THE VENERATION OF SAINTS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 150, 17 March 1876, Page 8

THE VENERATION OF SAINTS.

" BrT you rob God of the honor due to him alone and give it to Mary a mere creature like any of us," says the Protestant,. This is false. It is precisely what Cat ho'ies protest against doing. We would be the last to derogate in the least from God's honor or glory. In all we do He is the object uppermost in our minds. Our wor&hip is directed first of all to Him. Ho is its direct, immediate object. Wo honor nnd revere all the paints simply on account of the relation they bear to Him. Wo honor Him because l£e honors them ; we lovo them because they arc the special and worthy objects of Ifis lore, and because the peculiar qualities of grace and sanctity that render them fit objects of divine lovo were freely bestowed on tho:n by God. When wo honor them, it is nit to (hem solely or chiefly that, we pay our respect, but to God whose sanctity and beauty and goodness and lovoableness they reflect. We h mor God in and through them, and we honor them for God's sake. We worship Mary because in her the attributes of God shine with greater splendor ; are displayed more majestically, stand out in bolder prominent c than in any other mere creature that ever walked the earth in human form. We love her because God loves her, and because we know it p'eascs Him when we love what He loves The honor | aid the saints does not ii.terf're with the honor due to God. Rather, it is one way of honoring Him. We admire a painter's genius in his masterpiece. Wo praise God in His saints. We implore their help because they have more influence with God than we have. They, of themselves, can g've us nothing. All they can do for us is to offer our petitions to God, and unite their own with them. They fire his tried and chobcn friend*. Ho sees His own attributes of sanctity and benily reflcclod in them. He loaps them on that account, anil because lie loves them He is more favorably disposed to grant whatever they ask. Wary is Queen of Saints. She has more in'luciuc with Go.l than {ho rest. Tlieivforo v\c pray to her with moro confidence and cjrtainly than wo do to ay of the saints. — 'Catholic Standard.'