St Thomas Aquinas defines perfection thusly: “a being is perfect in so far as he attains to his proper end, which is his highest perfection. Now it is charity which unites us to God, the last end of the human soul, since, according to St John 4.16, ‘he that abideth in charity abideth in God and God in him.’” (Summa II.II.184, i)
Thornton then draws this conclusion:
Therefore our prayer, worship, and life are to brutes; man is equally, if less obviously in error when he tries to pray as the angels. That is the fundamental mistake of what is properly called Puritanism, the quest for “pure spirituality” which precludes the use of the senses, the body, and mental imagery. It is significant that in the traditional celebration of the Eucharist all five senses - sight, taste, smell, feeling, and hearing - are employed. And the Eucharist is the extensible core of the whole Christian life within creation. (English Spirituality, p 131)
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