Question Two: On the Object of Religion or Divine Worship

S. Th. II-II, q. 81, a. 1, ad 1; a. 3, ad 2 and 3; a. 4, ad 1 and 2; a. 7 and 8; q. 83, a. 12.

649. Worship is honor with submission and acknowledgment of dependence exhibited to someone on account of his excellence; namely, it is honor exhibited to someone superior and more excellent: for a superior exhibits honor to an inferior, not worship; for example, God honors the saints, a master honors disciples, but does not worship them. Now honor is a testification or protestation concerning the excellence of another's goodness, a sign of esteem which we exhibit to another on account of his excellence. Therefore divine worship is honor with submission and acknowledgment of dependence exhibited to God on account of His excellence. In other words: it is a certain testification and mark of submission to the acknowledged excellence of the first principle, God; a sign which signifies submission toward God, the supreme Lord (a. 3, ad 2; a. 4 and 6).

650. There is a natural and divine precept of worshiping God. It is proved:

a) From reason: 1. For God, because He is the first exemplary and efficient principle, and creator, is supreme Lord, and indeed Lord as regards our being and as regards all things which pertain to us; but a servant ought to acknowledge and worship his lord; therefore man too ought to acknowledge his dependence upon God and worship Him.

2. Similarly God, the first principle acting freely, is our distinguished benefactor, from whom we have received all things gratuitously from mere goodness; but to a benefactor there is owed the worship of gratitude.

3. Likewise God is the first final principle or ultimate end, upon whom all things specially depend, insofar as they ought through their whole existence to tend toward Him and glorify Him above all things; therefore man ought to acknowledge this dependence and procure that highest honor for Him.

b) From Scripture, Exod. XX, 2...: "I am the Lord thy God... Thou shalt not have strange gods before me... Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing... thou shalt not adore them nor worship them... Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain... Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day... the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God"; in which words are contained the three offices of fidelity, observance or reverence, and service toward God, according to which it is owed that we order our acts with respect to God.

651. Elicited and commanded acts pertain to divine worship. For divine worship is constituted by our acts. Now the acts by which we worship are some elicited by religion, others only commanded. Elicited acts are those which, not through the mediation of another habit but immediately, are produced by religion and according to their own nature directly pertain to the worship of God, such as prayer, genuflection, adoration, etc. Commanded acts are those which it produces through the mediation of another habit or virtue by which they are immediately elicited and to which by their nature they pertain: thus fasting or almsgiving, which are elicited by temperance and mercy, if they are ordered to divine worship, are commanded by religion. For just as the will moves other powers to the end, so one virtue moves others to its own end: religion often uses acts of other virtues insofar as they are suitable for worshiping God, and thus directs them to its own end (a. 1, ad 1; and a. 8).

652. Worship is internal and external. Elicited acts are some principal and internal, namely, devotion and internal prayer; others secondary, destined to the internal acts, and external, such as vocal prayer, sacrifice, etc.

Now not only is internal worship commanded, as is clear from John IV, 23-24, and was demonstrated, n. 650; but also external worship, which is the sensible expression of internal worship, accomplished by various external acts of the body, must necessarily be exhibited:

1. By reason of itself, because man consists of soul and body, and because each depends upon God; therefore he ought to worship God with both soul and body;

2. By reason of internal worship, both a) because it is its natural effect by which it is manifested, for man naturally manifests internal affections; and b) because it is the means by which it is aroused and fostered: for man needs sensible things in order to be aroused to spiritual things (a. 7; q. 83, a. 12; q. 84, a. 2);

3. By reason of social worship, because not only the individual man, but also natural society as such, since it is from God and has received benefits from Him, ought to revere Him and acknowledge dependence, which surely cannot be done except by external acts. Worship exhibited by society is called public.

653. Worship is absolute or relative. Absolute worship is that which is owed to someone on account of proper and inherent excellence: such worship is owed to God, that is, either to the divinity abstracting from the persons, or to the three persons together, or to one of the three, to the humanity of Christ, and to the Holy Eucharist; relative worship is that which is rendered to someone on account of an extrinsic excellence which is not in him, but which is in another with whom he has a relation of representation or connection: in this way the name and images of God, the cross of Christ, the instruments of the Passion, and relics are worshiped (a. 3, ad 3).

654. Observations. 1. The faithful are to be warned that interior worship is commanded; but the external and public acts of religion, though necessary, nevertheless draw their principal value only from interior worship, and therefore must be performed from the intention of worshiping God. In this sense Christ says: "God is spirit, and they who adore Him must adore in spirit and in truth."

2. Since Christ is the mediator of religion and the supreme Pontiff in the New Law, it is necessary to praise, adore, and glorify God through Christ. The Church says: "Through Him (as meritorious and satisfactory cause), and with Him (as exemplary cause), and in Him (as efficient cause), to Thee, God the Father almighty, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, is all honor and glory."

3. St. Thomas teaches, a. 8, that the virtue of religion, insofar as it commands all acts of the virtues and can order them by command to the honor of God, has a certain generality or general influence, and thus is called holiness. For holiness is the state by which the mind of man, clean from sin and abstracted from inferior things, adheres to God, the Supreme Good and supreme norm of morality, and firmly applies itself and its acts to God, the ultimate end and first principle. Hence the same virtue is called religion insofar as through elicited acts it exhibits to God due service in those things which specially pertain to divine worship; it is called holiness insofar as it refers not only these things, but also, through commanded acts, the works of other virtues to the honor of God, or according as man disposes himself through good works to divine worship. And therefore holiness does not differ from religion according to essence, because they do not differ in reality, but only in reason.