Chapter XXV. Ceremonials Of The Mass. 317 whom we should be wandering in darkness and in the shadow of death. They also serve to remind us to "let our light so shine before men (by our good example) that they may see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven." Lights are used, too, as a sign of spiritual joy. St. Jerome, who lived in the fourth century, remarks: "Throughout all the Churches of the East, before the reading of the Gospel, candles are lighted at mid-day, not to dispel darkness, but as a sign of joy." You also noticed the Priest incensing the altar. Incense is a striking emblem of prayer, which should ascend to heaven from hearts burning with love, just as the fragrant smoke ascends from the censer. "Let my prayer," says the Royal Prophet, "ascend like incense in Thy sight."429 God enjoined in the Old Law the use of incense: "Aaron shall burn sweet-smelling incense upon the altar in the morning."430 Hence we see the Priest Zachariah "offer incense on going into the temple of the Lord. And all the multitude were praying without at the hour of incense."431 You perceive that the altar is decorated today with vases and flowers because this is a festival of the Church. There is one spot on earth which can never be too richly adorned, and that is the sanctuary in which our Lord vouchsafes to dwell among us. Nothing is too good, nothing too beautiful, nothing too [335] precious for God. He gives us all we possess, and the least we can do in return is to ornament that spot which He has chosen for His abode upon earth. The Almighty, it is true, has no need of our gifts. He is rich without them. "The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof." Nevertheless, He is pleased to accept our offerings when they are bestowed upon Him as a mark of our affection, just as a father joyfully receives from his child 429 Ps. cxl. 430 Exod. xxx. 7. 431 Luke i. 9, 10.