We glory in those who have gone ahead of us to Heaven, for their glory is a shadow of Christ's Eternal Glory. They are an inspiration. Since Christ is our Lord, we look to those who served Him dutifully and with great humility as role models of the faith. Does acknowledging that detract from the Glory of God?
Do not the angels themselves rejoice in Heaven over one who repents? (Luke 15:10)
Is not the Kingdom of Heaven likened to a grand wedding feast, wherein only those who don wedding garments (who have, in essence, been sanctified in a manner befitting the celebration) remain, and those who do not are cast into the darkness? (Matthew 22:1-14)
You speak of the mustard seed as a parable for faith. It is also used to describe the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 13:31-32); Jesus speaks of how the diminutive mustard seed sprouts into a grand bush ("greater than any herb"), such that even the birds can nestle in its branches. Is the Kingdom of Heaven so limited that the example of those who have gone before us detract from God's Majesty? Or are they the birds that draw attention to that grand bush, the lights that draw attention to the Glory of Christ's Kingdom?
Did not Paul, in his second epistle to the Thessalonians, say that we would possess the glory of our Lord through the Gospel? (2 Thessalonians 2:13-17)
In the time of Islam's rise, St. John of Damascus wrote a compelling treatise titled Defense Against Those who Oppose Holy Images. I link to the entire article, but I will quote some choice sections:
Worship is one thing, veneration another. The invisible things of God have been made visible through images since the creation of the world. We see images in creation which remind us faintly of God, e.g. in order to talk about the holy and worshipful Trinity, we use the images of the sun and rays of light, a spring and a full river, the mind and speech and the spirit within us, or a rose tree, a sprouting flower, and a sweet fragrance. Also events in the future can be foreshadowed mystically by images. For instance, the ark represents the image of Our Lady, the Mother of God. So does the staff and the earthen jar. The bronze serpent shows us the one who defeated the bite of the original serpent on the Cross; [Jn 3:14-15] the sea, water and the cloud depict the grace of baptism. [I Cor. 10.1]
You must understand that there are different degrees of worship. First of all the full worship which we show to God, who alone is by nature worthy of worship. But, for the sake of God who is worshipful by nature, we honor and venerate his saints and servants. It is in this sense that Joshua and Daniel worshipped an angel, [Jos. 5.14, Dan. 8:16-17] and David worshipped the Lord’s holy places, when be said, “Let us go to the place where his feet have stood.” [Ps. 132.7] Similarly, his dwelling place is worshipped, as when all the people of Israel adored in the tabernacle, and they stood round the temple in Jerusalem gazing at it from all sides worshipping, as they still do.
The cherubim, for example, are mere creatures. Why, then, does he allow cherubim, carved by human hand, to overshadow the mercy—seat in the temple? Obviously it is impossible to make an image of God because is infinite and changeless, or of someone like God because creation should not be worshipped as God. But he allowed the people to make an image of the cherubim who are finite and who lie in adoration before his throne, overshadowing the mercy-seat. It was fitting that the image of the heavenly choirs should overshadow the divine mysteries. Would you say that the ark of the covenant and staff and mercy-seat were not made by human hands? Do they not consist of what you call contemptible matter? What was the tabernacle itself? Was it not an image? Did it not depict a reality beyond itself? This is why the holy Apostle says that the rituals of the law, “serve as an example and shadow of heavenly things.” [Heb. 8.5] Moses, when he came to finish the tabernacle, was told “make sure that you make everything according to the pattern that you were shown on the Mountain.” [Ex. 25.40] The law was not an image itself, but it shrouded the image. In the words of the same Apostle, “the law contains the shadow of the goods to come, not the image of those things.” [Heb. 10.1]
So, since the law is a forerunner of images, how can we say that it forbids images? Should the law ban us from making images, when the tabernacle itself was a depiction, a foreshadowing? No. There is a time for everything. [Eccl. 3.1] In the old days, the incorporeal and infinite God was never depicted. Now, however, when God has been seen clothed in flesh, and talking with mortals, [Baruch 3.37] I make an image of the God whom I see. I do not worship matter, I worship the God of matter, who became matter for my sake, and deigned to inhabit matter, who worked out my salvation through matter. I will not cease from honoring that matter which works my salvation. I venerate it, though not as God.
I honor all matter, and venerate it. Through it, filled, as it were, with a divine power and grace, my salvation has come to me. Was the three-times happy and blessed wood of the Cross not matter? Was the sacred and holy mountain of Calvary not matter? What of the life-giving rock, the Holy Tomb, the source of our resurrection — was it not matter? Is the holy book of the Gospels not matter? Is the blessed table which gives us the Bread of Life not matter? Are the gold and silver, out of which crosses and altar-plate and chalices are made not matter? And before all these things, is not the body and blood of our Lord matter? Either stop venerating all these things, or submit to the tradition of the Church in the venerating of images, honoring God and his friends, and following in this the grace of the Holy Spirit. Do not despise matter, for it is not despicable. Nothing that God has made is. Only that which does not come from God is despicable — our own invention, the spontaneous decision to disregard the law of human nature, i.e., sin.
The Kingdom of Heaven has many great treasures, all of which reflect the Glory of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. For they who do what Christ commands, He counts not as a mere slave or servant, but as His friend (John 15:1-17)! Why then, would we malign and denigrate the ones whom God calls His friends?
Do you believe you consume the actual soul and divinity of GOD at catholic Mass?