Sixth, from the majesty of the divine offices.
Sixth, from the majesty of the divine offices.
§ 501. (VI) From the majesty of the divine offices. “The majesty of the divine offices seems by all means to require a more serious and venerable language than are those that we use commonly, if this can be done conveniently.”
We respond. (1) By this logic it would follow that we must set forth in a popular language nothing at all of the divine mysteries, not even in the pericopes of the Sunday Gospels and Epistles. (2) The use of a popular language takes nothing away from the majesty of the divine mysteries and offices. Rather, this leads people into the knowledge of them, and it is for this purpose that the mysteries were divinely revealed. (3) Therefore we invert the argument. In order that people may perceive the gravity and majesty of the divine mysteries and be brought into the knowledge, faith, and admiration of them, they must be presented in a popular language (Tobit 12:7). (4) In Paradise, God addressed our first parents not in an unknown, angelic tongue but in a common language. He divulged the promise of the Gospel and preserved His marvelous works for more than two thousand years in Hebrew, a language common to the Israelites. (5) God has consecrated all languages without exception and has appointed them for the ministry of His heavenly kingdom (Acts 2:3).