DO CATHOLICS WORSHIP SAINTS

     DO CATHOLICS WORSHIP SAINTS ?
AS PRESENTED BY CATHOLIC BIBLICAL INSTRUCTORS UNION (CBIU)

The word “worship” has undergone a change in meaning in
English. It comes from the Old English weorthscipe, which
means the condition of being worthy of honor, respect, or
dignity. To worship in the older, larger sense is to ascribe
honor, worth, or excellence to someone, whether a sage, a
magistrate, or God.
For many centuries, the term worship simply meant showing
respect or honor, and an example of this usage survives in
contemporary English. British subjects refer to their
magistrates as “Your Worship,” although Americans would say
“Your Honor.” This doesn’t mean that British subjects worship
their magistrates as gods (in fact, they may even despise a
particular magistrate they are addressing). It means they are
giving them the honor appropriate to their office, not the honor
appropriate to God.
Outside of this example, however, the English term “worship”
has been narrowed in scope to indicate only that supreme form
of honor, reverence, and respect that is due to God. This change
in usage is quite recent. In fact, one can still find books that
use “worship” in the older, broader sense. This can lead to a
significant degree of confusion, when people who are familiar
only with the use of words in their own day and their own
circles encounter material written in other times and other
places.
In Scripture, the term “worship” was similarly broad in meaning,
but in the early Christian centuries, theologians began to
differentiate between different types of honor in order to make
more clear which is due to God and which is not.
As the terminology of Christian theology developed, the Greek
term LATRIA came to be used to refer to the honor that is due to
God alone, and the term DULIA came to refer to the honor that
is due to human beings, especially those who lived and died in
God’s friendship—in other words, the saints. Scripture indicates
that honor is due to these individuals (Matt. 10:41b). A special
term was coined to refer to the special honor given to the
Virgin Mary, who bore Jesus—God in the flesh—in her womb.
This term, HYPERDULIA  (huper [more than]+ dulia = “beyond
dulia”), indicates that the honor due to her as Christ’s own
Mother is more than the dulia given to other saints. It is
greater in degree, but still of the same kind. However, since
Mary is a finite creature, the honor she is due is fundamentally
different in kind from the latria owed to the infinite Creator.
All of these terms—latria, dulia, hyperdulia—used to be lumped
under the one English word “worship.” Sometimes when one
reads old books discussing the subject of how particular
persons are to be honored, they will qualify the word “worship”
by referring to “the worship of latria” or “the worship of dulia.”
To contemporaries and to those not familiar with the history of
these terms, however, this is too confusing.
Another attempt to make clear the difference between the
honor due to God and that due to humans has been to use the
words adore and adoration to describe the total, consuming
reverence due to God and the terms venerate,
veneration, and honor to refer to the respect due humans. Thus,
Catholics sometimes say, “We adore God but we honor his
saints.”
Unfortunately, many non-Catholics have been so schooled in
hostility toward the Church that they appear unable or
unwilling to recognize these distinctions. They confidently
(often arrogantly) assert that Catholics “worship” Mary and the
saints, and, in so doing, commit idolatry. This is patently false,
of course, but the education in anti-Catholic prejudice is so
strong that one must patiently explain that Catholics do
not worship anyone but God—at least given the contemporary
use of the term. The Church is very strict about the fact
that latria, adoration—what contemporary English speakers call
“worship”—is to be given only to God.
Though one should know it from one’s own background, it
often may be best to simply point out that Catholics do not
worship anyone but God and omit discussing the history of the
term. Many non-Catholics might be more perplexed than
enlightened by hearing the history of the word. Familiar only
with their group’s use of the term “worship,” they may
misperceive a history lesson as rationalization and end up
even more adamant in their declarations that the term is
applicable only to God. They may even go further. Wanting to
attack the veneration of the saints, they may declare
that only God should be honored.
