Here beginneth a sermon of Saint Austin how a man is made to the image and likeness of God his maker, of naught. How great is the dignity of man's making it is known, that not by word alone of God's bidding, man is made of naught, as other works of six days, but in counsel of the Holy Trinity and work of God's majesty, that he should know of the honour of his first making, how much he owed to his maker. The which his maker gave to him so great privilege of dignity anon in his making, that by so much he should love more brenningly his maker, by how much he understood himself made of him more wonderly. He saith: ‘make we man to our image and likeness', not for this thing only, that by counsel of the Holy Trinity man is so made of the excellence of his maker, but that the maker of all things, of nought, made man of nought to his image and likeness, which thing he gave to none other creatures. Which image is to be beholden diligently by nobleness of the inner man, that is the soul.

In Newman's beautiful words: ‘two only absolute and luminously self-evident beings, myself and my Creator', the believer recognises these as the real terms united by religion. Religion is the sacred, unutterable intercourse between a limited, sinful creature and Being and Holiness. Between the living God, as the Scriptures so often call him, and his living image, there is a personal and dramatic relationship, in which dread and tenderness, awe and love, hope and anxiety are mingled.

The ideas of the psychologist on a mysterious experience of this sort are very often perplexing to the theologian or the lay Christian. To do justice to psychological works on religion, one must bear in mind the various levels at which religious phenomena can be viewed. Empirical methods of psychology cannot alter a metaphysical truth, still less supernatural faith. They are unable to prove or disprove the validity of religious belief. But morality, religion, faith are lived by means of human acts which are partially subjected to psychology

One of the most significant features in modern Church life is no doubt the interest taken by the laity in the liturgy. The liturgies of the Mass and of the Sacraments of Baptism, Holy Orders and Extreme Unction in particular invite us by the variety of their ceremonies and texts to follow them in all their details and, in fact, are well known in both their historical development and their present form. There is perhaps one lacuna in this liturgical discussion. Apart from the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, no Sacrament is more frequently received by us than is the Sacrament of Penance; and yet we rarely hear of the liturgy of this Sacrament and its history. In fact, some Catholics might be surprised at the application of the term ‘liturgy’ to the Sacrament of Penance.

In his Encyclical The Mystical Body of Christ, the Holy Father has complained of a neglect, at present found in many countries, of the Sacrament of Penance.