Are Catholics idolaters?
Monday, January 22, 2024
Fr. Javier Lopez SJ
The religions of ancient peoples contained these two serious errors:
- They believed in many gods; that is known as polytheism.
- The Egyptians gave their gods animal figures. On the other hand, the Phoenicians, Canaanites, Greeks and Romans curiously represented them as half human and half animal.
God did not want the chosen people to fall in the errors of their neighbors, and for that reason he prohibited them from making representations of himself.
Those primitive peoples worshipped the image itself. They believed that the gods lived in the images. They went so far as to bring them food on trays of gold and silver as if they needed nourishment.
In light of these idolatrous practices, the scope of the divine prohibition on images is understandable.
But the people of God found it difficult to believe in an invisible God. That is why on one occasion they worshipped a golden calf, to the indignation of Moses and God himself.
The prophets of the Old Testament lashed out vigorously against idolatry. Let us recall the words of Isaiah: "They shall be turned back in utter shame who trust in idols; Who say to molten images, ‘You are our gods.’" (42:17). The Bible teaches that idolatry consisted in calling "gods things made by human hands" (Wis. 13:10).
However, already in the Old Testament there was some tolerance towards images. God wanted, for example, two cherubim made to adorn the Ark of the Covenant (cf. Ex. 25:18-22).
But when "the fullness of time" (Gal 4:4) comes, the invisible God of the Old Testament becomes visible in the incarnate Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus himself will say it clearly: "Whoever sees me sees the Father" (Jn 14:9). And St. Paul will call him "the image of the invisible God" (Col 1:15).
Since the coming into the world of Jesus, true God and true man, the ancient prohibition against making images has expired. Therefore, those of us who belong to the new People of God can make images of Jesus, in whom God ceased to be invisible.
But Christians also began to represent the Virgin Mary and the saints. In those Roman undergrounds, called catacombs, where Christians gathered to pray and celebrate the Eucharist, biblical scenes from the life of the Lord, his mother and the apostles are preserved. They loved to represent Christ as the Good Shepherd.
The first Christians knew well that they did not worship images, but what they represented. The veneration of religious images is equivalent to the respect felt before the photo of a loved one; it is not idolatrous to kiss the photo of one’s deceased mother.
It is necessary to evangelize Catholic parishioners so that they do not go too far in the use of images, as often happens. They must know how to distinguish between adoration and reverence.
In summary, Sacred Scripture, taken as a whole, does not condemn the use of images and religious symbols. It only forbids worship and a superstitious relationship with them.
As for the veneration of Our Lady and the saints, we turn to them as intercessors, and we also take them as models of holiness to imitate their Christian virtues.
This blog was originally published as a column in the January 2024 edition of La Voz Católica.
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