y this image."

We have images, pictures, and relics of Our Lord, His Blessed Mother,
and the saints, for the same reason that we have relics and portraits of
George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, or of our relatives and friends.
They remind us of the original. Who can look upon the crucifix or upon a
picture of the Crucifixion without being reminded of all the sufferings
of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ?

And who can seriously contemplate those sufferings, borne for us so
patiently, without being moved to pity and to repentance? Such a person
will be moved to say with the heart if not with the lips: "Oh, my God, I
am sorry for having offended Thee and caused Thee such suffering. Grant
that I may love Thee with my whole heart and never more offend Thee."

Catholics, as we have seen, adore God alone. They honor the Blessed
Virgin and saints represented by images. They use these holy pictures
and statues to beautify the house of God. These pictures are also a
source of instruction. They are a profession of our faith. If you enter
a house and see on one side of the room a picture of the Blessed Virgin,
Cardinal Gibbons, or of Pope Leo XIII, and on the other a picture of
Lincoln, Cleveland, or Washington, you will at once know the religious
faith as well as the political belief or patriotism of the occupant.

By the aid of the relics of the martyrs we are reminded of all they
suffered for the faith. By the use of religious pictures, our devotion
is increased and we are stimulated to imitate the virtues of the saints
represented.

If it is reasonable to have pictures of our martyred President and
relics of our Revolutionary heroes that we may be reminded of their
patriotism, it is none the less reasonable to have pictures and relics
of Our Lord, the Blessed Virgin, and the saints, that we may be reminded
of their virtues. By imitating their virtues here, we may be _happy with
them hereafter_.

XII. Some Sacramentals

"Pray without ceasing" (_2 Thess_. v. 17).

"Every creature is sanctified by the word of God and prayer" (_1 Tim_.
4, 5).

BY SACRAMENTALS we mean the various prayers, blessings, ceremonies and
pious practices of the Church. Here mention will be made of some of the
most common of the sacramentals that have not already been treated.
Sacramentals, like sacraments, have an outward sign; the latter,
however, were instituted by Christ, the former by the Church, and while
the latter always give grace