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Question

Father, peace be with you.

I would like to ask your advice, I feel lost…I am very confused and I cannot find the answers that I need.

In particular, my question is: if I pray to the Saints and to the Virgin Mary, isn’t the Lord jealous? As a matter of fact, there are Bible verses that state that the Lord is jealous and that we should offer up our prayers only to Him. 

The second query is more complicated…

If the Lord does not want any sculpture, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven, or on the earth, or in the water, how can I, a servant of Christ, enter a church… knowing that it is full of lifeless sculptures and paintings… who, if I pray to them, do not speak, do not see, do not hear and do not answer…

Father, help me. I feel as if I were one of the early Christians, I pray only with the Lord’s prayer…Who better than you, a minister of the Lord, can explain to me these things…because I do not understand them…

I greet you warmly and I send a hug to the whole Dominican order.

Salvatore

Answer

Dear Salvatore,

  1. The Lord is the one who wants us to pass through the saints, in order for us to practice humility and to strive to imitate the saints. The Lord wants us to do this so that we may become worthy of receiving the graces that He has decided to give us. Here is the order he gives to Job’s friends in order for them to be heard and to appease His wrath towards them: “go to my servant Job […] and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly” (Job 42:8).
  2. Saint Paul states that through Baptism we are “citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God”. Well, why should we not seek the help of our brothers who are more pleasing in the sight of God than we are? Moreover, we do not pray to the saints in the same way that we pray the Lord. We ask the saints to pray for us. We ask God to have mercy on us. He is the source of every grace. This difference is evident in the litanies of Loreto. As long as we address God we say: have mercy on us. As soon as we invoke the Virgin Mary, we say: pray for us.
  3. In addition, did not Jesus on the cross entrust us to Mary? The Virgin Mary is a great asset for us! She can intercede for us the graces that we cannot obtain with our prayers. Therefore, do not let yourself be distracted by the Evangelicals or by the Protestants who just want to impoverish you and deprive you of Mary’s help. She is almighty with her pleadings. Who can be jealous of such a powerful prayer if not the devil? 
  4. As you can see, the Saints are a great gift of God’s love for us. He does not leave us alone with our miseries and our unworthiness. 
  5. About images: the Lord also gave the order to make images. He gave that order to Moses when He commanded him to make the image of a copper serpent: “Make a poisonous serpent and mount it on a pole, and anyone who has been bitten shall look at it and live” (Num 21:8). The Book of Wisdom clearly states that salvation did not come from the serpent, but from Him who is symbolized by the serpent: “For the one who turned towards it was saved, not by the thing that was beheld, but by you, the Saviour of all” (Wis 16:7). Jesus also makes reference to this episode (John 3:14-15), thus implicitly approving of the making of images. 
  6. It is true that the Decalogue forbids making images. But, given that God Himself after a while orders to make images, we understand easily that that prohibition was due to the fact that Israel was exposed to the danger of idolatry. As a matter of fact, at that time the Israelites had even made a golden calf .
  7. Moreover, God gave order to Moses to make images not only on that occasion, but also when he said to put some cherubims, who are angels and therefore very pure spirits, on the Tabernacle, that is the portable sanctuary that contained the Ark of the Covenant (cf. Ex. 36:8 and Ex 36:35). Also Solomon had two cherubs of olive wood placed in the inner sanctuary (1King 6:23-28). In addition, there were images in his royal palace, such as the twelve oxen made of metal (1King 7:23-26).
  8. You say: “how can I, a servant of Christ, enter a church… knowing that it is full of lifeless sculptures and paintings… who, if I pray to them, do not speak, do not see, do not hear and do not answer…”. I have a question for you: ask a child if when praying in front of a statue they are speaking to chalk or wood or rather to the person represented by the statue.  When you see a mother kissing the picture of her dead son, do you really believe that she wants to kiss a piece of paper?
  9. Furthermore, the prohibition to make images would imply forbidding the newspapers to publish the picture of the people mentioned in the articles. We also ought to ban photo IDs. Finally, we should destroy every work of art in the world in one fell swoop. But this is pure madness. 
  10. You also write: “Father, help me. I feel as if I were one of the early Christians, I pray only with the Lord’s prayer…Who better than you, a minister of the Lord, can explain to me these things…because I do not understand them…”. Well, the early Christians in the catacombs used to represent Christ as a good shepherd with a sheep on his shoulders or through the image of a fish. The Greek word for fish is ictùs, which is an acronym that means: Jesus Christòs Teoù ùiòs soter (Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour).
  11. Did the early Christians pray only with the Lord’s prayer? Saint Paul says: “be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts” (Eph 5:19) and: “let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God”. (Col. 3:16). 
  12. Therefore, live to the fullness your Christian life and your life of prayer. Live your faith the way it has been taught to you and the way it has been passed down to you. It has been carefully examined by the Holy Mother Church, by the Holy Fathers (the Holy Fathers are the saints of the early Christian centuries, eminent for wisdom and holiness of life), by the Holy Doctors and by the greatest and smallest saint who have been real servants of Christ passing down the authentic faith with no alteration. 

While wishing you to become one of them, I thank you for sending a hug to the Dominican order, I wish you a fruitful Lent, I remember you in my prayers and I bless you.

Father Angelo