Thought for the Day – 4 August – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)
Sacred Images
“The opposite extreme of over-superstitious veneration of images must also be avoided.
As St Gregory the Great observed, Sacred images should be regarded as a means of impressing, on simple minds, the virtues which they ought to emplant.
Sometimes, however, the ignorance or the faithful, in this regard, needs to be corrected.
It is not unusual to enter a Church and to see crowds of people around statues of the Blessed Virgin and the Saints., laying flowers at their feet and lighting innumerable candles.
Meanwhile, the Altar of the Blessed Sacrament is deserted!
Excessive homage can be paid to particular images, in such a manner, as to suggest that the piety of the worshippers is directed towards the material images themselves, rather than towards the Redeemer or our Divine Mother or the Saints.
We must be careful to ensure that our devotion does not become occupied by suspicion,”
Antonio Cardinal Bacci
PART ONE:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/08/07/thought-for-the-day-7-august-sacred-images/
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