The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 158: Holy Images in the Liturgy (2024)

Episode Date: June 6, 2024

We continue our examination of the different elements of the liturgy, specifically holy images in the liturgy. Fr. Mike highlights that because the Word was made visible in the flesh, Christians now can use images of Christ to pray. Liturgical art is a symbol that points to a greater reality than itself. It is meant to lift our hearts and minds to the Lord in a way that words cannot. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1159-1162. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the Catechism in Ear podcast, where we encounter God's plan of sure goodness for us, revealed in scripture and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in Ear is brought to you by Ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity and God's family as we journey together toward our heavenly home. This is day 158. We are reading paragraphs 1159 to 1162.

As always, I'm using the Ascension edition of the Catechism, which includes the Foundations of Faith approach, but you can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. You can also download your own Catechism in a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y. And, you know what that stands for, that stands for Catechism in a year. You can also click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates and daily notifications. This is day 158 We are reading paragraphs as I said 1159 to 1162 yesterday

We talked about music and we talked about singing we talked about words and actions today we're talking about images and just it's basically a Four four short paragraphs, but these four short paragraphs are incredibly important because they talk about the sacred image. So recognizing that Christians use images to help them pray. And this is an ancient, ancient tradition that is only made possible because of the incarnation of Jesus Christ as, you know, the Word made flesh. We've realized that before this there could be no images made to represent God Except with the incarnation the reality of course is the word became flesh and dwelt among us

And so now there is the possibility to have a new Equal economy of images. So we're going to talk about that today So in holy images not only of our Savior, you know, our Lord Jesus Christ, but also the Saints our Lady Angels and and what's not. So as we launch into today, let's say a prayer. As we take this next step, talking about holy images in our prayer. Father in heaven, we know that you hear our prayers.

We know that you have sent your Son into this world. You revealed your glory. You have revealed your heart as you world. You revealed your glory. You have revealed your heart as you've revealed to us your son. We ask you to please continue to reveal your heart to us. Continue to unpack the love that you've 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 and in all things that you have created. Help us to see your artistic hand and 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. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. As I said, I'm thinking three times now, it's day 158. We're reading paragraphs 1159 to 1162. Holy images. The sacred image, the liturgical icon, principally represents Christ. It cannot represent the invisible and incomprehensible God, but the incarnation of the Son of God has ushered in a new economy of images.

As St. John Damascene wrote, 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." Christian Iconography expresses in images the same gospel message that the Scripture communicates by words. Image and word illuminate each other.

As the Second Council of Nicaea stated, We declare that we preserve intact all the written and unwritten traditions of the Church which 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, and to our benefit as well, for realities that illustrate each other undoubtedly reflect each other's meaning. All the signs in the liturgical celebrations are related to Christ, as are sacred images

of the Holy Mother of God and of the saints as well. They truly signify Christ who is glorified in them. They make manifest the cloud of witnesses who continue to participate in the salvation of the world and to whom we are united, above all, in the sacramental celebrations. Through their icons, it is man in the image of God finally transfigured into his likeness who is revealed to our faith. So too are the angels, who are also recapitulated in Christ. The Second Council of Nicaea further states, Following the divinely inspired teaching of

our Holy Fathers and the tradition of the Catholic Church, for we know that this tradition comes from the Holy Spirit who dwells in her, we rightly define with full certainty and correctness that, like the figure of the precious and life-giving cross, venerable and holy images of our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ, our inviolate Lady, the Holy Mother of God, and the venerated angels, all the saints and the just, whether painted or made of mosaic or other suitable material, are to be exhibited in the holy churches of God, on sacred vessels and vestments, walls and panels, in houses and on streets. St. John Damascene also further stated,

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. Similarly, the contemplation of sacred icons, united with meditation on the Word of God and the singing of liturgical hymns, enters into the harmony of the signs of celebration, so that the mystery celebrated is imprinted in the heart's memory, and is then expressed in the new life of the faithful. Okay, so there we have it, paragraphs 1159 to 1162. Okay, couple things to highlight, and I think this is going to be pretty important. Originally, there is no ability, we have no warrant, in fact we are prohibited from making

any representational artwork when it comes to the Lord, when it comes to God himself. Right? I mean, this goes all the way back to the Old Testament, this is all the way back to the Ten Commandments, that we shall not make any graven image. And so the big question is, wait, are Christians violating the 10 Commandments or one of the 10 Commandments when they make an image? But the answer comes from,

