Many Catholic readers write to me expressing their firm belief that the cancellation of the second Commandment by the Catholic Church is justified, and that it is a duty for every believer to offer his veneration to the so-called sacred images.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church actually teaches: "Based on the mystery of the Incarnate Word, the seventh Ecumenical Council, in Nicaea (in 787), justified, against the iconoclasts, the cult of icons: those of Christ, but also those of the Mother of God, of the angels and of all the saints. By becoming incarnate, the Son of God inaugurated a new "economy" of images. [...]The honor given to the sacred images is a "respectful veneration", not an adoration that is suitable only for God. " (2131-2132).
Here are some excerpts of my answers to Catholic readers, in the hope that they may be of some use to those who are confused about the subject in question.
Reader: "Despite the categorical biblical provisions, the Jewish people did not completely do without images. Various passages of the Bible indicate that they were tolerated and even permitted in the Old Testament."
There were the images of the tabernacle; the veils of linen thread with the artistically worked cherubs, and the two golden cherubs on either side of the mercy seat. And there were the decorations of the second Temple, with palm trees and flowers. But be careful, we are talking about Jewish ritualism, and the prescriptions that God gave to Israel, and not to Christians. Let's not forget that no one ever venerated the images of those cherubs, precisely because they had a decorative function, and because the people and the priests were well aware of God's prohibition.
Neither the Jews ever made statues of Moses or Abraham or of Isaac or Jacob or any other example of faith.
Furthermore, it is good to reiterate that we are absolutely NOT saying that all images in general are prohibited, but only those prohibited by the commandment. That is, the images to which he offers himself either adoration ("do not serve them") or veneration ("you will not bow down to them").
This is the meaning of the Commandment, certainly not that we cannot keep the photo of our children on the desk or that we cannot paint a decoration to embellish the wall of a church!
Reader: "In some cases God himself has prescribed the construction of sacred images."
But he never authorized either the priests or the Israelites (let alone us) to bow down to them, to pray to them, or to kiss them. They were decorations, and in some cases they had a symbolic meaning.
Let's take the copper serpent that Moses had built by order of God in the desert. The people were dying, but as God had promised, anyone who looked at that snake escaped death (this, not because the snake had any particular virtues; the healing took place because those who looked at it showed faith in God's promise).
The spiritual meaning is explained to us by Jesus in the Gospel: "And, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so the Son of man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him has eternal life. Because God so loved the world, who gave his only-begotten Son, so that whoever believes in him may not perish but have eternal life. " (John 3: 14-16)
The copper serpent foreshadowed Jesus, because Jesus on the cross took charge of all our sins: "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us, for it is written: Cursed whoever hangs from the wood "(Galatians 3:13).
Let us now return to the image. God had never authorized anyone to venerate an image that nevertheless had such great importance (both immediately, to heal the people, and for its meaning), and which he himself had commanded to build.
And in fact, what happened next? That when the Israelites began to worship the image, God even had it destroyed together with pagan idols, by the hand of his servant, Hezekiah, the king of Israel.
All this should make us understand - if we really do not want to listen to the second commandment - what is the position of God with respect to the tradition of the cult of images.
However, the fact remains that the second commandment is one of the ten Commandments that God has given us, and that none of us are authorized to reject or cancel it. "You will add nothing to what I command you, and you will take nothing away from it .." (Deut. 4: 2).
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