Do Catholics worship statues? Do Catholics pray to statues? My girlfriend said that she’s seen come catholics sitting on the ground before a statues of a saint, looking up at the statue, praying. This seems a little much. Opinions?
Please forgive me if this is redundant; I’m a slow reader and haven’t read the whole thread.
I noticed something about praying before statues. Not TO the statues, but before them.
When I look up at them, it gives me an image to help trigger various empathetic thoughts and feelings from the past associated with everything involving the saint we are kneeling before. Even though the statue is artificial, it works in proxy for actual saints, via the spirit where things in the imagination are more real than those we can touch. All you have to do is admire something about a saint, and your imagination and your subconscious automatically go to work, for the rest of your life, trying to resolve that conflict if it gets a chance.
So yes, if I sit in front of a statue of St. Jude, as I did when I felt helpless and was very psychotic and so was my wife, and various other problems, I pondered those problems. Real or not, the statue of St. Jude brings to mind the idea that we can just trust, and submit to the idea we will be taken care of like the birds and the flowers – and this helps condition our mind to lessen severity of hopelessness. So now that I am healed, I plan to go light a candle by the statue where I lit one when I was frantic and wanted to die if that’s what it took to stop the racing thoughts, many of them very evil. So what this does, is “seals in,” in my memory, a judgment that helps me discern how I feel now v then while praying at the same statue, and that strengthens my confidence that the Holy Spirit really is in charge and will do whatever is best for me – even though it might be a while before I recognize that. So yes, the stone statue of St. Jude has given me an unchanging reference point by which I have experience many different mental states. This is like “anchoring” ourselves to the virtue of the saint that we admire. Even if I go to another church and look at a different statue of Jude, still all of the mental synapses fire that fired with the old church, plus more to take into account the new environment. So even a different statue that looks different, triggers the same memories because what we catholics are after is NOT to be like st so and so, but to ask God for certain spiritual gifts that the saints had, that they exemplified. So if we were trying to be like the saints, that to me is a subtle but dangerous version of idolatry. To look to the saints as examples the church holds of noble and courageous and even miraculous behavior, we get hope that there is wisdom within the Catholic Church that just might be able to help me with my little problem.
That said, I swear I got the very real sensation once that a statue of Joseph moved while I was sitting in silent contemplation. Being an engineer, of course, I could neither believe it nor let it go. Here’s what I came up with. You know how when you stand next to a building and look up at the clouds, it looks like the building is going to fall down on you?
Well it’s kind of like that. I noticed that very slight movements of my head and body resulted in an ever-so-slight shift in my point of view. That made the background appear to move compared to the statue. So like if I moved a teeny little bit, then the spot where, for example, the fingertip of the statue blocks the background changes a little bit. So it looks like a movement between the statue and the background. Since I’m not aware of my own movements, at least not all of them, the visual effect is that I’m standing still, and that the statue is actually moving between me and the background.
That model seems to work for me. I’ve learned to do that intentionally, to let my imagination go further into Wonderland, where God can solve problems no humans can. You can invoke everything connected to St. Jude like this: “Stl Jude pray for us” and spiritually, it’s the same as if you said it to st jude in the flesh. now, if you want a imaginary simulation of a personal experience with the saint, try praying in front of a statue, and even carelessly gaze at it so you can imagine it moving. Maybe when you blink you can imagine it blinks too. whatever works to connect your spirit with something you have confidence in, can reduce hope. Now I’m going to get off the computer and go with my wife to show our gratitude for our healed minds and relationships, by lighting a candle by St. Jude.
Alan
Do you have one in mind you want to start learning about?