Day 158: Holy Images in the Liturgy (1159-1162)

• It’s Day 158!!

• HOLY IMAGES

• These four short paragraphs are INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT

• Christians use images TO HELP THEM PRAY

• This is an ANCIENT tradition that is only made possible because of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ

• Before this, there could be NO images made to represent God

• With the Incarnation the reality is the Word became Flesh and dwelt among us

• Now there is the possibility to have a new economy of images

• Not only images of our Savior but also the Saints, our Lady, and angels 

• So let’s pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we know that you hear our prayers. We know that you have sent your Son into this world. You have revealed your Glory. You have revealed your heart as you have revealed to us your Son. We ask you to please continue to reveal your heart to us. Continue to unpack the love that you have placed in our hearts by the Power of your Holy Spirit. Lord God, help us to see you in all things, in all things that you have created. Help us to see your artistic hand in all things that artists have created. In every beautiful thing, Lord, let us see a trace, a shadow, a sign of your Goodness, of your Reality, and of your Beauty. Help us to see you in all things today. We make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• Originally we were prohibited from making any representational artwork when it comes to God Himself

• This goes all the way back to the Ten Commandments

• We shall not make any graven images

• Are Christians violating one of the Ten Commandments when they make an image?

• The answer comes from the History of the Church and the Second Council of Nicaea in 787 AD

• St. John Damascene says in Paragraph 1159, “Previously God, who has neither a body nor a face, absolutely could not be represented by an image. But now that he has made himself visible in the flesh and has lived with men, I can make an image of what I have seen of God…and contemplate the glory of the Lord, his face unveiled.”

• There was a group of people called ICONOCLASTS

• They wanted to destroy all images of our Lord, Mary, or the Saints

• They saw that as a violation of one of the Ten Commandments

• AND YET…

• Paragraph 1160 says, “We declare that we preserve intact all the written and unwritten traditions of the Church which would have been entrusted to us. One of these traditions consists in the production of representational artwork, which accords with the history of the preaching of the Gospel. For it confirms that the incarnation of the Word of God was real and not imaginary…”

• Jesus DID come in time

• This is NOT a myth

• This is NOT a story

• This is NOT a fable

• When we have artwork depicting Jesus doing something like healing the blind man, or Jesus on the Cross, or Jesus rising from the dead…

• THESE ARE HISTORICAL REALITIES!!

• Part of this representational artwork is to PUT INTO TIME the REALITY OF WHAT HAPPENED IN TIME

• Not only that…

• We have Scripture

• What is Scripture other than images? 

• WORDS ARE SYMBOLS THAT REPRESENT A DEEPER REALITY!!

• So what is good artwork?

• ARTWORK IS A SYMBOL THAT REPRESENTS A DEEPER REALITY!!

• Hope this is helpful for all of us to understand the role of art

• The role of art is meant to UNVEIL

• The role of art is meant to POINT TO SOMETHING GREATER THAN ITSELF

• THE TRUE

• THE GOOD

• THE BEAUTIFUL

• Words are meant to REVEAL THE TRUTH

• Words are meant to DRAW US CLOSER TO THE GOOD

• Words are meant to UNVEIL BEAUTY

• Similarly, art is meant to do this as well

• Art has to be TRUE

• Art has to be GOOD

• Art has to be BEAUTIFUL

• Liturgical art is meant to lift the mind and the heart to the Lord

• It does this in a way that sometimes words can’t do

• Fr. Mike is telling a story about a man who grew up an atheist

• He was in Europe and he walked into Chartres Cathedral in France

• He was so struck by the beauty that was in the artwork that he was convinced that God is REAL and that this is TRUE

• There is something about God’s existence via BEAUTY

• You can reason God’s existence

• You can logic your way to God’s existence

• BUT…

• There are other ways we communicate the true and the good and the beautiful

• Part of that is artwork and iconography

• When we have our Churches decorated with beautiful imagery

• This has been lost in modern churches

• They have stripped themselves and have maybe 1 or 2 pieces of artwork or statues as opposed to being suffused by beauty

• When you walk into the Church you are stepping into ANOTHER WORLD

• You are stepping into a place where the Cross is revealed

• The ugliness of the Cross points to the beauty of God’s love

• The reality of the Saints and Angels who are especially present to us in the context of the Mass

• When we have Churches that reveal that beauty, what to do?

• St. John Damascene says in Paragraph 1162, “‘The beauty of the images moves me to contemplation, as a meadow delights the eyes and subtly infuses the soul with the glory of God.”

• If you have some art in your house that points to the Lord and lifts your mind and your heart to God in a way that other things just don’t do, YOU ARE BLESSED

• If you don’t have that, you are invited to look for art out there that you would be able to bring into your home and have it present so that as you look around your own home your mind would be able to be raised to the Lord to contemplation

• Your heart would be that much more set on fire with the love of God

• That is what art is meant to do

• Art is meant to raise our minds and our hearts to the Lord through what is good, what is true, and what is beautiful

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!