we have the history of the church. We also have this second Council of Nicaea in 787 that looks at this and realizes, okay, well previously God, this is John Damascene, previously God who had neither a body nor a face Absolutely could not be represented by any image But now he's made himself visible in the flesh and live with men So therefore I can make an image of what I've seen of God

and so there was a group of people called the iconoclasts right and iconoclast means like the destroyer of images so they went they would want to destroy all images of Class means like the destroyer of images. So they would want to destroy all images of our Lord or of Mary or of the saints, any kind of images that would represent the Lord or holy things because they saw that as a violation, right, of the 10 commandments or one of the 10 commandments. And yet we recognize, and I love this,

this is the second council of Nicaea that makes this so clear that we have preserved, the church has preserved intact all the written and unwritten traditions of the church and one of those traditions consists in the production of representational artwork which goes all the way back to the very beginning of the preaching of the gospel and and I love that their explanation for this it says this confirms that the incarnation of the Word of God was real and not imaginary.

That we actually get to say, no, Jesus did come in time. This is not a myth. This is not one of those stories. It's not a fable that when we have artwork depicting Jesus doing something, right? Jesus healing the blind man. We have artwork depicting Jesus on the cross or Jesus rising from the dead. These are historical realities. This is not a myth.

This is not something that was dreamt up. This is not a fable. And so part of this representational artwork is trying to put into time the reality of what happened actually in time. And not only that, but here's the churches saying, we have the words. I mean, literally we have scripture

and what is scripture other than images? We've already talked about this, right? Words are symbols that represent a deeper reality. So what is good artwork? Artwork is a symbol that represents a deeper reality. And this is, this is, I hope this is helpful for all of us to understand the role of art. Right? So the role of art is meant to unveil, right? The role of art is meant to point to something greater than itself.

And so you have these transcendentals. You have the true, the good, the beautiful. And words are meant to reveal the truth. Words are meant to draw us closer to the good. Words are meant to unveil beauty. And so similarly, art is meant to do this as well. Art has to be true. It has to be good. It has to be beautiful. So here's liturgical art. That liturgical art is meant to lift the mind and the heart to the Lord. And it does this in a way that

words sometimes can't do. Hopefully, maybe you've experienced this. I remember reading about a man who had grown up an atheist and he pretty committed atheist by the time he was college age or shortly after college. And at one point he was in Europe and he walked into Schart's Cathedral in France. And he walked into Schart's and he said literally, he walked into this cathedral, into this Catholic church, and he was so struck by the beauty that was in the artwork

that he said, I mean, he was convicted, he said, God is real, and this is true. And there's something, you know, there's something about that argument for God's existence via beauty. Yes, you can reason God's existence, you can logic your way to that kind of a thing. You can have an argument about the whole thing.

But there's also other ways we communicate the true and the good and the beautiful. And part of that is artwork, iconography. Part of that is what we talk about when we have our churches decorated with beautiful imagery. And that's one of the things that in some ways has been lost in some modern churches. A lot of modern churches, they've stripped themselves.

They have maybe one or two pieces of artwork. They have maybe a couple statues as opposed to just being suffused by beauty. When you walk into the church, you're stepping into another world essentially, right? You're stepping into a place where here is the cross is revealed and the ugliness of the cross, which points to the beauty of God's love, that the reality of the saints, the reality of the angels who are always present to us, especially

especially present to us in the Holy Eucharist, in the context of the Mass. And so when we have churches that reveal that beauty, what to do? Well, again, St. John Damascene, who's been quoted twice today, he says the context of the mass. And so when we have churches that reveal that beauty, what to do? Well again, St. John Damascene, who's been quoted twice today, he says, the beauty of the images move me to contemplation. Just like how natural creation, right? He says the beauty of a meadow delights the eye and subtly infuses the soul with the glory of God. And so at this point, if you have some art in your house, some art that just points to the Lord, that lifts your mind and your heart to God in a way that other things just don't do,

that's, you're blessed. And if you don't have that, I invite you just to look, like what is there? What kind of art might there be out there that you'd be able to bring into your home and to just have that present so that as your gaze just looked around your own home, looked around your room, your mind would be able to be raised to the Lord to contemplation. Your heart would be maybe just that much more set on fire with the

love of God because that's what art is meant to do. It's meant to raise our minds and our hearts to the Lord through what is good, what is true, and what is beautiful. Anyways, here we go. It's day 158, and wow, what a gift to be able to travel through this year with you. I'm so honored, and I am praying for you. Please pray for me. My name's Father Mike.

I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.