Both of these declarations are in direct contradiction to the
language and precepts of the Bible. The term “worship” was
used in the same way in the Bible that it used to be used in
English. It could cover both the adoration given to God alone
and the honor that is to be shown to certain human beings. In
Hebrew, the term for worship is shakhah. It is appropriately
used for humans in a large number of passages.
For example, in Genesis 37:7–9 Joseph relates two dreams
that God gave him concerning how his family would honor him
in coming years. Translated literally the passage states:
“‘[B]ehold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my
sheaf arose and stood upright; and behold, your sheaves
gathered round it, and worshiped [shakhah] my sheaf.’ . . .
Then he dreamed another dream, and told it to his brothers,
and said, ‘Behold, I have dreamed another dream; and behold,
the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were worshiping [shakhah]
me.’”
In Genesis 49:2-27, Jacob pronounced a prophetic blessing on
his sons, and concerning Judah he stated: “Judah, your
brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of
your enemies; your father’s sons shall worship [shakhah] you
(49:8).” And in Exodus 18:7, Moses honored his father-in-law,
Jethro: “Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and
worshiped [shakhah] him and kissed him; and they asked each
other of their welfare, and went into the tent.”
Yet none of these passages were discussing the worship of
adoration, the kind of worship given to God.
Honoring Saints
Consider how honor is given. We regularly give it to public
officials. In the United States it is customary to address a
judge as “Your Honor.” In the marriage ceremony it used to be
said that the wife would “love, honor, and obey” her husband.
Letters to legislators are addressed to “The Honorable So-and-
So.” And just about anyone, living or dead, who bears an
exalted rank is said to be worthy of honor, and this is
particularly true of historical figures, as when children are (or
at least used to be) instructed to honor the Founding Fathers
of America.
These practices are entirely Biblical. We are explicitly
commanded at numerous points in the Bible to honor certain
people. One of the most important commands on this subject
is the command to honor one’s parents: “Honor your father
and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which
the Lord your God gives you” (Ex. 20:12). God considered this
command so important that he repeated it multiple times in
the Bible (for example, Lev. 19:3, Deut. 5:16, Matt. 15:4, Luke
18:20, and Eph. 6:2–3). It was also important to give honor to
one’s elders in general: “You shall rise up before the hoary
head, and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear
your God: I am the Lord” (Lev. 19:32). It was also important to
specially honor religious leaders: “Make sacred garments for
your brother Aaron [the high priest], to give him dignity and
honor” (Ex. 28:2).
The New Testament stresses the importance of honoring others
no less than the Old Testament. The apostle Paul commanded:
“Pay all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due,
revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is
due, honor to whom honor is due” (Rom. 13:7). He also stated
this as a principle regarding one’s employers: “Slaves, be
obedient to those who are your earthly masters, with fear and
trembling, in singleness of heart, as to Christ” (Eph. 6:5). “Let
all who are under the yoke of slavery regard their masters as
worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching
may not be defamed” (1 Tim. 6:1). Perhaps the broadest
command to honor others is found in 1 Peter: “Honor all men.
Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor” (1 Pet.
2:17).
The New Testament also stresses the importance of honoring
religious figures. Paul spoke of the need to give them special
honor in 1 Timothy: “Let the presbyters [priests] who rule well
be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who
labor in preaching and teaching” (1 Tim. 5:17). Christ himself
promised special blessings to those who honor religious
figures: “He who receives a prophet because he is a prophet
shall receive a prophet’s reward, and he who receives a
righteous man [saint] because he is a righteous man shall
receive a righteous man’s reward” (Matt. 10:41).
So, if there can be nothing wrong with honoring the living, who
still have an opportunity to ruin their lives through sin, there
certainly can be no argument against giving honor to saints
whose lives are done and who ended them in sanctity. If
people should be honored in general, God’s special friends
certainly should be honored.
Statue Worship?
