Question 142 – How do I explain that we do not worship idols?

Transcript:

The Catholic Church, mainly Traditional Catholics, is the very first group that rejects the worship of idols and strictly observes the First Commandment of God, “You shall not have other gods.” So, an idol is a created creature that has been given Divine Honor equal to God. This is idolatry.

We do not hold Mary as someone equal to God and as a member of the Trinity, the Church has never done this. We do not use the expression “Adoration” for Mary, as we do not adore her, but we only adore the Trinity. We instead venerate her, it is another way of expressing gratitude and acknowledgment of her being close to God and her unique mission of being the mother of God, not simply the mother of Christ, but as the mother of God. She gave birth to someone Divine and Human at the same time. Jesus Christ was both Human and Divine simultaneously. That little child Jesus has always been Divine, the second person of the Trinity.

Jesus’ flesh and blood are biologically Mary’s flesh and blood 100% because He did not have a biological father. All of His flesh and blood came from Mary, therefore, Jesus did not have corrupted flesh and blood from mortal sin. That is why Mary had to be Immaculate, not because of herself but because of her son.

All of Mary points to Jesus, the entire meaning of her existence. Therefore, when we venerate her, we should venerate Jesus Christ all the more. We cannot separate mother and son as the son is the fruit of her womb. Jesus Christ observed very exemplarily the commandments of God; He gave us examples of how to observe God’s commandments. The Fourth Commandment, “Honor your father and mother,” so we should honor our mothers. Jesus himself demonstrated exemplarily that he honored his mother because he received her into heaven and made her queen of heaven, as Jesus is the king of heaven, and Mary is the mother of the King.

Jesus Christ honors his mother so that we may also honor her as her children. Our veneration of Mary is filial, as her children and as our mother. Normally, people honor their mothers as we are indebted to them. Protestants probably keep photos of their mothers, especially those who have passed away. I can argue that if they hated idolatry, they should take away from the walls of their room’s photos of their mother.

I personally have an icon of the Mother of Christ, who is also my spiritual mother. This is because, on the cross, Christ gave her to us all as our mother, “This is your mother,” this is a solemn and divine word that includes all of his disciples. From the very beginning, this was the constant stand of the Church.