Whether Religion Has an External Act?
Objection 1: It would seem that religion has not an external act. It
is written (John 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.
Obj. 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.
Obj. 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 (Rom.
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 Obj. 1: Our Lord is speaking of that which is most important
and directly intended in the worship of God.
Reply Obj. 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 Obj. 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.
_______________________