CHAPTER XXVII: QUESTION 25: THE ADORATION OF CHRIST
We have considered Christ in His relation to the Father, and now we must consider His relation to us. There are two questions: (1) the adoration of Christ; (2) His mediation inasmuch as He is our mediator.
Concerning the adoration of Christ there are six articles.
1) Whether Christ's humanity and Godhead are to be adored with one and the same adoration.
2) Whether His flesh is to be adored with the adoration of latria.
3) Whether the adoration of latria is to be given to the images of Christ.
4) Whether the cross of Christ is to be adored with the adoration of latria.
5) Whether His mother is to be adored.
6) Concerning the adoration of the relics of saints.[1635]
Prefatory Remarks
St. Thomas has three articles on adoration in his treatise on religion.[1636] In the first he shows that adoration is an act of latria, or religion. It is directed to reverence Him who is adored, and it belongs properly to the virtue of religion, or latria, to show reverence to God, on account of His supreme excellence as Creator and Lord of all creatures. Hence to the devil, who tempted Christ in the desert, saying: "All these I will give Thee if, falling down, Thou wilt adore me,"[1637] Jesus answered: "Begone, Satan, for it is written: 'the Lord thy God thou shalt adore, and Him only thou shalt serve.",[1638] Adoration is an act of honor, but not every act of honor is adoration; for equals, even inferiors, are honored, but only the superior is adored. Adoration in the broad sense is not an act of latria, but of dulia. Thus the Scripture records that Nathan adored David,[1639] bowing down to the ground, and that Abraham adored the angels, bowing down before them to show his veneration.[1640] But the angels and the apostles refused to accept the adoration of latria. It would be idolatry as in paganism.
2) St. Thomas remarks that adoration is first an interior act, which is the cause of a bodily act that expresses our submission, such as genuflection, prostration, inclination.[1641] But the principal act is the interior act of the mind, whereby, acknowledging God's excellence, by a profound interior inclination before Him, He is acknowledged as the most excellent Creator and Lord. Wherefore Jesus said: "The true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth."[1642] St. Thomas says: "We prostrate ourselves, professing that we are nothing of ourselves."[1643]
3) It is in accordance with what is fitting that adoration requires a definite place, namely, a temple, which is the house of God, as being a place that is set apart, so to speak, from worldly affairs.
First Article: Whether Christ's Humanity And Godhead Are To Be Adored With The Same Adoration
State of the question. It seems not: (1) because Christ's human nature is not, like the divine nature, common to the three divine persons that must be adored; (2) there is not the same excellence in the acts of Christ's human nature as in those of the divine nature; (3) if the soul of Christ were not united to the Word, then it would have to be venerated with the cultus of dulia, and it lost none of its dignity through the hypostatic union.
Reply. Nevertheless the answer is in the affirmative, and it is of faith. St. Thomas in the counterargument of this article quotes the Second Council of Constantinople.
On several occasions in the councils this truth has been declared, namely, that Christ's human nature is to be adored,[1644] and indeed directly inasmuch as it is united with the divine nature[1645] with only one kind of adoration,[1646] and it is also to be loved by the perfect as defined against Michael de Molinos.[1647] This cultus of latria also befits especially the Eucharistic Christ,[1648] and the most sacred Heart of Jesus.[1649]
The definition against the Nestorians must be remembered, in which the Church declared: "Christ must be adored by one adoration, by which we must adore God the Word incarnate together with His own flesh, which was the tradition in the Church of God from the beginning."[1650]
Theological proof. Strictly speaking, honor is given to the person, and to the hands or feet only inasmuch as they belong to the person. But there is only one person in Christ to whom the two natures belong. Therefore by one and the same adoration the human and divine natures of Christ are to be adored.
Confirmation. A person of distinction is honored because of the qualities indeed of the soul, namely, wisdom and virtues, yet not only the soul is honored, but the whole composite, the body also. Likewise Christ is to be adored on account of His divine personality, but the whole person is to be adored, which includes His human nature.
