All Saints, Iconoclasm, and Intercessory Prayer...

   A few days ago, a YouTube video appeared on the Internet that generated the predictable discussion on various Catholic news sites and blogs... and rightfully so.  I find it providential that it showed up right before All Saint's Day, which opens a wonderful discussion for why the Church honors the faithful who have gone before us and who have been crowned, by God's grace alone, with the crown of heavenly glory.  It also provides an opportunity to discuss why Catholics and most Christians accept the premise that, as part of the Communion of Saints, we can call upon the prayers and merits of our brothers and sisters in faith to intercede for us before the throne of God.  The video depicts a Muslim cleric who declares that idolatry is a sin, that "only Allah will be worshipped [in Syria] and that only the rule of Allah will be established... we won't accept anything by Allah, the religion of Allah, and the teaching of the Prophet." (according to the attached translation).  and proclaims Allahu Akbar as he smashes a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The video is out there on YouTube, but the link isn't working right.  If I can find the link pointing to the right video, I'll post it up.

     A couple of comments are in line.  First of all, idolatry is a sin, and any actual worship of graven images is explicitly prohibited by divine positive law and further by the virtue of true religion.  Christians who worship statues and images, use talismans and charms for 'luck', and replace the worship of God with the worship for things of this world are surely in grave sin (given all the usual circumstances: grave matter, full knowledge, and full consent of will).  One will notice of the Islamic faith that there are no images of Allah adorning mosques, or even images of the Prophet Muhammad available for religious veneration.  This zeal is an expression of the holy desire not to be distracted by images that cannot carry to weight of God's presence and glory-- images that open the potential for idolatry.  Thus depictions of Muhammad are generally met with great offense, especially in Sunni sects of Islam.  To this day in Islamic countries, it is often considered extremely rude and a violation of personal dignity and integrity to take photographs of individuals without their permission -- the image is something sacred belonging to the person, and is not to be 'captured' or 'exploited' by hostile eyes.  A person is diminished by having his/her image captured and taken away.  Thus, when we consider the Blessed Virgin Mary whom the Muslim people also venerate (albeit to a lesser degree than Christians), there can be tremendous confusion caused by all the sacramentals of statues, images, and other devotional artwork that typically adorn a Christian Church.  Do Christians give worship to Mary... worship which is due to God alone?  Why would they light candles or offer insence before statues or images or even relics if they weren't worshipping them?  This attitude is not unlike certain Protestant iconoclasts across the ages who have frequently embraced the short-sighted polemic that "Catholics worship statues".  Only a small bit of consideration shows how wrong-headed that assertion is.

   Of course, Catholics do not worship statues... nor do baseball fans.  Case in point: in front of Busch Stadium there are bronze statues of Stan Musial and other Cardinal greats.  These graven images call to mind the teams and the summers of Cardinal greatness... the heroes whose stories and athleticism continue to inspire players and fans alike unto our own day.  What is it that we honor about these players that are immortalized in stone and metal?  We honor their work ethic and their raw talent.  We honor the example they give to kids who are trying to learn the sport, and the memories of those who came out the the ballpark to cheer him on in years gone by.  It reminds us of our own fathers who took us to the ballpark, perhaps years ago, to watch these great players, and it remains as a testament to the tradition of excellence years ago, and provides something to aspire to in years to come.  This monument honors not, primarily, the person of Stan Musial, but all of the virtues and ideals his baseball career represented.  As far as I know, there is not a religion of "Musial-ism" being formed that meets around that statue or any other image of Stan-the-Man.  It is a public sign of of an honor and respect, intended to call to mind the common memory of one who played the game exceptionally well.

   Fast forward to All Saints Day and the 'Cult of the Saints'.  The saints share in God's glory, by the gracious gift and initiative of God alone.  They are not gods, nor do they have any dignity worthy of worship.  They are, however, 'hall-of-fame' players whose virtues are worthy of honor and imitation as we struggle to find our way home to God.  Images serve to remind us of those virtues, which sometimes seem unreachable and unobtainable in our fallen state.  The are intended to inspire.  Rather than being something which distracts us from the glory of God, these images can offer us a metaphor, if you will, pointing to the grace of God working through the often rough-hewn struggle of humanity.  And so, if these figures do share in the glory of God, we know that they are no longer dead, but live in Christ.  Living in communion with Christ before the throne in heaven, they give worship and praise to the Lamb for all time.  All reverence shown to them--the saints--and their reminders (statues, images, relics, etc) is ultimately reverence and worship to Almighty God who has crowned the saints in his own manifest glory. 
   We often ask our brothers and sisters in Christ to pray for us and our needs.  Even the  most 'fundamentalist' of Christians tend to ask one another... "pray for my mother having surgery", "pray for a successful outcome in an upcoming test," "pray for me in this time of struggle".  These are all worthy prayers.  Why?  Because it is an invitation to members of the Mystical Body of Christ to express their mutual concern and care for one another by way of prayer and worship before God.  Yes, we do have a 'direct line' to God in our prayer, without the need of intermediaries, and we should use it.  But how much more powerful and protected is an intention offered through the ministry and communion of the Church... a communion which proceeds from the very union and love of Father, Son, and Spirit.  God knows our needs, even before we might pray for them, but to give voice to that prayer in the community of the Church opens the minds and the hearts of the faithful to seeing the outcome of that prayer manifest, not as an act dependent on the mistaken merit of personal piety or, worse still, an attempted "manipulation" or appeasement of the mind and will of God by saying just the right words, but instead, as an outcome divine providence, communion, and love.  Before the Father, in the Spirit, Christ prays for his Church, offering himself and his sacrifice for all of those joined to him.  Should we do no less than imitate the Master in this act of divine worship?
   The saints do not distract, but rather inspire fervent prayer within the Body of Christ, the Church.  Their example and union with us as brothers and sisters in the flesh and as blessed, justified, glorified members of the Church calls to mind the preternatural glory of the human condition, restored by a Christ who intercedes for us all before the Father.  As Christ prays for us, we pray for one another who belong to the Mystical Body of Christ.  Certainly idolatry is a sin, and perhaps for some a temptation... mindless prayer seeking worldly glory and manipulation of divine will is not worthy of the title 'worship'.  Where it does happen, I think the Muslim cleric would have it right... destroy the statues, bury the rosaries, burn the books, cast off the relics that are misused in idolatry.  Authentic prayer is found in the groanings of the human heart reaching out to the Holy Spirit in an effort to praise our creator and seek union with him.  The Church on heaven and earth is here to be a society of mutual support and encouragement as we struggle with our more base desires, that our prayer may be truly fitting in the worship of God alone.