Taken from Exodus 20:1-17
Take note, it's a long passage for a reason, that it's to be considered all inclusive, in the "proper" context, and not out of context. Why would God take it to such lengths, then immediately after words, tell the Israelites to carve an image, one he designed. Obviously he's not speaking along strict adherence to never creating any image, but was specific about the type, and more so, the heart behind man along his perception of them. Clearly he was addressing the Isrealites, who were exposed to the extensive idolatry of the Egyptians, that he knew they had to be told to abandon their ways, and that they were to put away any instances of what they were exposed to, to refuse to embrace that cultures ways, religious and otherwise, so he made it very specific along this commandment.
Now, taking this into context, one must read the full commandment, and it's the same context as any part of scripture, where if you were to take a snippet out of context, and have it stand on it's own, one can get the meaning behind it completely wrong. This is why it's important to note, where the heart is, not merely the letter of the law, but the heart itself. The Pharisees had the letter down pat, but their hearts were in the wrong place, and it's the same context as to imagry, and worship, and prayer.
Now, if he really wanted it to mean only one thing, why not clearly state it and be over with, why not shorten that commandment to merely state, "thou shalt not create any image" and be done with it? Why would he state this, then go onto elaborate upon it, if we were only meant to obey merely not creating an image, it would be pointless to elaborate upon it, for without an image, there is nothing to assume to position of an idol, nothing to replace worship of God with something else, and clearly there is more said for good reasons. At first, on the surface, it was to stop the Isrealites from worshiping man made objects, more so, it was to stop them from worshiping false Gods, and the first commandment stated the first objective, while the second one elaborated upon it in more specifics to the peoples of that time. Yet, clearly, what does man do to this day, he worships his bank account, his car, his home, his spouse, his friends, etc. etc. etc., the fact remains to this day, he's putting something else as a higher priority then God, and this is the heart of the commandment, which has nothing to do with artwork.
In the Catholic church, often I face scrutiny from outsiders due to the imagery. Do I focus on the image, or on the Lord? That's the clear difference, when I kneel down in prayer, am I kneeling to pray to God, or to a statue or image? Where is my heart in the matter, and the Lord knows where it's at, it's focused on him, not what ever decoration that's sitting around, one cannot help but have something, be it in nature, man made, or anything else for that matter, in front and around him, where ever he kneels down at, so why not make the prayer environment conducive to prayer?
John 14:8-9
Philip says unto Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us. Jesus says unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me, has seen the Father.
Doesn't this give us a good idea as to yet more imagery, where we can now put a face to God, be it, in the form of his Son, something more easy for us to relate to? Do we look at the "face" of Jesus, or his heart, and it's all about context. Jesus's his features were of a mortal man, yet he tells us to see him, and you see the father. A physical representation of God, in this case, something created by the hand of God himself, and we don't seem to have a problem with this, yet we do with other images made from different materials, ie. living flesh verses stone or paint, it's the same thing when it comes down to it.
My personal experiences, God being called Father, I had only my earthly father to relate to in that matter, and it was NOT a good concept for me to grasp. My own earthly father, a distant, emotionally cut off, brutal in how he dealt with me as a child, and even an adult, condemning and unforgiving, selfish, very material and worldly, without any interest in spiritual matters, quick to anger and even violent at times, a very poor representation to the Father in heaven. I could never make enough money to please my earthly father, I could never achieve enough skills, I could never accomplish enough things in order to please the earthly father, and this was how I viewed God the father, and I was harder on myself then our Lord ever could be, thus the reason to this day, I have skills that people all out resent, entirely because I was trying to live up to an image that was impossible to grasp.
Don't take this into context, out of context, the Holy Spirit has been with me from a very early age, giving me aid and comfort, which helped significantly throughout my early life. But, one must put into context, of Father, as in a "normal" father, one that loves their child and would be willing to lay down their live for them, one that would make sacrifices and endure hardships for their child, that is a better representation of that context and this is the example I follow, throwing completely away what has been drilled into me from my own earthly father. Father, the heart of an earthly father is the context for us to relate to, and a "normal" earthly father for that matter, and especially not mine own, on this earth, but in heaven only. We yet have another set of images that is used in prayer, and again, it's the heart of the matter, not the physical representation.
