Growing
up as a Legio Maria was never easy. As a young boy, discussions with my
playmates on my faith almost ended up in scorn. Belonging to other faiths,
these playmates of mine were taught in their churches that God’s second
commandment to humanity was clear: that nobody should make or bow to graven
images. And so, they were on point. They were always referring me to the
scriptures and warning me of Hell if I did not heed their regular advice and
stopped bowing to the images.
Images
Everywhere
However,
it was almost impossible to live my life as a child in a Legio Maria family and
ignore images. There were images everywhere. At the entrance to our home, there
was a big wooden cross. Before this cross, my dad, mother and elder brothers
and sisters used to kneel and make prayers routinely. Inside every house was an
altar, and on every altar were placed images of Simeo Ondeto, Jesus Christ,
Virgin Mary, angels, saints and Mama Maria. There were also mini crosses on the
altars. At church, there were two big wooden crosses, one at the entrance and another
at the middle of the church compound. The church altar had several images too.
The
Rosaries and Catenas
Moreover,
in our home, every person had a rosary and a catena. On the rosaries and
catenas were medallions with engraved images of Mary, Jesus, the last supper,
Simeo Ondeto, Virgin Mary and Mama Maria. Of course, each rosary or catena
would have a medallion that was relevant to their prayer uses. But this ensured
that images were everywhere in my life. And to escape them would almost be
tantamount to running away from home because there was no way of living in our
family without interacting with the images.
Pricking
Dilemma
As
a young boy with little understanding of what the images meant, I always faced
immense dilemma. On one side were my friends who always read to me the bible
and asking me to shun the images. And on the other hand was my family who had
made the images part of our life. Sometimes I felt the boys were right, and
that Legio Maria faithful were wrong. At other times I saw the devotion of
Legio Maria faithful to the images and heard the teachings of Baba Simeo Ondeto
regarding the images, and then felt that the boys were wrong. It was a big dilemma
of my boyhood.
Research
into the Dilemma
To
unravel the puzzle and find direction in my life, I decided to do my own
research into the Ten Commandments. At the very beginning, I met the shock of
my life. The second commandment (about the graven images) did not exist in the
prayer book that was on our home altars. This puzzled me. I could not find a
reason for this until when I was in High School. As a high school student, I
was a devout member of the Christian Union (CU), even rising to be Chairman of
the Union. Therefore, I was exposed to several books that discussed the second
commandment.
The
Puzzle Solved
And
when I joined college, I kept the reading zeal that I had in high school; reading
several books on the history of Christianity, commentaries on the Bible, Church
Council records and the opinions of Church Fathers. In the end, the reasoning
behind use or no-use of graven images became clearer to me. At one point, after
I had read an insightful book on the history of the church’s reformation and
the arguments of Martin Luther, Calvin, Zwingli and Erasmus, for and against
the images, I just broke into laughter. I laughed so loudly because I had
discovered the truth.
Meaning
of the Second Commandment
So,
what truth did I discover? Naturally, the human mind is dazzled by images. It
stores for longer what it learns in picture (image) form that what it learns
through words. Humans like images! And they are in the image of God too. Yet,
during the time of Moses, God was only known as “I AM”. He had not been seen.
Nobody knew how he looked like. He was only experienced through revelations,
dreams and visions. He was only a voice that called prophets and instructed
them on what to do and what to tell the people. His image could not be captured
by humans, and therefore any attempts to make graven images of the unseen God
were always going to be a mess.
Hence, the second commandment was important in
reminding the people of Israel that they had not seen God and could not make
his image. It also reminded them that any images that they could make were
going to be wrong pictures of God because they did not know exactly how he
looked. Furthermore, the images would direct their devotions to the wrong
objects.
Jesus
Came as a Man: His Images Could be Captured
The
coming of Jesus as a man changed everything. Through Jesus, the unseen God took
the form of the seen and lived in the world. His image could now be captured
and stored. Expert artists could now draw or paint Jesus’ figure and store in
their shelves. His miracles could now be captured in picture form and used for
teaching and preaching his Gospel to the world.
Therefore, the son of God who
dwells eternally as the spirit became the first physical image of the unseen
God and took a form that could now be bowed to, knelt to and worshipped.
Indeed, Jesus fulfilled the second commandment in a revolutionary way and
drastically changed the way that commandment could now be approached. After the
incarnation of Jesus, his image can now be made!
Using
Images in Worship
Images
have greater effect than mere words. If someone tells you about Jesus and
another shows you the image of Jesus, you would most likely feel greater
connection with Jesus because of the image than because of the words. Words are
easy to forget, but images linger in the mind longer. Therefore, the use of
images in worship makes the worship environment more solemn. Worshippers feel
like they are before the lord more than they would feel when told about the
lord’s presence.
When they stare directly at the images believers feel as if
they are staring directly at the face of Jesus. In fact, the cross of Jesus
with his image on it has a greater effect on believers than the words of a
bishop or pastor calling people to remember the suffering of Jesus.
We
Bow to Images Without Shame
As
Legio Maria, we bow to images of Jesus and of Simeo Ondeto without shame. We
feel no guilt. Instead, we feel more connection to Jesus (Ondeto) when we bow
to the images. We feel like we are right before him and he is staring directly
at us. And we know that by Ondeto becoming the physical image of the unseen son
of God, he has authorized us to take his pictures and use on our altars. In
fact, he even instructed us to use his images!