The Christian use of statues is an appropriate way to call to mind the heavenly realities we can't possibly perceive with our limited physical senses. Statues of Jesus, Mary our Blessed Mother, the Angels, and the Saints remind us to keep our hearts and minds on the things of heaven, and ultimately signify Christ, who alone is worshiped and glorified in them. Contrary to popular knowledge, there are several places in Sacred Scripture where God commands the use of statues and graven images for his honor, and approves of them later on. In Exodus 25: 18-20, for example, God commands Moses to make "two cherubim of gold; of hammered work," and in 1 Kings 9: 1-3, God says to Solomon, "I have consecrated this house which you have built, and have put my name there forever," a house that Solomon had decorated with olivewood angel statues and wooden walls carved with angels, palm trees, and flowers and overlaid with real gold (1 Kings 6: 23-36.) On a practical level, because we are not angels, and we have God-given bodies with senses intended for us to use, it seems most appropriate to use our gift of physical senses to glorify God. When our bodily eyes look at a statue, the statue turns the eyes of our heart to God, who is represented by the statue. Therefore, it is always God that we worship and adore, never the material representation. This is why Catholics choose to continue using statues the way they were intended to be used ever since Old Testament times.
