Topic to help Muslim and Catholic understanding

Here is another contribution of my thoughts toward bridging the gap in understanding between Catholics and Muslims. Many Muslims are puzzled, or even scandalized, by the affection and adoration that some Catholics seem to give toward statues that represent Jesus, Mary, or the saints. There were touching examples of this when survivors of the earthquake in Peru touched and kissed the figure of Christ that was recovered from the ruins of a church. The comfort that they received from the crucifix was obvious and it is placed among the people in the street in front of the ruined church. Here is how I would like to explain it to my Muslim brothers and sisters.

When one sees mourning for a lost relative, friend, politician or religious leader in many Muslim countries, often you see the mourners weeping and clutching a painting or photograph of their loved one. The picture is not only displayed but it is also hugged with affection by those who have had their hearts broken and mourn their loss. This has been seen painfully all too often in Iraq during that torn country’s suffering.

Because Jesus was sent by God to live for a time as a human, among humans, and people knew him and loved him as a human, Catholics have a two thousand year history of having pictorial representations of Jesus, Mary in a very similar fashion that I describe above. The image is not the object of worship but it is the focus of intense remembering and veneration of the Messiah who both Muslims and Catholics agree actually lived, walked among and loved humans. When Catholics look at an image of Jesus, the Holy Family and the Apostles and saints who knew them (sometimes personally, but like in human families, usually through inspiration and historical memory and teaching), they are both celebrating the life of and mourning the passing of Jesus as Messiah. This is true whether the Catholic is of ancient Jewish or Gentile lineage, because as Messiah Jesus brought The New Covenant for both.

Notice that modern Catholic churches rarely have a representation of God himself. God is depicted (usually in the act of creation or of receiving Jesus and saints into heaven) in the more ancient churches, but very rarely in the more contemporary generations. This is further proof of what I am explaining. Catholics are not worshipping the images of Jesus, Mary and the saints. They are focusing their prayers, mourning, receiving comfort and coming together to celebrate sacraments in the presence of images of humans who actually lived and are the loved spiritual ancestors of the Catholic faith. Sometimes I wryly think it is both good news and bad news that there are not so many representations of God himself. The good news is that I agree with Muslims that to depict God at all is by definition a demeaning of God, who cannot be limited by human’s art ability. While God has no problem with being thought of as an old man with flowing white hair and beard, the mere attempt to depict him places limits on his nature (making such decisions about attributes to depict) that are false. To render God in a human art media is to make decisions about depiction that omit the infinity of truth that is God in fullness of eternal being. This is then a temptation to weak humans to interact with God as if he has only the attributes with which he is depicted. So I would rather than God not be depicted per se, and totally relate to Islamic culture’s decision to depict instead the beauty of his word in the calligraphy of the Qur’an and also in the natural beauty of his works of flora and fauna. On the other hand, I am worried that some Christians (to a lesser degree Catholics) have so focused on Jesus as savior and “pal” that in some services outside of the Catholic Mass I hear God never even mentioned. The entire focus of Jesus was to bring God to humans to better know, and Jesus constantly prayed to God and pointed all of humanity’s attention back to God. Jesus in his life never asked to be worshipped, and even once chastised a follower saying, “Why do you call me good? Only God is good.” You will notice that Pope Benedict himself in his writings and talks has not neglected to bring the goal back to understanding God through Jesus.

Because Jesus made the concept of God and what he expects of the faithful so clear and accessible (even to those of the time with no education or “lettering” ability) and because Jesus was a human who lived and walked with people, his loss, when he ascended to heaven, was keenly felt. People loved him and the Gospel taught knowledge of God through recalling of the events in the life of Jesus and the lessons that he taught. Many people could not read or write and so the Catholic Church used images to pass on the teaching of Jesus in the place where Catholic sacraments are performed. Yes, Catholics had the bible but until the printing press was invented virtually no one had a bible. Depictions of Jesus and his family provided instruction and comfort to those who could not read or write or obtain a priceless copy of the bible for many centuries. I have often used the analogy, and that is what I am teaching here, that Catholics actually worship and live amidst their theological "family album of pictures." This is not idolatry because as I explain they are not worshipping and empowering the depictions themselves (most Catholics are aware there is no “magic power from God” in the actual images and that is what the bible and Qur’an forbid) but also they are pictures of the ancestors of the theological family body of the Church.

I hope that this helps to reassure and close the gap in understanding on this important topic. I’ll write more on topics related to this in the future.