People who do not know better sometimes say that Catholics
worship statues. Not only is this untrue, it is even untrue that
Catholics honor statues. After all, a statue is nothing but a
carved block of marble or a chunk of plaster, and no one gives
honor to marble yet unquarried or to plaster still in the mixing
bowl.
The fact that someone kneels before a statue to pray does not
mean that he is praying to the statue, just as the fact that
someone kneels with a Bible in his hands to pray does not
mean that he is worshiping the Bible. Statues or paintings or
other artistic devices are used to recall to the mind the person
or thing depicted. Just as it is easier to remember one’s
mother by looking at her photograph, so it is easier to recall
the lives of the saints by looking at representations of them.

THE USE OF STATUES AND ICONS FOR LITURGICAL PURPOSE (AS
OPPOSED TO IDOLS) ALSO HAS A PLACE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

Exodus 25:18–20, God commanded: “And you shall make two
cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on
the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one
end, and one cherub on the other end; of one piece with the
mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The
cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing
the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another;
toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be.”
In Numbers 21:8–9, he told Moses: “‘Make a fiery serpent, and
set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it,
shall live.’ So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a
pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze
serpent and live.” This shows the actual ceremonial use of a
statue (looking to it) in order to receive a blessing from God
(healing from snakebite). In John 3:14, Jesus tells us that he
himself is what the bronze serpent represented, so it was a
symbolic representation of Jesus. There was no problem with
this statue—God had commanded it to be made—so long as
people did not worship it. When they did, the righteous king
Hezekiah had it destroyed (2 Kgs. 18:4). This clearly shows
the difference between the proper religious use of statues and
idolatry.
              SOLOMON BUILT A GIGIATIC STATUES IN THE TEMPLE.
When the time came to build the Temple in Jerusalem, God
inspired David’s plans for it, which included “his plan for the
golden chariot of the cherubim that spread their wings and
covered the ark of the covenant of the Lord. All this he made
clear by the writing from the hand of the Lord concerning it, all
the work to be done according to the plan” (1 Chr. 28:18–19).
In obedience to this divinely inspired plan, Solomon built two
gigantic, golden statues of cherubim: “In the most holy place
he made two cherubim of wood and overlaid them with gold.
The wings of the cherubim together extended twenty cubits:
one wing of the one, of five cubits, touched the wall of the
house, and its other wing, of five cubits, touched the wing of
the other cherub; and of this cherub, one wing, of five cubits,
touched the wall of the house, and the other wing, also of five
cubits, was joined to the wing of the first cherub. The wings of
these cherubim extended twenty cubits; the cherubim stood on
their feet, facing the nave. And he made the veil of blue and
purple and crimson fabrics and fine linen, and worked cherubim
on it” (2 Chr. 3:10–14).
Do Catholics Worship
Statutes?
Imitation is the Biblical Form of Honor
The most important form of honoring the saints, to which all
the other forms are related, is the imitation of them in their
relationship with God. Paul wrote extensively about the
importance of spiritual imitation. He stated: “I urge you, then,
be imitators of me. Therefore I sent to you Timothy, my beloved
and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in
Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church” (1 Cor.
4:16–17). Later he told the same group: “Be imitators of me,
as I am of Christ. I commend you because you remember me in
everything and maintain the traditions even as I have delivered
them to you” (1 Cor. 11:1–2). The author of the book of
Hebrews also stresses the importance of imitating true
spiritual leaders: “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to
you the word of God; consider the outcome of their life, and
imitate their faith” (Heb. 13:7).
One of the most important passages on imitation is found in
Hebrews. Chapter 11 of that book, the Bible’s well-known “hall
of fame” chapter, presents numerous examples of the Old
Testament saints for our imitation. It concludes with the
famous exhortation: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so
great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight,
and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with
perseverance the race that is set before us” (12:1)—the race
that the saints have run before us.
            HONOUR GIVEN TO GOD - LATRIAL,
  HONOUR DUE FOR MAN - DULIA
THAT FOR VAGIN MARY IS SUPERDULIA.