My knowledge is so weak, O blissful Queen! 
     To tell abroad thy mighty worthiness,
     That I the weight of it may not sustain;
     But as a child of twelve months old or less,
     Even so fare I; and therefore, I thee pray,
     Guide thou my song which I of thee shall say.

     Chaucer.  The Prioress’ Tale.  Version by Wordsworth.

PART ONE

CHAPTER II

THE MEANING OF WORSHIP

O Lord Jesus Christ, from whom all holy thoughts do come; who hast taught thy servants to honour thy glorious mother; mercifully grant us so to celebrate her on earth with the solemn sacrifice of praise and with due devotion, that by her intercession we may be found worthy to reign in joy in heaven.  Who livest &c.

Sarum Missal.

There are thoughts and actions which so enter the daily conduct of our lives that we take them for granted and never pause to analyse them.  If perchance something occurs to make us ask what these thoughts and actions truly and deeply mean we are surprised to find that we have, in fact, no adequate understanding of them.  We have a feeling about them and we are quite sure that this feeling is a good and right one.  We have ends that we are seeking and we are satisfied that the ends are in all ways desirable.  But suddenly confronted with the question why, unexpectedly asked to explain, to justify ourselves, we find ourselves dumb.  We cannot find adequate exposition for what we nevertheless know that we are justified in.  It is so with much that we admire; we have never tried to justify our admiration, have never thought that it needed an explanation; and then, unexpectedly, we find ourselves challenged, we find our taste criticised, and in our efforts at self-defence we blunder and stumble and hesitate about what we still feel that we are quite right in holding fast.

It is common things that we thus take for granted; it is daily activities that we thus assume need no explanation.  For us who habitually gather to the services of the Church there is no more taken-for-granted act than worship.  Worship is a part of our daily experience.  At certain times each day we offer to God stated and formal acts of worship.  Many times a day most likely we pause and for a moment lift our thought to our blessed Lord for a brief communion with Him.  It is a part of our settled experience thus to draw strength from the inexhaustible source which at all times is at our disposal.  We know how the tasks of the day are lightened and our strength to meet them renewed by these momentary invasions of the supernatural.  There are also special times in each week when we meet with other members of the One Body of Christ in the offering of the unbloody Sacrifice.  We know that in that act heaven and earth join, and that not only our brethren who are