We grant, however, to those who object, that there are two reasons for the adoration of Christ; for His divine nature of itself alone is to be adored, and His human nature in that it is hypostatically united to the Word. Yet it remains true that there is one honor of adoration on the part of the person who is adored.
Second Article: Whether Christ's Humanity Should Be Adored With The Adoration Of Latria
State of the question. It seems not, because Christ's humanity is a creature. And Christ as man is less than the Father.
Reply. Authoritative proof. St. Thomas in the counterargument quotes the authority of St. John Damascene and of St. Augustine.
Theological proof. The honor of adoration properly belongs to the person. But the person to whom Christ's humanity belongs is divine, and the honor of latria is due to this person. Hence this adoration is not given to Christ's humanity because of itself, but because of the divinity to which it is united.
Corollary. We say that Christ's humanity must be adored, not by a relative adoration, as the image of Christ must be adored, but by adoration in the strict and absolute sense; because the person is adored whose humanity is a nature. However, first and primarily the person of the Word incarnate is adored, which is the terminus of the adoration.
Devotion To The Sacred Heart Of Jesus
The nature of this devotion is made manifest from its object and end. It is the physical heart of Christ, as united hypostatically to the divine person,[1651] and inasmuch as it is the symbol of Christ's love for us, which constitutes the object of this cult of adoration, Christ's love is the love that comes from His most holy soul and also from the uncreated Word. The motive of this devotion is the infinite dignity of the Word to whom the heart of Christ is hypostatically united, and it is simultaneously the manifestation of both His uncreated and created love for us.
The terminus of this devotion is the very person of Christ inasmuch as it is by the heart that He manifests His love for us.
The end of this devotion is that our hearts may be inflamed with love for Christ, and as a consequence the reparation of injuries inflicted upon Him.
Our love for Christ must be both affective and effective, and it must manifest itself by imitating those virtues of which the most sacred heart of Jesus is the symbol, namely, charity, humility, and meekness, for He said: "Learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart."[1652]
This devotion, repeatedly approved by the Church, whatever the Jansenists, unbelievers, and rationalists may have said, is most certainly lawful and holy. Discarding the physiological question, whether the material heart is the organ of love or not, it is certainly the organ that manifests emotional love, and hence it is the symbol of love. Therefore the heart of Christ is the symbol of the love whereby Christ "loved us and delivered Himself up for us."[1653] All the graces we receive come from this love.
Thus there is a special reason for the adoration of this part of Christ's body. Finally, this devotion arose in a most opportune time, that of Jansenism, for the practical refutation of this heresy, which denied that Christ died for all men, and which caused many of the faithful to abstain from frequent Communion.
Devotion to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus is likewise a true, holy, and opportune cult, for it refers to the Heart of Jesus inasmuch as this Heart moved Jesus to give us the Eucharist as the daily sacrifice and the most perfect of all the sacraments. AS Leo XIII said: "This devotion reminds us of that act of supreme love by which our Redeemer, lavishing upon us all the riches of His Heart, so that on leaving this world, He might remain with us until the end of time, instituted the adorable sacrament of the Eucharist."[1654] We owe a debt of deep gratitude for the institution of this devotion.
Third Article: Whether The Image Of Christ Should Be Adored With The Adoration Of Latria
Reply. Relative but not absolute adoration of latria must be given to the image of Christ.
Authoritative proof. St. John Damascene quotes St. Basil as saying: "The honor given to an image reaches to the prototype."[1655] There are several declarations of the Church concerning the relative cult of images. The Second Council of Nicaea says: "The honor paid to an image is transferred to the original, and whoever adores the image, adores the subsistence (or person) depicted in the image."[1656]
Theological proof. There is a twofold movement of the mind toward an image; the first is toward the image itself as a certain thing; the second is toward the image so far as it is the image of something else. Moreover, as St. Thomas says in the body of this article: "the movement that is toward an image as an image, is one and the same as that which is toward the thing that is represented."
