protestants then have to combine the 9th and 10th into one!
“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.”
“Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods.”
Protestants are not justified in placing these two Commandments as one because they are not the same. Ha! Do the Protestants reduce the value of their wives down to the level of their goods!! I hope not. They are not the same thing. They are two different Commandments.
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2. Catholics worship statues!
I’ve seen Catholics kneel before statues and pray to them. I’ve even seen Catholics kiss the feet of statues. I’ve even seen Catholics light candles to statues! This proves that Catholics worship statues, just like the Pagans worshiped their gods.
CATHOLIC RESPONSE:
This is another lie that Protestants like to tell about Catholics. Catholics know that they don’t worship statues. Catholic use statues to help lift their minds and hearts to God. When we kiss a statue, it is not to show affection to the statue but to the person whom the statue represents. This is an act similar to someone kissing a picture of a loved one who is far away. When they kiss the picture they know the picture is not the loved one but they kiss the picture to show affection for the person whom the picture represents. Similarly the burning of a candle represents a prayer ascending to God as long as the candle burns.
SACRAMENTALS:[2]
Sacramentals are holy things or actions, which The Church makes use of, to obtain for us from God, through Her intercession, spiritual and temporal favors. For example: Blessings of Priests and Bishops, holy water, candles, blessed ashes, holy oil, blessed palms, crucifixes, medals, rosaries, scapulars, images of Our Lord, the Blessed Virgin and the saints.
Non-Catholic Objections to Sacramentals:
1. Superstitious Catholics use these things like voodoo charms or a rabbit’s foot.
Protestants have trouble with Sacramentals considering them “a mediator between God and man” or as a talisman or lucky charm. They look down on Catholics as being superstitious.
CATHOLIC RESPONSE: Sacramentals have no power in themselves. They help us to lift our minds and hearts to God. Their use obtains special prayers from the Church. It would be wrong if anyone thought of a sacramental as a lucky charm.
Saint Christopher is the Patron Saint of travelers. Therefore when we put a St. Christopher’s Medal in our cars, we are asking St. Christopher to pray for us that we
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have a safe trip. The Medal has no power. The prayers of a Saint carry much weight with God, who is pleased when we consult His Saints.
The Church has granted a Plenary Indulgence for praying a Rosary with the family or before the Blessed Sacrament. The Blessed Virgin has encouraged us to pray the Rosary often.
She has also encouraged us to wear the Brown Scapular and has promised that anyone who died while wearing It all the Graces needed to avoid eternal damnation.
Holy Water (water blessed by a Catholic Priest) has been known to chase away evil spirits.
Again these thing in and of themselves have no power. By their use we obtain the prayers of Saints and please God.
2. You Catholics think more of Mary than of God. In the Rosary you say 10 prayers to Mary to only one to God!
CATHOLIC RESPONSE:
Catholics adore only God. We venerate Mary and the other Saints. Catholics have many prayers, Some to God, some to various Saints. The Rosary is mainly a prayer to Mary during which we mediate on the various parts of the Life of Christ: The Joyful Mysteries, the Sorrowful Mysteries, the Glorious Mysteries. Without the prayers to Mary, it wouldn’t be a Rosary. We also pray the Litany of The Sacred Heart and The Litany of the Precious Blood and the Litany to the Saints or to St. Joseph, many different types of prayers. For example, a cherry pie doesn’t contain any apples, not because we don’t like apples but because it wouldn’t be a cherry pie if it contained apples. Similarly, a Rosary contains many Hail Mary’s not because we like Mary more than God but because this particular Prayer is a prayer to Mary. When we pray to God, another prayer may be used, the Greatest would be The Sacrifice of the Mass, which non-Catholics also reject (to their peril)!
3. Where in the Bible where “things” (Sacramentals) used for a holy purpose?
1. The use of Holy oils and incense is found in many places in both the Old and the New Testaments. For example. Exod.25:6, Exod. 30:1, Luke 1:10-11, Apoc. (Rev.) 8:3-4.
2. Exod. 25:18 God instructs Jews to make “images” of Angels.
3. Kings 5:9-14 Naaman cured only through the waters of the Jordan.
4. Num. 20: 8-12 Moses gets water from a rock.
5. 4 Kings 13:21 The dead came to life after touching the bones of a Saint.
6. Acts 19:11-12 Sickness cured with handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched Paul.
7. There are many places where candles and candlesticks are use for Religious purposes. For example Exod. 25:31-35, Lev. 24:4, Heb. 9:2, Apoc. (Rev.) 1:13, 20.
[111]. “The Faith of Our Fathers” Ch. XV by James Cardinal Gibbons.
[2]. “Baltimore Catechism No. 3" Ch. 36 Father Connell’s Confraternity Edition
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QUESTIONS
QUESTIONS
Apologetics Chapter XIX - SACRED IMAGES (ICONS) AND SACRAMENTALS
1. Write your name so I can read it.(10 points)
2. Circle “T” or “F” when the following statements are True or False: (10 points)
T F Sacred Images help us to adore the Angels and Saints.
T F Religious paintings and statues help beautify our homes and Church.
T F Religious paintings and statues help teach some of the Truths of the Catholic Faith.
T F Exodus 20:4 forbids the making of statues.
T F Sacramentals like a St. Christopher Metal has special powers in themselves.
3. Give 5 reasons why Religious Paintings and Sacred Images and statues should be used. (15 points).
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4. A non-Catholic says that the Catholic Church eliminated the Second Commandment because it forbids the making of statues. What would you say? (15 points)
5. A non-Catholic says: “I know Catholics worship statues because I have actually seen them kneel before a statue, pray and even light a candle to the statue like the ancient pagans did to their false gods!” How would you answer him? (15 points)
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6. A non-Catholic thinks Catholics are superstitious thinking that such things as a St. Chirstopher Metal and (Holy) water have powers to protect us. How would you answer them? (15 points)
7. “Catholics adore Mary more than God because the Rosary has 10 prayers to Mary and only one to God!” How would your answer them? (10 points).
8. Give a couple of examples where the use of Sacramentals are found in Holy Scripture. (10 points)
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