“Let us go, therefore, with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace in seasonable aid.”[406]
Chapter XXIV.
The Use Of Religious Ceremonies Dictated By Right Reason.
By religious ceremonies we mean certain expressive signs and actions which the Church has ordained for the worthy celebration of the Divine service.
True devotion must be interior and come from the heart, for “the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father indeed seeketh such to worship Him. God is a spirit; and they who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”[407] But we are not to infer from this that exterior worship is to be contemned because interior worship is prescribed as essential. On the contrary, the rites and ceremonies enjoined in the worship of God and the administration of the Sacraments are dictated by right reason, are sanctioned by Almighty God in the Old Law, and by Christ and His Apostles in the New.
The angels, being pure spirits without a body, render to God a purely spiritual worship. The sun, moon and stars of the firmament pay Him a kind of external homage. In the Prophet Daniel we read: “Sun and moon bless the Lord, ... [pg 321] stars of heaven bless the Lord, praise and exalt Him above all forever.”[408] “The heavens show forth the glory of God, the firmament announces the work of His hands.”[409] Man, by possessing a soul of spiritual substance, partakes of the nature of angels, and by possessing a body partakes of the nature of the heavenly bodies. It is therefore, his privilege, as well as his duty, to offer to God the twofold homage of body and soul; in other words, to honor Him by internal and external worship.
Genuine piety cannot long be concealed in the heart without manifesting itself by exterior practices of religion; hence, though interior and exterior worship are distinct, they cannot be separated in the present life. Fire cannot burn without sending forth flame and heat. Neither can the fire of devotion burn in the soul without being reflected on the countenance and even in speech. It is natural for man to express his sentiments by signs and ceremonies, for “from the fulness of the heart the mouth speaketh;” and as fuel is necessary to keep fire alive, even so the flame of piety is nourished by the outward forms of religion.
A devoted child will not be content with loving his father in his heart, but will manifest that love by affectionate language, and by the service of his body, if necessary. So will the child of God show his affection for his heavenly Father not only by interior devotion, but also by the homage of his body. “I beseech you,” says the Apostle, “by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy pleasing unto God, your reasonable service.”[410]