Read it from the Original.
Start at the Beginning.
(Page 208)
I. The worship of God is the second kind of action in which the virtue of Religion takes form. God possesses the right of receiving from His creatures a homage proportioned, as far as may be, to His character. He merits a respect and service not only higher in degree but different in kind from any consideration which is shown towards creatures. Several things are comprised in supreme divine worship.
1. The perception of God's greatness and His supremacy over us; of our absolute insignificance, our dependence on Him, and of our profound obligations towards Him.
2. The willing acknowledgment of this by humble submission, by adoration, and by praising and glorifying God.
3. A formal act of worship generally includes the expression of our homage by some external sign. This is not always a matter of strict necessity, but the natural impulse of all men has been to render God the double homage of mind and body, and to express it outwardly by word of mouth, by bodily posture, or by dedicating special places and special times to divine worship. The fundamental idea in worship is to render God His due and to consecrate oneself to Him. The mind which does not do this is deformed, maimed and horrible, diverted from its proper purpose, and useless―the only useless thing in the great Universe a blot in creation, a noxious influence obstructing the development of natural and supernatural life.
II. Besides the private worship which each one severally owes to God, the community should offer Him a common public and solemn worship.
1. Mankind form corporate unions which have a social life and action. That life proceeds from the Supreme Life and owes its homage accordingly, a social homage. Our Lord promises a special divine presence and influx to those who worship together in common, and an (Page 209 additional efficacy to their prayers. The Church is the elevation of human society into a supernatural union for that purpose. It is appointed by Jesus Christ in order that there may be unity and harmony in accomplishing that great duty.
2. Public worship is also one of the means by which we confess Christ before men, and stamp ourselves as belonging to Him, The solemnities of external worship also react upon the soul; they concentrate the attention, they impress imagination, feeling and bodily sense into the service of God, so that men become more conscious of His presence and His greatness, and satisfy more fully the cravings and impulses of the religious sense. Even your private devotions have something of a public character. You pray for all men and not for yourself alone, and you derive benefit from the individual prayers of all members of the Church.
III. Associated with public worship is the duty of supporting it. This is prescribed equally by religion and by justice. It is a part of your social homage to God, and it is also returning an equivalent for services received. God enforced the duty of supporting religion on each of the faithful at a time when it might easily have been supported by other means. The Levites were left without their share in the inheritance of Israel, so that they might not be the sole supporters of religion, but that the whole community might individually bear their part in that duty. Thus men were taught that religious worship was the particular care of each one and not of a class only; and each one was required to give tangible evidence of his sincerity and of his appreciation of the gifts of God. You must therefore render to God the service of mind and heart and bodily homage, and also serve Him with your temporal substance in accordance with your position and your means. There is also a temporal debt of justice, often forgotten, which is due to those who serve the community in spiritual matters (Rom. xv. 27); as they preach the gospel they should be able to live by the gospel (1 Cor. ix. 11).
All for Jesus, all for Mary.
Such shall be our password gentle reader.
Til next time.
