Conferences on the Virtues
By Fr. Bruno Cocuzzi, ocd
Number 71
The Virtue of Religion continued…
We had
concluded the last conference with the observation that the virtue of religion,
or its principal act, worship, is to be both internal and external. We can also say that worship is also absolute
and relative.
Absolute
worship is rendered to the Divinity or to the Trinity
or to the Divine Persons individually, as well as to the Humanity of Christ
(even under the Eucharistic veils) because of their inherent Supreme Majesty
and Excellence.
Worship is Relative
when it is rendered to something which is connected with or which represents
any of the above, such as the Name of God and Images of Christ,
especially a crucifix.
Some
further Observations:
1. The
faithful should be informed that only the internal acts of religion are
commanded by God. The Church,
however, does command participation in external forms of worship, and allows
wide latitude to private, devotional practices of religion or worship. We must keep in mind, therefore, that it is
the internal dispositions that give value to the external forms. At least an implicit intention of
offering to God the Worship that is due to Him must, then, accompany those
practices. It is this that Jesus had in
mind when He said: God is Spirit, and those who would adore Him must do so
in spirit and in truth.
2. Since
Christ is the Mediator between God and Man and the Supreme Pontiff in the New
Dispensation, it is necessary that we praise, adore and glorify God through
Christ. This the Church does by having
us say: Through Him (as
meritorious and satisfactory cause), and with Him (as exemplary cause),
and in Him (as efficient cause), all honor and glory to You, God the
Father Almighty, in the Unity of the Holy Spirit.
3. Saint
Thomas teaches that the virtue of Religion is in command of all the
other virtues, and by its command orders the exercise of each of them to the
honor of God. Thus he ascribes to
Religion a kind of holiness that influences all a person’s conduct. After all, holiness is a disposition (or
state) of soul by means of which the human mind, cleansed of sin and
detached from inferior things or beings, adheres to God, the Highest
Good and Supreme Norm of morality. This
enables one to dedicate himself and all that is his to God as his final goal
and first principle.
This state of
mind is called Religion in so far as it elicits conduct which renders to God
acts of worshipful service.
It is called holiness
in so far as not only by the acts of service, but also by commanded acts
of virtue all one’s life is directed to the honor of God. He thus makes of himself an offering to God.
Therefore the
Virtue of Religion (when perfect in a person) is essentially the same as
Holiness, but differs from it in view of the way the mind perceives
them.
Section
B – Acts of Religion…
Among the acts
proper to the virtue of Religion, some are chiefly interior, and some
are chiefly exterior.
The interior
are devotion and prayer, while the exterior are
1. Adoration
and the observance of Feasts,
2. Offering
Sacrifices and Oblations,
3. Making
a Vow,
4. Receiving
a Sacrament,
5. Calling
upon the Name of God as in taking an oath and adjuring,
6. Proferring
Divine Praises, (as, for example, when reciting the Liturgy of the
Hours).
We will go on
to treat of these individually.
Chapter
I – Internal Acts, by Means of Which We Lift Up Mind and Heart of God…
Question
I – Devotion…
The verb to devote
oneself to, as you know, means to apply oneself totally to a
person [i.e., to promoting the interests of a person], or to a cause,
or to an activity.
Considered as
an habitual state of soul, devotion is defined as the willingness
promptly to offer all that one is or has to serve the interests of God.
Alternatively,
we can define devotion as an act of the will by means of which someone
offers himself to God for the purpose of serving Him.
An Act of
devotion would be, then, performing a specific act or deed that renders Him
a due service.
Since the
habitual state of mind and will promptly to give to God whatever serves
His interests includes a certain fervor that is due to Charity
(supernatural Love for God), by extension, devotion can also mean a
certain spiritual sweetness or joy that accompanies performing acts of devotion.
It is out of
this fervor of charity (the basis of devotion) that all acts of the
virtue of Religion proceed.
St. Thomas
points out that the causes of devotion are:
1. On
the part of God: Grace
2. On
our part: Meditation and Contemplation.
These two, however
are not totally separate causes. Most
often, it is by means of those special helps God provides called actual
graces, that we are moved gently from within to meditate upon or to
contemplate the things that engender devotion in the soul.
As we must have
mentioned long ago in this series, the human will is moved to embrace the good
that is presented to it by the intellect.
