Performing the liturgy
Résumé
In effecting, at the very highest level of existence, the connection and constant transactions between man and God, between the tangible universe and eternity, the liturgy illustrated this propensity [for sensory participation] in an exemplary way. Spectacular, even in its smallest aspects, it signified the truths of the faith by means of a complex play on the senses of hearing (through music, chants, reading), sight (through the grandeur of the edifices ; by the actors, their dress, their gestures, their dance and by the setting) and even touch ; the sacred wall was touched ; the foot, the reliquary, the episcopal ring kissed ; the fragrance of incense and of candlewax inhaled.