I Don't Care if it Rains or Freezes...

When I was in intermediate school (junior high or middle school), my friend and I used to listen to Imus in the Morning on the radio. One of his programs was as a televangelist (on the radio) Reverend Billy Sol Hargis of the First Church of the Gooey Death and Discount House of Worship from Holyland, USA in Del Rio, Texas.
I come from a monotheistic background that doesn't believe in idol worship. Strangely, many of my people spent a fortune on things such as Hummels, but they were admired or adored... not worshiped.
I once asked a Roman friend how it is they can kneel in a pew and look at a statue and ask for something magical of the piece of stone, or marble, or porcelain. She told me that the statue wasn't imbued with any magical power. It's purpose was merely allegorical. When you look at the statue, you are reminded of a long-winded story that goes with this sainted being. And in remembering the story behind the beatified individual, somehow you can get your problem aligned with the problem that that one overcame. Or maybe the King of Kings gave the saint a power and all you have to do is tap into the spirit of the spirit.
They have such great order of things. There's a saint for everything... your profession, if you've lost something, if you need to take a road trip. There's even a Native American saint--Kateri Tekakwitha--whose patronage is for ecologists, ecology, environment, environmentalists, loss of parents, people in exile, people ridiculed for their piety, and Native Americans.
Just recalling a flash back... nothing more.