Now, in an attempt to explain more, why this is an important commandment, and more so, important it's taken into context, not out of. What idol does one have in their lives? Why is it important to personalize God, as a being that can be related to on an intimate level, rather then just some distant blob? Does he discern mans face or his heart? And if you as a man, see someone kneeling anywhere in prayer, do you honestly know who or what they are praying with and to, or are they even praying in the first place or merely postering? I've prayed with many people in the past, too often they are more interested in impressing who they are praying with, with their many words, grasping for things to say, stuttering, repeating themselves, you can tell the type if they have to say "lord", "God", etc. several times in their prayers, as they are adlibbing them, it's a way to stall for time while they think of things to fill in the gaps. That's not prayer at all guys,
But, you might say, there are people, particularly in the Catholic church that revere Mary more then they do her son. And clearly, there are some that take things too far in this area, yet it's not too far as much as they haven't progressed to where they are supposed to be moving towards, which is a deeper union with her son. I experience this a lot with the Catholic Hispanic community, where the Mary imagery always takes a higher priority then her son's, and my experiences with them at mass, at least state side, leaves much to be desired in the reverence area. They are still rather behind, it's because of their culture which is from native, pagan origin, not European, and so, still remnants left over from those times. Mary's roll with them was huge, she made an appearance to them in the 1500's, which resulted in evangelizing them to the point, they threw away their pagan beliefs and embraced Christianity in a very short period of time, literally over 9 million converts in one sweep, how many evangelists do you know that have done that??? They naturally revere her for leadership due to this.
Does this make her imagery an idol? It does only to the point, where if you pray with her, and to her and do not move deeper in union with her son, if this is the case, it's necessary to stop what you are doing and move on without her guidance., for we are creatures of habit, and tend not to desire to wander away from what is familiar. Do NOT let your earthly nature override your spiritual, which is key to all of these images. Once your focus is no longer on the Lord, where you have placed prayer time, with anybody, living in spirit only or flesh, over the Lord, you are committing idolatry, this also goes for not only images, but anything in your life, including your own family. The thing with Mary, she's good to pray with, for she alone is the maternal mother of our Lord Jesus, she has a closeness to him only a mother could and will give one great insight should you opt to include her in your prayer life. She's not meant to replace him, and there are times when it's necessary to focus only on the Lord and merely come back to her for guidance into drawing even closer to him. What endears me to her is a personal thing, for my earthly mother is worse then my earthly father, so there really has been nothing of a proper example to follow along that context. Mary was given to us, and it began with John, moved onto the rest of the apostles, and the church itself.
In my particular case, there was something that happened later in life, something the Lord directed me to do, and that was merely to confide in her, to include her in my prayers and petitions, just as one confides in their own earthly mother, Mary has taken on the roll in my life, where my own utterly failed at, and it's important to note, this is part of her roll for those that require it, not a mandate by the church. I've gained significant insight through her direction, always pointing to her son, one cannot help but have gratitude for her, and this is where we get scrutinized over. If someone has given you better direction and peace through their direction, naturally you are going to honor them. We do so through the creative process, and it comes back to images, for we cannot physically hand her a boque of flowers, we can leave them for display at a place dedicated to reminding us of her, it makes more sense to do so at a place set up for it, rather then laying them down on the ground at some random spot. Do we then worship the shrine, image, etc. just because it's there? Not at all, neither do we worship the people we pray with on this earth, it's the same context.
One can try this out for themselves to see what I mean, merely in prayer, ask to experience what it was like for her to observe our Lord at Calvary, if you meditate upon this prayer and are sincere, expect to gain new insight into his suffering and appreciation for what she suffered as his mother, during that time. It's also human nature to at times, desire to address a Motherly figure, rather then a Fatherly one, and Mary was given to us as our spiritual Mother, and aid, a confidant, someone that's closer to ones own Mother, or an ideal of what a Mother should be, and I guess, it's that tender approach, only a mother can give, where she is able to operate in a unique capacity. Mary is not a diety, she's not a co-redemptress "some bishops have tried to make her out to be one", she's limited because she is a mere human being, and this especially includes human frailities. She can feel the pain of insult, and she takes it personally when people insult her son. We and our Lord are rather protective over her, and this is the reason why the demons themselves dare not speak against her.
