p. 42Our Duties to God

We have hitherto dealt with the subject of duty, in theory, we now come to deal with it in practice. Abstract duty is a mere empty word, unless it becomes concrete, in action. And yet what more common than to know what is right, and do what is wrong. To make duty vital—to reach the end for which God made us moral, i. e., beings capable of duty, it must live in head, heart and hand; in other words, we must know, love, and do our duty.

As was observed, duty is a debt, due by us to others; it is what we owe to Almighty God by the moral law, which includes likewise what we morally owe to ourselves and other men. Now it is self-evident that our first and main duty is to discharge our debt to God by what is called worship or religion. Duty is a form of relations. As soon as mutual relations begin duties emerge and continue as long as these relations last. When people marry, or become parents, or enter any new state of life, they find a new set of duties awaiting them. If death or separation intervenes they cease, or change into others. But there is one relation that never changes—one stringent tie can never be broken, and that is the relation between the Creator and the creature—between God and ourselves. We are absolutely dependent on Him, body and soul; and His rights to our worship and service are unquestionable and unqualified.

Our discourse, therefore, to-day will turn on our duties to Almighty God. They hold the first rank in importance, inasmuch as they spring from the ineffably close relations that bind man to the Being who made him. God’s right to the worship of His creatures is self-evident. Only one whose mental vision is extinct, or distorted, would think of questioning it. Hence, wherever there is an idea of duty at all, that is, among all sane, rational beings, there religion of some sort or other exists; and has ever been to the front in their history. Indeed, religion plays, ever has played and ever will play, the most important part in human life. I say human life because the lower animals are incapable of rising to the idea of duty at all. Religion is a distinctive badge of man; and so far from irreligion making an advance in civilization it is but decay, a reversion to the beast. Religion, right or wrong, true or false, is worthily deemed the main need of the heart, as it is our first duty. To be in harmony with the infinite power, force, love, God in short, that meets us at every turn in life, must strike any thinking man as a matter of supreme importance. There are no doubt isolated cases of atheism, as of insanity, but no large connected groups of atheists. The most degraded savages have religious rites, showing their sense of the duty of worship. The recognition of a superhuman power, or powers, and the duty of expressing dependence thereon by some outward signs or ceremonies, is an essential mark of all beings raised above the order of the brutes. Atheism or irreligion, if sincere, is a disease, or rather a crime. The fact that there are endless forms of religion is no argument against the evident need and duty of some form of it. We do not speak here of revealed, but of natural religion—religion made known by the light of reason, and involving the duty of worship. All men, with few exceptions, have admitted this. Indeed any form of religion, however grotesque, is better than none. Diversity and abuse of religious rites is only an argument in favor of a revelation clearer and more emphatic than that given in reason alone. All, indeed, who live up to the higher self in conscience must see and feel the duty of loving, respecting and adoring the author of their being—of offering, in short, the tribute of prayer and praise, and other forms of worship summed up in the word religion according as their lights dictate.

Can any human being in whom reason and a sense of duty still linger look up to the starry skies, or around him, on sea and land, without recognizing a God, and feeling both the need and duty of adoring Him as the Lord and Master of all?

As I am addressing Catholics I understand by duties to God not only those imposed by natural, but also by supernatural, or revealed religion. Indeed, the two sets of duties merge and intermingle. Revelation perfects and completes what reason begins. They stand in the relation of moonlight and sunlight. These duties are for us summarized in the first three commandments of God, as explained authoritatively by the Church. As mentioned in a previous discourse the Ten Commandments, or law of God, first traced on reason—written on the tablets of the heart ere being transferred to tablets of stone on Sinai form the universal code of duty for all mankind. God confirmed His natural revelation of the law of conduct by a supernatural one to Moses. Though under different formulæ, the sense of duty implied in the law of Moses, solemnly re-enacted and imposed by Christ, is now the “law of nations.” No code of law, or duty, is deemed just, even in non-Christian countries, that does not conform to the Ten Commandments.

The first three, as observed above, applied by the Church to suit the altered conditions of times, places and persons, form a summary of our duties to Almighty God. There were, and are, many odd standards of duty to God afloat in the world, yet there is but one true ideal standard—that delivered by Himself in the Ten Commandments.

There have been, and are, many strange forms of religion in the world to teach and enforce that duty; but there has never been more than one true, the religion of Israel in the old, and of Christ in the new, dispensation; just as there are, and have been, many strange Gods and grotesque ideas about God; but only one true—the God of Israel and Our God. Though many say of the “Kingdom of God,” as of Christ, “Lo, it is here, and, lo, it is there; yet is there but one visible kingdom, that founded by Christ and built on Peter, the rock.” Now it is in this house of God that man learns in all their fulness what his duties to God are. Say not, as so many do, that this is narrowing the kingdom of God within the limits of the Roman Church. She is the only one that ever claims universal or world-wide dominion. Apart from this, before Christ’s coming, the tangible and visible kingdom of God on earth had shrunk to the isolated hill country of Judea, and the one legal form of ritual and sacrifice was narrowed to the rocky summits of Jerusalem. Whereas to-day “the clean oblation mounts to God from the rising to the setting sun.” Now, as then, there are many “true Israelites” and “children of Abraham” not “far from the kingdom.” Though bodily, not of it, yet belonging to it in spirit, and praying for the coming of His kingdom, already established in their souls, they are led and guided by His spirit; and we know that “whosoever are led by the spirit of God they are the sons of God.”