Hence no reverence is shown to the image of Christ inasmuch as it is a certain thing of gold or silver; but inasmuch as it is an image of Christ, the same reverence is shown to it as to Christ Himself, but as referring to Christ.
Fourth Article: Whether Christ's Cross Should Be Worshiped With The Adoration Of Latria
Reply. The answer is in the affirmative, in accordance with the following chant of the Church: "Hail, O Cross, our only hope, during this Passiontide: give to the just increase of grace, grant to each contrite sinner pardon."[1657]
St. Thomas gives two conclusions.
First conclusion. The true cross of Christ on which Christ was crucified is to be adored with the cult of latria both inasmuch as it represents to us the figure of Christ extended thereon, and because of its contact with the members of Christ, and of its being saturated with His blood.
Second conclusion. The effigy of Christ's cross in any other material is to be adored with the adoration of relative latria, as being the image of Christ.
Reply to first objection. Thus in the cross is considered not Christ's shame, but its divine power whereby it triumphed over its enemies.
Reply to second objection. Thus the true nails of the passion, and the true crown of thorns are adored, inasmuch as they came in contact with the members of Christ, and were likewise saturated with His blood.
Fifth Article: Whether The Mother Of God Should Be Adored With The Adoration Of Latria
Reply. The answer is in the negative; but the cult of hyperdulia must be given to her. The Collyridians were condemned because they said that the Blessed Virgin Mary is to be adored with the cult of latria.[1658] The reason is that the Mother of God is a mere creature and the adoration of latria is to be given to God alone, and to no creature.
The cult of dulia or veneration must be given to the rational creature, however, on account of its excellence. Thus, even in the civil order, the generals of the army, kings, and great philosophers are venerated; and in the order of grace, the cult of supernatural dulia is given to the saints. The cult of hyperdulia must be given to the Blessed Virgin Mary, which more probably differs specifically from the cult of dulia, because the eminent dignity of divine motherhood belongs, by reason of its terminus, to the hypostatic order, which specifically transcends the order of grace and glory.[1659] Billuart inclines to this view in his commentary on this article.
Thus, for example, munificence is a virtue that is specifically distinct from liberality, and St. Thomas says that virginity is also a specifically distinct virtue from even the perfect chastity of a widow.[1660]
Objection. If the images of Christ and the cross are to be adored, each with the adoration of latria, then this adoration applies likewise to the Blessed Virgin Mary, because the Mother is related to the Son.
Reply. There is no comparison in that the images of Christ and the cross are not in themselves objects of veneration, but refer solely to Christ. On the contrary, the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints are rational creatures, having an excellence of their own, and in themselves are objects of veneration. "Consequently, if the adoration of latria were shown to the rational creatures in which this image is, there might be an occasion of error,"[1661] namely, because not a few might conclude that these persons are to be adored in themselves with the adoration not of relative, but of absolute latria. In other words, such adoration might afford anyone the occasion of judging that it should be attributed to this person because of his or her own excellence.
Doubt. Is the cult of hyperdulia for its own sake greater and nobler than the adoration of relative latria?
Reply. The answer is in the affirmative with Billuart and several other theologians, because, although latria is a species of cult more perfect than hyperdulia, nevertheless it can be that the act of hyperdulia is worthier than the act of latria in some individual; just as, although justice is a virtue specifically more perfect than temperance, nevertheless it is possible that the noblest act of temperance, for example, of virginity, is more perfect in some individual than the least act of justice, such as the payment of a debt in some business transaction.
This terminates the question of Christ's adoration.
Sixth Article: Whether Any Kind Of Worship Is Due To The Relics Of The Saints
In this article St. Thomas shows that the relics of the saints must be venerated with the cult of dulia, because the saints excelled in the practice of all the virtues.
He says: "The bodies of the saints were temples and organs of the Holy Ghost dwelling and operating in them, and are destined to be likened to the body of Christ by the glory of the resurrection. Hence God Himself fittingly honors such relics, by working miracles in their presence."[1662]
This argument is valid in refuting the error of Protestants who contend that the saints must not be venerated.
Footnotes
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