Above all here, neither Mary, nor any of the Saints or Angels ever become intercessors, replacing Christ. If you draw upon them, just as we draw upon our fellow man in prayer, it's not worshiping some image, replacing some entity, or one of God's creations with God, but it's merely expanding ones fellowship, nothing more. Since we don't have the physical person to speak with, face to face, we being finite creatures, require imagery of some kind to put a face with the soul. Take note, how almost all of the time, any image is created, it tends to be a thing of unique aesthetic appeal, beauty created by the hands of man, in an attempt to reflect and explain the beauty of the soul that it is supposed to represent. Naturally Mary's picture for example is going to be beautiful for that very reason. The same thing goes the opposite direction when describing in art, or any other form of physical expression of the dark forces as well. Remember it's been told that the devil himself was considered the most beautiful of all of God's creations? Yet how is he represented in any form of artwork,. He is never protrayed as the being God created at least externally, and it's why his picture is a reflection of his inner being, which is completely twisted and ugly.
Taking things into more basic terms, we are here, over 2k years as the Catholic church, and all of this time, not one time has the Holy Spirit intervened and made it clear, that our statues, decorations, paintings, "images", are breaking his commandment, and should be abolished. You would think by now, he would have made some clear statements over the matter, and the ones crying out against them are "man", not Divine, and entirely through ignorance.
People are literally dying over the misconception and missing the heart of the commandment. They are bearing false witness against their neighbor "breaking another commandment", They are killing those of the Catholic faith, "breaking another commandment :though shalt not kill", They are not doing unto others as they would have done to them "breaking yet another one", they are telling us NOT to honor Mary, yet another commandment stomped over, for the Lord told us to honor our parents, and she is our Lords Mother, he honors her, why shouldn't we?
Why so many images of Mary? Her apparitions, unlike the saints and prophets continue to appear, we call her Lady of this or that, in reference to a particular apparation, and when one studies them, it's the message she gives that becomes the focus, and the message is always pointing to her Son, she takes no glory for herself, she does not elevate herself above her son, she sets and example for us to follow indeed, and for one to be more devout, they will heed her direction and try to be more like her, just as we are to be more like the saint, who all in turn are trying to be more like our Lord himself., Which is the ultimate goal. Do we worship the apparition, it's image it represents? No, but to outsiders, they don't understand the meaning behind the images, so merely point to an object without knowing what it represents as being bad. Our Lady of Fatima, is a prime example. Mary gave us a message that if we actually heeded, would have prevented World War 1 and 2. We did not have to fight those wars at all, but we stubbornly refused to listen, thus the carnage that ensued was entirely our fault, many people blame God for allowing bad things to happen, and clearly, he spoke to us, through her, and we could have avoided those tragedies, but since we did not listen, we must accept the fate of the people, all of them, due to that. There is yet another prophesy that has yet to unfold, we are going to be paying the price for in the near future as well, and all because we continue to ignore the message, and this sadly is going to be far worse then all wars combined.
I could write volumes about Mary and her roll in the church, how much of an asset she is, and I'll save that for a blog dedicated to her alone. What I'm pointing out here, the focus is not on her, she is not an idol, and she should not pose as a stumbling block to those in or out of the church.
We move onto the rosary, and I've been told, there are too many Hail Mary Prayers in them. The point of the rosary is to meditate in prayer Christs life. It is not an easy system to use for prayer because it requires a certain amount of discipline, but it is rewarding to do. The system is designed to keep you focused on the mysteries, it helps along preventing your mind from wandering while praying, since we are creatures of multi tasking by nature, it gives us something to multi task upon, reducing and often, eliminating the tendency to wander. The system uses a verbal prayer, which is merely route, something repeated, and one cannot say something through route without thinking about what is being said, no matter how disciplined they are, and simultaneously, a second prayer is being offered/said/focused upon. These two combined leaves very little room for anything else to be going on in ones own mind. If you are praying the rosary and only reciting the verbal prayers, you are not praying the rosary, you are wasting your time. Each Hail Mary Prayer is designed to invite her to join you in the prayer, not for her sake, but to remind you that she is praying with you. The prayer itself is taken right out of scripture, and in itself has it's own mysteries as well.
We use the beads to keep track of the prayers, they are merely a way to count, like a book mark, so we don't lose our place.
Now, if one wanted to elaborate upon the rosary, do their own thing, there is nothing wrong with it. I invented another way to use it to aid in prayer, where each bead represents a person I can focus in prayer for. I can replace any oral prayer with other prayers, be it, things I make up, a bit of scripture, I can go back to psalms, which is what the Jews were using prayer beads for, thus the rosaries initial origin in tradition, and I also use it to merely remind myself that the Lord is with me at all times. It's something that I keep with me
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