We now come to specify in detail the duties that we “of the kingdom” owe to Almighty God. These duties summed up in the word “worship” fall under two headings—internal and external.

The duty of internal worship, or worship of the heart, as it is called in Scripture, arises from the fact that man is chiefly man by virtue of his spiritual soul, and its internal powers, intelligence and free will. It is only by our understanding that we can know God at all; and only through our will that we can love Him. Now it is our first duty to use these noble faculties in silent adoration and homage. The source of all true worship is interior; and there must be some measure of it behind all outward words, forms, rites and ceremonies, if we would not have it sink into empty and soulless formalism, like that of the Jews, of whom Our Lord said, “This people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” For us the internal duties of religion are summed up in the worship of the one true living God, by the divine virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity, in their subjective or inward aspect. It is our duty to use our minds in learning all we can about God, through reason and revelation, the approved sources of faith or belief, and furnished with this knowledge, using our will and affections in acts of hope, or truthfulness and charity, or love. No higher form of inward worship than to believe, hope and love God, especially when expressed in the shape of inward effective prayer. This is true union with God, and anyone who sincerely and in his own way thus worships God, is sure eventually to reach His kingdom, either here or “to come.”

But our duties to God do not begin and end with silent, solitary worship. We are not pure spirits, but creatures of flesh and blood. Our bodies are as much the gift of God, and part of ourselves, as our souls, and, therefore, they, too, must take a share in divine worship. Moreover it is natural, not to say obligatory and necessary, to give vent to inward feelings, by outward acts. Thought and its outward symbol, as we see in the deaf and dumb, are so closely related and dependent that one needs the support of the other. The Church, therefore, echoes nature and voices God’s will in requiring the body to unite with the soul in praising God. The body is one of the marvels of material creation, and vivified by a living soul is called the temple of the Holy Ghost. Man sums up the universe he represents, is the high priest, in fact, of this visible world. In the Scripture, sun, moon, stars, seas, mountains and rivers are called upon, and unconsciously, in displaying the glory and attributes of God respond to the call to praise and bless God and shall not the whole man—body and soul—take part in the homage of creation to its Maker! We are by nature fond of ceremony, display and splendor. Every social function, nay, every private interview, is marked by them in greater or less degree; and shall we lay them aside in meeting either singly or collectively for the grandest and noblest act of which we are capable—the worship of God.

Man is a gregarious creature. He is born for society, in which alone his powers can be trained and developed. Social life is not a matter of choice, it is a necessity. Hence, he worships God in common. The family was the first Church. It is a duty, therefore, and ever has been deemed so to take part in public worship. Now, reason requires that this should be done “decently and according to order”; in other words, that there should be a fixed ritual, that all are bound to follow. The rites and ceremonies that made up the ritual of the old dispensation, as well as those that prevail in the Church to-day, form the rule that all are bound to follow. It is, therefore, a breach of the duty we owe to God to worship Him by unauthorized rites. The Church authorized by Christ, our law-giver, claims to regulate all matters touching not only doctrines, but ritual.

We may sum up the outward duties of religion binding on Catholics under these heads, prayer, holy Mass and regular frequentation of the Sacraments. Though called outward, they must proceed from inward devotion. This devotion is their very soul and life. If there is no belief—no conviction of a divine presence—and worse still, if there is positive evil in the heart, either in object or in motive, then our semblance of divine worship is but a hollow mockery. We offend, rather than propitiate, Almighty God.

Prayer is the oldest and most instructive form of worship. To invoke God in need and in trial, to praise, bless, adore and call on Him in trouble, to raise the mind, or turn the affections toward Him, are forms of prayer binding on all as a necessary duty. To engage outwardly in this exercise, either jointly or privately, every morning and night, is by custom looked on as a duty. Indeed, few good Catholics feel easy in mind if they wilfully neglect their daily tribute of prayer and praise to Almighty God. Apart from the word duty prayer is the very breath of the soul. It is a vital practise to those who would live to God. A man who has renounced prayer practically declares himself devoid of divine life.

