|
Objection 1: It would seem that religion has not an external act.
It is written (Jn. 4:24): "God is a spirit, and they that
adore Him, must adore Him in spirit and in truth." Now external
acts pertain, not to the spirit but to the body. Therefore religion,
to which adoration belongs, has acts that are not external but
internal.
Objection 2: Further, the end of religion is to pay God reverence
and honor. Now it would savor of irreverence towards a superior, if
one were to offer him that which properly belongs to his inferior.
Since then whatever man offers by bodily actions, seems to be directed
properly to the relief of human needs, or to the reverence of inferior
creatures, it would seem unbecoming to employ them in showing reverence
to God.
Objection 3: Further, Augustine (De Civ. Dei vi, 10)
commends Seneca for finding fault with those who offered to idols those
things that are wont to be offered to men, because, to wit, that
which befits mortals is unbecoming to immortals. But such things are
much less becoming to the true God, Who is "exalted above all gods"
[Ps. 94:3]. Therefore it would seem wrong to worship God with
bodily actions. Therefore religion has no bodily actions.
On the contrary, It is written (Ps. 83:3): "My heart and
my flesh have rejoiced in the living God." Now just as internal
actions belong to the heart, so do external actions belong to the
members of the flesh. Therefore it seems that God ought to be
worshiped not only by internal but also by external actions.
I answer that, We pay God honor and reverence, not for His sake
(because He is of Himself full of glory to which no creature can add
anything), but for our own sake, because by the very fact that we
revere and honor God, our mind is subjected to Him; wherein its
perfection consists, since a thing is perfected by being subjected to
its superior, for instance the body is perfected by being quickened by
the soul, and the air by being enlightened by the sun. Now the human
mind, in order to be united to God, needs to be guided by the
sensible world, since "invisible things . . . are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made," as the Apostle says
(Rm. 1:20). Wherefore in the Divine worship it is necessary
to make use of corporeal things, that man's mind may be aroused
thereby, as by signs, to the spiritual acts by means of which he is
united to God. Therefore the internal acts of religion take
precedence of the others and belong to religion essentially, while its
external acts are secondary, and subordinate to the internal acts.
Reply to Objection 1: Our Lord is speaking of that which is most
important and directly intended in the worship of God.
Reply to Objection 2: These external things are offered to God,
not as though He stood in need of them, according to Ps.
49:13, "Shall I eat the flesh of bullocks? or shall I drink
the blood of goats?" but as signs of the internal and spiritual
works, which are of themselves acceptable to God. Hence Augustine
says (De Civ. Dei x, 5): "The visible sacrifice is the
sacrament or sacred sign of the invisible sacrifice."
Reply to Objection 3: Idolaters are ridiculed for offering to idols
things pertaining to men, not as signs arousing them to certain
spiritual things, but as though they were of themselves acceptable to
the idols; and still more because they were foolish and wicked.
|
|