ause Our Lord is really present. If we know He is not present on the
altar we bow in honor of the place where He sometimes reposes. _Holy
water_ is used to signify that our souls must be pure if we wish God to
answer our prayers. _Incense_ is used at solemn High Mass and at
Vespers. It is symbolic of prayer, agreeably to the words of the 140th
psalm: "Let my prayer, O Lord, be directed as incense in Thy sight." And
St. John, describing the heavenly Jerusalem in the 8th chapter of the
Apocalypse, says: "Another angel came, and stood before the altar,
having a golden censer; and there was given him much incense, that he
should offer of the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which is
before the throne of God."

The sacrifice of the Mass, then, is the sacrifice of Calvary, since the
same Victim is offered up and by the same High Priest, Jesus Christ. The
Emanuel, the God with us, the thought of whom made the prophets tremble
centuries before He came, that divine Teacher who loves to dwell with
the children of men, the Catholic Church beholds dwelling in the midst
of us on our altars. If you have visited some of our ancient cathedrals,
or any of our magnificent modern churches, and admired the varied
ornaments or artistic wonders therein; if you have ever been present at
our religious solemnities and witnessed the gravity of our ceremonies,
the beauty of the chants, the piety of the adorers; if you have
reflected upon the spirit of sacrifice and self-forgetfulness so common
to Catholicism and so unknown elsewhere--that spirit which moves
thousands of the young of both sexes to forsake the world and devote
themselves to the care of the sick, the education of the young, and to
other works of charity--if you have witnessed these things and reflected
upon them, you can not but have asked yourself why are such gorgeous
temples built; why such magnificent works of art as displayed on the
altar, the sacred vessels, paintings, and other things in the church?
What prompts such sacrifices? And the answer will be, because the church
is the edifice where God in the holy Mass daily renews the prodigies of
His mercy, and it can never be worthy of His love; because God, who
sacrificed Himself for us, is ever with us in the Blessed Sacrament of
the altar, to soothe our cares and answer our prayers. Yes, the grand
feature of the Catholic Church is the holy altar. On the altar is the
tabernacle for the residence of the Lord of Hosts.