As a result of
the intellect’s directly meditating upon or contemplating the Divine
Goodness and the great blessings and favors God has bestowed upon us, his human
family and children by adoption, the will is moved to love Him and becomes
willing and desirous of serving Him.
As a result of
the intellect’s meditation upon or contemplation of one’s personal frailty
[with regard to doing good] and the actual sins and defects one has fallen
into, the will is indirectly moved to want to serve God, Whom the soul
knows cannot lead it astray, rather than to want to reply upon its own powers
and resources in the pursuit of a virtuous, and thus happy, life.
The devotion
that arises directly out of the consideration of the Divine Goodness is in and
of itself the source of Joy because we know we possess that Supreme Goodness by
Faith, Hope and Charity. But at the
same time and secondarily, there can be experienced a touch of Sadness, because
we do not yet have full and eternal direct possession of that Goodness in the
next life.
The devotion
that arises indirectly out of the consideration of our own personal sins and
defects in and of itself engenders a certain Sadness, in so far as they are
obstacles to the possession of Him both by faith Hope and Charity in this life,
and by direct, immediate possession of Him in the next life. But at the same time and secondarily, that
devotion can engender Joy in the thought of the Divine Assistance available to
overcome those obstacles.
Question
II – Prayer…
According to
St. John Damascene, Prayer is said to be the Ascent of the mind to God. Therefore,
In the widest
sense, every ascent or movement of intellect and will to God, whether as an act
of the Virtue of Religion, or as an act of other virtues such as the
Theological Virtues, or the virtues of Repentance and Humility, is Prayer. Meditation and contemplation based upon
these virtues is called Mental Prayer.
In a less broad
sense, Prayer is the ascent of the mind to God which is commanded by the virtue
of Religion, by means of which we praise, bless and thank Him for the gifts and
blessings He has bestowed upon us.
In the strict
and proper sense, Prayer is the ascent of the mind to God that is commanded by
the virtue of Religion. By means of
this prayer, we seek and ask His help.
Again, it is
the definition of St. John Damascene that is adopted by my textbook:
Prayer is a pious petition, directed
to God, for those things that are fitting and decent.
1. Petition
– a setting forth or a manifestation to God of a desire for some good thing
which we seek as a favor.
a. A
desire – as distinguished from a command, or from a demand based upon a right.
b. To
obtain some good thing – it is couched in persuasive rather than in
narrative language, in that it advances motives, which are calculated to induce
the giving of, what is asked for.
2. For
what is fitting and decent – this excludes asking for anything shameful
of God, and which God could not possibly grant.
3. Of
God - because prayer, properly speaking, is
addressed to God alone, since what is asked for is something that He only
can grant.
4. Pious
– This is what makes prayer an act of Religion.
Although every
request involves an element of humility, and thus is an apt means of expressing
the excellence or superiority of another and of our own submission, it does not
of itself include the notion of worship.
Therefore the
element of Piety must be present in order that Prayer become a form of showing
due worship to God. Through Piety, the
intention of worshipping God is included.
In other words, to be Prayer, it must proceed from devotion.
This devotion,
however, need only be implicit, which it is, ordinarily, whenever the faithful
direct their prayers to God.
We spoke of mental
prayer above, and what we have been speaking of here is Vocal prayer. Strictly speaking, Vocal Prayer is that
which is made according to a set written formula that has been composed by someone
else.
We especially
like to pray those prayers that have been composed by the great Saints and
which have come down to us in their writings.
We are all familiar with them.
These vocal prayers do not only ask for favors. They include expressions and protestations
of love, adoration, praise, thanksgiving and submission to God’s Will
(obedience) besides.
When we
ourselves spontaneously and from the depths of our own hearts address
our own words to any of the Divine Persons, words that contain all the sentiments
we have just mentioned, this is properly called Mental Prayer rather
than vocal prayer. As you know,
St. Teresa of Jesus, Our Holy Mother tells us that Mental Prayer is a loving
conversation with God Whom we know loves us. To be loving, the words spoken must be intimate and uniquely
personal in the one who prays.
Next time we
will consider the questions:
Who is able to
pray?
To whom can we
pray?
For whom can we
pray? And
What favors can
we ask for?
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