question about catholics?

Question

why is it that catholics pray to plastic and ceramic statues? do they think the statue will answer their prayers/or come alive? Its confusing, and plus, i hear about people touching/stroking the statue, pouring what they call holy water on it, and stuff like that. what's all that supposed to do?

Answer 1

You have been misinformed.

Catholics do not pray to statues. Images simply remind us of Jesus and the saints.

God answers prayers and He alone must be worshipped. The saints can pray on our behalf - just as our friends on earth do.

The presence of image in no way belies a Catholic belief that God is somehow not there. It simply underscores that we are physical as well as spiritual beings and we interact with God on both the physical and spiritual levels.

Viewing an image of Christ on the cross and then whispering a prayer to Him are both valid ways of connecting with Him. One is physical....and the other spiritual.

In fact, that is precisely how we first meet God - in the physical realm. Think about it......Jesus Christ chose to assume a physical, human body.

Answer 2

I used to be a Catholic and I never prayed to statues, however I have seen Catholics pray at sites they believed to be a place where a miracle has happened. They are not praying to the statue or whatever it is; they are praying to God in what they believe to be a place where a miracle has happened. As far as praying to the saints, they are just talking (not worshiping) to the dead they believe are with God. They pray to them to ask them if they will pray for them. It's called the intercession of the saints. If a saint or other Holy person prays to God for you it is more likely to be answered by God, as long as it's in God's will. It's no different than asking a friend to pray for you. That's all they are doing. There's no harm in it. Prayer and worship are very different.

Answer 3

Do you ever ask a friend or family member to pray for you? We Catholics belong to the family of Jesus. We ask our Mother(Mary) and the Saints(our brothers and sisters, that would be the Apostles and such) to pray for us just as you would a family member. Looking at a statue or a picture while praying(talking) to those family members is not idolatry, they are reminders of those people who have lived and gone on before us who are alive in heaven.

Answer 4

Don't know, I have been a Catholic all of my 49 years and we never touch works of sacred art.

For your information sacred art was the only Bible that the illiterate common person had for the first 1900 years of Christianity.

Schneb missed entirely the point that God Himself ordered the bronze serpent to be made and bowed to. So wouldn't that indicate that statues are not the problem but how we use them?

Vinslave makes the best point here!

Answer 5

So you have a picture of a loved one in your possession? Do you ever think about this loved one? Do you have a statue of a famous person, perhaps a sports person or actor or past president, or a doll representing an action figure? We know these statues or pictures are not real. They remind us of some one else.
Our money has pictures of past presidents on it. The money is not the president. The picture gives honor to the memory of the president.
Catholics use statues or pictures of saints to remind them of the person it represents. We pray to the person, not to the statue or picture to ask that person to help us or to remind us of how we too are to live our faith.
Holy water is not used in way you described.. We bless ourselves with holy water as a reminder of the waters of Baptism and our commitment to God.
If you have questions about the Catholic faith, I suggest you go on line to Catholic Updates at www.AmericanCatholic.org.

Answer 6

For the Zillionth time,

We do NOT worship the statue, it is a reminder of that person to us.

I have never seen anyone pour holy water on one.

It should not be confusing at all!

You can find answers about Catholics here: www.Catholic.com

Good Luck and God Bless!

Answer 7

Most Catholics aren't in the business of touching the statues. They just serve as a more concrete image of those we're praying to. It's like looking at the crucifix while praying to Jesus.

As for the "praying to Mary and the saints" thing which may come up out of this, since we have statues of them, we don't worship them. Praying means "speaking" -- we speak to them and ask them to pray/speak to God on our behalf, just like you might ask a friend to pray for your in times of trouble. They are intermediaries, no more than that.

Answer 8

We use the statues of Jesus, Mary and the saints when we pray to help remind us of and to whom we're praying. It is NOT idolatry. As for the touching stroking of statues (actually this is mostly crucifixes or statues of Jesus and/or Mary) that's called reverence. Protestants don't seem to have that.

Answer 9

You know as a Catholic I am really tired of having to explain this to Protestants and never seeing it sink in, so from now on my answer will be this,you are not a Catholic so mind your own buisness as it does not concern you at all, sorry to be harsh but the gentle method of explanation just isn`t getting accepted.

Answer 10

As a catholic we didn't pray to the statue,we symbolize the statue to our prayer,it is doesn't mean that you pray to them and make them alive.Statue is not the way to go in the kingdom of heavenly father,wherever place you make the prayer it is okey atleast you pray it that seriously at the bottom of your heart,everything you see in the catholic church is that a symbolize of god,to honor and show that we care about him.Even you do your prayer in the toilet,kitchen,room,wherever cause god says who's one who call my name I'm in the middle of them,one or two who gather because of my name I'll will in the middle and in the center to listenand help them.Water is symbolize of your purity,holy water is symbol of being pure and clean to clean us for being sinfull.Everything is a symbol of god,but if you does not believed in god everything is useless cause you only pretend that you believed him.But you can saw the god in the deepest of your heart,it is depend on you how much you believed him and honor him as our father and creator of all things in heaven and earth....So please respect and love the god don't says like that questions cause you really showing that you didn't believed on him and you have no respect to him,even you are not catholic but as a catholic we need your respect for our belief...I want to give you some examples before you judge the catholic belief,if the person have a girlfriend or boyfriend and you have a pictures of them ofcourse you love him/her cause its a part of your life.Question is...did you also touch,kiss,hug,and talk to the picture even he/she is not our god?pictures are only a symbols of your love to your gf/bf but the real is you love him/her because of being real not you love because of the pictures....is also thesame like that...we are thesame story..just think about it...or go to the www.catholic.com.