Q: Dear Father John: I recently went to a wedding and my non-Catholic friend asked me why we worship statues? What do I tell him?
A: The short answer — we don’t. One of the great things about weddings, in addition to the sacramental union of a man and a woman, is the opportunity to welcome many people into the parish. And, usually, some of those honored guests, friends and family of the bride and groom, are not Catholic. Even so, once inside the church they certainly see many familiar things that most churches have: stained-glass windows, candles, an altar, a pulpit and hymnals, to name just a few. But for some, the things that jump out at them are the statues. In most Catholic churches, for instance, you will find a statue of the Blessed Mother and another of St. Joseph at or near the sanctuary. Traditionally at weddings, brides and grooms will bring a flower and lay it in front of the statue of Mary.
This can generate the question among those guests, “Why do you Catholics worship statues?” After all, the Scriptures clearly teach us, “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them ...” (Ex 20:4-5) Certainly, that’s true. But we also see in the Old Testament examples of statues that are commanded by the Lord to be made. For example, when the Ark of the Covenant was built, the Lord ordered that there be two cherubim as part of it. (Ex 25:18-20) Thus, even God established a purpose for “statues” and the like. Not to worship them, but to remind us.
Just like we look at a picture of our biological mother and remember her, we look at a statue of Mary and remember her. We remember her call to be the Mother of God. We remember her perfectly responding “Yes!” to what God was asking of her. We remember her being at Jesus’ side, all the way to the cross. We think of the pain she experienced when she saw her son crucified. We remember the joy she would have had when she heard her son was risen from the dead. And we remember how, from the cross, Jesus gave us his mother to be our own. So much like a photograph, a statue makes us remember. Just like we know that a picture of our mother is not our actual mother, a statue of Mary or any saint is not the actual saint.
So, if someone asks us why we worship statues, we can teach them that we do not. We use them to help us remember. And they help us to remember to try and live our lives in ways that this person lived. If we understand that, our churches and even our homes could be filled with statues, couldn’t they?