Because there is a difference between adoration and veneration. If what you are doing is just venerating Jesus then it's not enough. God is to be adored, completely and wholeheartedly, and He alone. Catholics worship God alone. We honor or venerate the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Saints. Their lives of heroic virtue and exemplary holiness are meant for our joy, hope, and encouragement. Honoring the Saints in no way detracts from God's glory...their honor is reflected glory.
Furthermore, all the Saints point toward God. We know that their lives are masterpieces of the Holy Spirit (as Pope Benedict likes to refer to the Saints). What God through the Holy Spirit does in their lives he desires for our own ordinary lives. The saints witness to the transformative power of God in their lives, in other words, the beauty of holiness and the holiness of beauty....what we are all called to live. In times of my own failure, I can look at the lives of the Saints and know that their perseverence was the grace of God in their lives. All I have to do is to ask for that same grace. (I do not have because I do not ask)
Nice post and thanks - greatly appreciated. I guess my problem the way I see it is all the various focusing on saints and Mary. I’m what’s called a Messianic Jew in that we believe that Jesus is the Son of G-d and to him only do we worship. All that G-d could mean to us is summed up in His Son Jesus - His love is G-d’s love, His anger (throwing out the money changers) is G-d’s anger (I will repay says G-d) ... anything else is just frosting on the cake ... we already have redemption through Jesus on a personal level...
I am grateful to all you who have replied. Thanks.
Regards,
Jane
Carolina’s post is much better than mine.