The Apostle St. James directs that if any man is sick he shall call in the Priest, who will anoint him with oil.[417]
Now, are not all these acts which I have just recorded—the prostration and procession, the prayerful invocation, the chanting of a hymn, the touching of the ears, the lifting up of the eyes to [pg 324] heaven, the breathing on the Apostles, the laying on of hands and the unction of the sick—are not all these acts so many ceremonies serving as models to those which the Catholic Church employs in her public worship, and in the administration of her Sacraments?
The ceremonies now accompanying our public worship are, indeed, usually more impressive and elaborate than those recorded of our Savior; but it is quite natural that the majesty of ceremonial should keep pace with the growth and development of Christianity.
But where shall we find a ritual so gorgeous as that presented to us in the Book of Revelation, which is descriptive of the worship of God in the heavenly Jerusalem? Angels with golden censers stand before the throne, while elders cast their crowns of gold before the Lamb once slain. Then that unnumbered multitude of all nations, tongues and people, clothed in white raiment, bearing palms of victory. Virgins, too, with harp and canticle, follow near the Lamb, singing the new song which they alone can utter.[418]
How glorious the pageant! How elaborate in detail!
Surely there ought to be some analogy and resemblance, some proportion and harmony between the public worship which is paid to God in the Church militant on earth, and that which is offered to Him in the Church triumphant in heaven.
Strange would it be if God, who, in the dispensation past and that to come, is seen delighting in external majesty, should have deprived the Christian Church (the living link between the past and the future) of all external glory. “For,” as St. Paul says, “if the ministry of condemnation is [pg 325] glory, much more the ministry of justice aboundeth in glory.”[419]
It is true that God uttered this complaint against the children of Israel: “This people draw near Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.”[420] It is also true that He was displeased with their sacrifices and religious festivals.[421] But He blamed them not because they praised Him with their voice, but because their hearts felt not what their lips uttered. He rejected their sacrifices because they were not accompanied by the more precious sacrifice of a penitent spirit.
The same Lord who declares that the true adorer shall adore the Father in spirit commands also that public praise be given to Him in His holy temple: “Praise ye the Lord,” He says, “in His holy places.... Praise Him with sound of trumpet. Praise Him with psaltery and harp. Praise Him with timbrel and choir. Praise Him with strings and organs.”[422]
If He says in one place: “Rend your hearts and not your garments,”[423] immediately after He adds: “Blow the trumpet in Sion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly. Gather together the people, sanctify the Church.... Between the porch and the altar the Priests, the Lord's ministers, shall weep and shall say: Spare, O Lord, spare Thy people!”[424] The Prophet first points out the absolute necessity of interior sorrow and contrition of heart, and then he insists on the duty of performing some acts of expiation, penance and humiliation, as you do when you have your [pg 326] forehead marked with ashes on Ash Wednesday, and when you observe the fast and abstinence of Lent.