The second great outward duty we owe to God is the devout hearing of holy Mass on all Sundays and holidays. The sacrifice of the Mass is the highest and holiest act of divine worship in which a creature can take part. At all times sacrifice was deemed the main, public and social act of homage to the Creator. It can be offered to God alone in recognition of His supreme dominion over all creatures. Hence, the death of the Victim or destruction otherwise of the matter of the sacrifice, was effected to show God’s supreme rights over all living beings. I do not speak of the inward sacrifice of prayer and self-immolation, common to all times and places, but of the grand, external public liturgical act shown under the name. It was practised in all religions, true and false. It is out of place in a discourse on duty, to speak of the nature, origin and value of the august act of worship known as the Mass. The sacrifices of the old law have been abolished; and the Mass, perpetuating the Sacrifice of Calvary, now sums up in one grand mystic act the whole essence of public worship; and is daily offered the clean and new oblation, “for the living and the dead, all the world over from the rising to the setting sun.” Every word, every ceremony, every vestment worn by the officiating priest, is pregnant with meaning. The central act of offering, made by Our Lord at the last supper when He commissioned His first priests to “do this in remembrance of Him,” enlarged, arranged, adapted to suit all times and places, is ever the same. Whether we assist at it in a lonely hillside chapel or are present at a solemn high function in St. Peter’s at Rome, the obligation of hearing holy Mass, as the chief act of supreme worship, is one of the six principal laws of the Church. Unless we are excused by some pressing and valid cause we are bound to be present at holy Mass on Sundays and holidays under pain of grievous sin. The dispositions we are to bring with us, as reason and faith suggest, are reverence, attention and devotion. The Mass is the center and sum of public worship. All the outward splendors of religion—all the pomp and ceremony we can command—all the gifts of gold and silver—all that art and piety can afford are brought to adorn the altar whereon it is offered and the edifice wherein that altar is enshrined.

Religion is a tie that binds man to God. Now this union with God—forming what is called the divine or supernatural life of the soul, is effected by grace, the channels of which are prayer and the Sacraments. Hence the administration and reception of the Sacraments form a very important function and duty of our holy religion. To keep in touch with infinite God we must not merely pray and hear holy Mass, but devoutly and regularly frequent the Sacraments. In a spiritual sense they are to us sources of air and light, and food, and drink. “Ye shall drink water with joy from the Saviour’s fountains.” “He that eateth this bread, this mystic, Sacramental bread, shall live forever.” Needless to add, therefore, that one of our main duties to God is preparation for, and worthy reception of, the Sacraments. When we lapse from our baptismal grace into grievous sin, there is one sole means for us of restoration by repentance, effected in the Sacrament of Penance, or, as it is usually called, Confession. But this union, effected in Confession, is perfected, consummated, in holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Eucharist. A table is spread in God’s house—the new manna, the bread of Christ’s body—laid on this table or altar in holy Mass is distributed to all who choose to come. By command of the Church we must, as a matter of strict duty, receive these two Sacraments at least once a year; but anyone who is conscious of his many spiritual needs, and the loving goodness of God, will make it at least a duty of love to approach them frequently, especially when in need; e. g., after lapse into sin. Daily Communion is now the practise of the choicest souls in God’s Church. The body needs daily food, and we pray God to grant it, why not the soul? The confessional is ever open and the eucharistic banquet spread, and all, even the lame, and the halt, and the blind, are invited to enter.

So important a part does the worthy and regular approach to Confession and Communion take in the discharge of our obligations to Almighty God that the practise has popularly acquired the name of “going to one’s duty.”

We have now touched in brief outline the chief duties we owe to God. They are by far the most important and binding of all. If we are false to God, debtors to Him and fail to accept the compromise He offers, what will all, what will even life itself, avail. They are summed up as you have heard in the word worship, both in its internal and external aspect. What that worship is we are not left in doubt of by our guide, both in its doctrinal and practical side. Glance at your Catechism, or prayer book, and there you will find that we discharge our duties to God by keeping the first three Commandments, further summarized, we may say in practising in their full extent, the three divine or theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity. This is the service of God—the observance of our duty to Him. “Be ye therefore doers of the duty, not hearers only.” Carry out these three commands and prove your possession of these divine virtues by the lifelong practise of daily prayer, Sunday Mass and regular approach to Confession and Communion.

How little people think and what little sacrifice they make in the discharge of the all important duties of piety to God! To say nothing of private, or interior worship, or vocal prayer, how sadly they neglect even outward worship! What trifling excuses will justify them in their own eyes from going to holy Mass and the Sacraments. The very people who will face a blizzard to go to a theater, or a circus, join in a dance, or a card party, will stay away from church, even on Sundays on the flimsiest pretext of weather, health or convenience. And why? Their heart is in the world; not in God. They love the creature and forget the Creator. Learn that the shortest and easiest path to duty is the path of love. Love needs no dry formal precept—no force, no violence to obey, i. e., to be dutiful. Hence Our Lord and Master teaches us that the first command of all—the main duty of life is love. We would then faithfully comply with our duties to God. Love Him. All rocks of difficulty—all hardships on the path of duty—melt away before love. Love is duty, or rather hard, dry duty melts into love. “He that loveth God delighteth in His Commandments,” i. e., actually finds a pleasure in doing all that duty to God requires of him.