Page:TheDevotionAndOfficeOfTheSacredHeart.djvu/43

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intimate union with the divinity, so that by a single act we adore indivisibly the humanity and divinity, as all divines teach after St. Thomas, p. 3. 1. 25. art. 2, 3. The same may be said of all natural objects. The human body, by its union with the soul, acquires a right to all those honours which are paid to the soul; equal honour is paid to both these objects, which is equally referred to body and soul; it is a general maxim, that a spiritual object communicates its dignity and excellence to the material object to which it is united, and in this state renders it worthy of the honours which are paid to itself.

2. In every devotion and every festival which regards the sacred humanity of Jesus Christ, there are two objects, the one sensible and material, the other spiritual and invisible, which are closely united and indivisibly honoured, from the communication we have just now mentioned. But it is the sensible material object which gives the denomination to a devotion or festival. A few examples will make this clear.