We do not think the plaster is going to come to life and grant us anything. We also know that even saints can do nothing without God.
Keep in mind that the archaic definition of, “to pray,” simply means, “to make a serious request.” Well, not entirely archaic, as it is still used in legal and religious ways.
Point being, we do not believe that
all prayer (asking) is worship.
To ask a friend to pray for you is a “prayer” to the friend. Saints are our friends in Heaven, alive in Christ, and we ask them to pray for us and/or with us.
Some prayer, of course, is worship. And that worship, and those prayers, are reserved only for God.
Many non-Catholic Christians think that all prayer is worship, and that’s where they can get confused about what we’re doing. Confused is understandable, but jumping to conclusions and being judgmental about it… eh, not so much.
Someone close to me once informed me that he didn’t think I had my mind on God while praying, because my eyes wandered too much. Later the same day, when I was gazing in the direction of the Bible, he proudly informed me that’s how I
should be focusing–he said he “could tell” I was prayerful then. What he didn’t know was that he had it completely backwards. When he thought I was looking at the Bible, I wasn’t even in prayer–I was daydreaming, just staring off into space, and the Bible happened to be in that general direction! When he saw my gaze wandering, it was because I was thinking about all the different people and things I am thankful for in my life, and was very focused on the prayer.
You cannot read people’s minds, and you cannot know what is in someone’s heart when they pray. So be careful not to assume you know what someone is thinking when they are gazing at or kneeling before a statue, or a picture, or a candle, or the Bible…
Besides, if just
looking at something while praying means we are
worshiping that item, THINK about what that means. It would mean that when we close our eyes and pray, we are praying to darkness. It would mean that when we look up while indoors and praying, we are praying to the ceiling; or outdoors, to the sky. Okay, what if we’re not just looking at, but
focused on something? You’ll run into the same problem… I can focus on a Bible verse and pray–am I worshiping the Bible, the paper and ink, the words… or the God Who gave The Word to us? I can focus on a picture of a loved one who is away while I pray for them and think about how blessed I am to know them… am I worshiping the photo, the loved one, the photographer… or the Creator who blessed me with my loved one? Honestly, you can’t know for anyone but
yourself.
In the same way, we cannot assume that simply to look at a statue or focus on one while praying is
worshiping the statue–or the saint it depicts.
