Last week, in the first of two lessons on the First Commandment, we discussed the proper relationship between God and man and the necessity of placing God first in everything we do. This week, in Lesson Thirty-First of the Baltimore Catechism No. 2, we address a common misunderstanding of the First Commandment.
Many non-Catholic (and non-Orthodox) Christians (and even some nominally Catholic ones) believe that the First Commandment's injunction "Thou shalt not have strange gods before Me" forbids honoring saints and praying to them. Moreover, they interpret the prohibition against graven images to mean that statues, icons, and paintings of Christ and the saints are forbidden.
That veneration of the saints (including their relics), prayer to the saints, and the use of icons and other images are all found in the earliest days of the Church is proof that, from apostolic times, the First Commandment was not interpreted in such a manner. It took seven centuries before the heresy of iconoclasm (the rejection of all images in Christian prayer and worship) developed, and after its defeat at the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, iconoclasm did not rise again until the Reformation (primarily in its Calvinist phase).
But why were such practices accepted, despite what seems to be the clear language of the First Commandment? The answer lies in the intention of Christians in honoring the saints, venerating relics, and using images of Christ and the saints. For Christians, none of these actions are worship, which belongs to God alone; rather, all such practices are aimed at the honor of God Himself, and so do not violate the First Commandment.
When we honor the saints, we honor God, because He is their Creator and the source of their sanctity. When we pray to them, we take nothing away from God, to Whom we also pray; rather, we ask them to intercede for us, just as we ask our living friends and relatives to do so.
The saints' membership in the Church did not end with their death; rather, it was made complete. The saints, now in full communion with God, desire the salvation of those of us still struggling here on earth and the swift release of the suffering souls in Purgatory.
This is the essence of the communion of saints—the belief that all Christians, living and dead, are one in the Body of Christ. The use of statues, icons, and other images of the saints reminds us of this fundamental truth and draws us closer to each other in Christ by increasing our devotion and leading us to imitate the actions and faith of the saints.
Lesson Thirty-First from the Confirmation Catechism has 14 questions. Note that the lesson begins with Question 331, continuing with the numbering from Lesson Thirtieth.
The parallel lesson this week in the First Communion Catechism is Lesson Twenty-Seventh. It includes 8 questions drawn from Lesson Thirty-First of the Confirmation Catechism.
Check out this week's lesson, and if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments or ask them in the Catholicism Forum!
Previous Lessons in Sunday School:- Welcome to Sunday School!
- On God and His Perfections
- On the Unity and Trinity of God
- On Creation
- On Our First Parents and the Fall
- On Sin and Its Kinds
- On the Incarnation and Redemption
- On Our Lord's Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension
- On the Holy Ghost and His Descent Upon the Apostles
- On the Effects of the Redemption
- On the Church
- On the Attributes and Marks of the Church
- On the Sacraments in General
- On Baptism
- On Confirmation
- On the Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Ghost
- On the Sacrament of Penance
- On Contrition
- On Confession
- On the Manner of Making a Good Confession
- On Indulgences
- On the Holy Eucharist
- On the Ends for Which the Holy Eucharist Was Instituted
- On the Sacrifice of the Mass
- On Extreme Unction and Holy Orders
- On Matrimony
- On the Sacramentals
- On Prayer
- On the Commandments of God
- On the First Commandment