Duties of Man towards God
by VP
Posted on Saturday January 28, 2023 at 12:00AM in Quotes
"St. Thomas Aquinas thus defines man's duties towards God: "Man is bound to render homage to God for these four reasons: because of God's supreme Majesty, of blessings received, of sins committed, of benefits hoped for." When dying on the Cross, Christ rendered this fourfold homage to His Eternal Father. This homage, being the homage of God to God, is of infinite value, but man's homage, the homage of limited, sinful man, is by itself insufficient to render to God what is due to Him. Man's only hope of making his homage acceptable to God, is in the merits of the Cross, and so of Holy Mass; it is in the union of his homage to the homage of the God-Man to the Eternal Father. A Christian is by baptism a member of the Church, but the Church is the Spouse of Jesus, the Royal Prince: Regina Formosissima Christo jugata Principi.
Christ and His Church always act together. Whatever is done by the Church, it is Christ who does it; whatever Christ does in the faithful, He does through the instrumentality of His Church. Christ is one with the Church by bearing her sins; the Church is one with Christ by bearing His Cross. Everything in the Church points to the Altar, to the Sacrifice of the Mass. Holy Mass is the great action of the Church, and through Holy Mass, man is able to pay his fourfold duty to God, to pay full homage to God. These duties, defined by St. Thomas, are summed up in these four words: "Adoration, Thanksgiving, Propitiation, Supplication." These are also four ends as well as the four fruits of Mass."
