[Augustine23611]

Thank you for your respectful inquiry. First, our images of Christ, Mary and the saints (statues, icons, etc.) are not idols. We do not worship them; we worship God alone (who is only depicted on the image) and venerate, i.e., honor Mary and the other saints, seeking their intercession before God. We reason that they are far closer to Him than we are - after all, they're in Heaven - and can pray for us just as people in this life pray for each other. As for creating images, the Old Testament is full of worshippers doing precisely that, as with cherubim, etc. The sin would lie in worshipping the image as a god, not in creating the image as a reminder of what it depicts. We single Mary out for greater honor because God Himself did so: 'Blessed art thou among women,' as she was chosen to be the mother of Christ and said 'yes' when she could have easily said 'no.' As for the repetitions, there is nothing vain or fruitless about them. Reciting words with no meaning behind them would be vain and sinful, and we do not do that. We constantly tell our loved ones in this life that we love them, and nobody thinks that is odd or vain. An Orthodox commentator put it best: we repeat a prayer 40 times because we might not really 'mean it' until the 38th time!

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Name : Augustine23611, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 39, City : Columbia, State : SC Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class, 

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