you. And if she crosses the sea of death will she forget you? No. The
love she bore you here will continue in heaven. She will pray for you,
and the "Lord will hear the prayers of the just." Ask the saints to pray
to your God and their God for you. Honor God by honoring His friends and
asking their intercession. And all your friends in heaven will unite in
praying to the Father of us all that one day all who love God and His
friends, the saints, may be admitted with them into the _company of the
Saint of saints, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ._

XI. Crucifixes, Relics, and Images

"Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of
anything that is in the heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of
those things that are in the waters under the earth. Thou shalt not
adore them nor serve them" (_Ex_. xx. 4, 5).

THIS first commandment teaches us to adore God alone. It does not forbid
the making of images, but it forbids the adoring of them, worshiping
them as gods. This would be idolatry. If the making of images were
forbidden, it would be improper to have images or pictures of our
friends.

It has frequently been said that Catholics ate idolaters, because they
have in their churches crucifixes, relics, and images of the saints,
which they honor. Perhaps many of those who accuse us of idolatry, if
asked, could not tell what idolatry is. Idolatry is giving to a creature
(whether a crucifix, an image, or any created thing) that honor which
belongs to God.

The honor we give those sacred things is a relative honor. We honor them
on account of the relation they bear to God and His friends, the saints.

Every Catholic, even the child, is taught the difference between the
idol of the pagan and a Catholic image. Pagans looked upon their idols
as gods. They thought these senseless objects had power, intelligence,
and other attributes of the Deity. They worshiped them as gods and
thought they could assist them. Hence they were image-worshipers or
idolaters.

Catholics know full well that images have no intelligence to understand,
no power to assist them. They do not adore nor serve them. That would be
idolatry. It would be breaking the first commandment. They do not say
when praying before the crucifix or image of a saint, "I adore thee, O
Crucifix"; nor "Help me, O Image," But they say, "I adore thee, O God,
whose cruel death is represented by this crucifix," or "Pray for me, O
saint represented b