Adoration

admiration or devotion in a certain person, place, or thing

Adoration (Latin adoratio) is respect, reverence, strong admiration or devotion. The term comes from the Latin adōrātiō, meaning to give homage or worship to someone or something.

The Adoration of the Shepherds, the picture at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille

Quotes edit

 
Baruch Spinoza: Those who wish to seek out the cause of miracles and to understand the things of nature as philosophers, and not to stare at them in astonishment like fools, are soon considered heretical and impious, and proclaimed as such by those whom the mob adores as the interpreters of nature and the gods.
  • ADORE, v.t. To venerate expectantly.
    • Ambrose Bierce, The Cynic's Dictionary (1906); republished as The Devil's Dictionary (1911).
  • The laughs mean more to me than the adoration. If two girls walk up to me and one says 'you're cute', I'll say thank you, but I appreciate it much more when the other one says 'you make me laugh so much'.
  • People who do not love themselves can adore others, because adoration is making someone else big and ourselves small. They can desire others, because desire comes out of sense of inner incompleteness, which demands to be filled. But they can not love others, because love is an affirmation of the living growing being in all of us. If you don’t have it, you can’t give it.
  • What did you expect when you unbound the gag that muted those black mouths? That they would chant your praises? Did you think that when these heads that out fathers had forcibly bowed down to the ground were raised again, you would find adoration in their eyes?
    • Jean-Paul Satre, in Memorable Quotations: Philosophers of Western Civilization 01-Jan-2000”, p. 197.

In Christianity edit

 
Martin Luther:To gather with God's people in united adoration of the Father is as necessary to the Christian life as prayer.
  • Adoration is obviously love. "I adore you" are the words lovers speak. If spoken to a human being and meant literally, it is idolatry. Adoration literally means infinite love. It is to be given only to the infinitely perfect, infinitely lovable being, God. The Latin word for adoration is latria, as distinct from dulia, which is finite, human love and respect. Hyperdulia is the highest, greatest finite and human love and respect, which is to be given to the greatest merely finite and human being who ever lived, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, who alone was sinless, "our tainted nature's solitary boast".
    • Peter Kreeft, in Prayer for Beginners (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2000), pp. 49–50.
    • The phrase "our tainted nature's solitary boast" is from William Wordsworth's sonnet "The Virgin" (Ecclesiastical Sonnets, 1822).
 
St. Thomas Aquinas:Adoration, which is known as latria, in classical theology, is the worship and homage that is rightly offered to God alone. It is the manifestation of submission and acknowledgement of dependence appropriately shown towards the excellence of an uncreated divine person and to his absolute Lordship. It is the worship of the Creator that God alone deserves.
 
Mary the Mother of Jesus
  • Although we see in English a broader usage of the word “adoration” which may not refer to a form of worship exclusive to God—for example, when a husband says that he “adores his wife”—in general it can be maintained that adoration is the best English denotation for the worship of latria.
  • Veneration, known as dulia in classical theology, is the honor and reverence appropriately due to the excellence of a created person. Excellence exhibited by created beings likewise deserves recognition and honor. We see a general example of veneration in events like the awarding of academic awards for excellence in school, or the awarding of Olympic medals for excellence in sports. There is nothing contrary to the proper adoration of God when we offer the appropriate honor and recognition that created persons deserve based on achievement in excellence. We must make a further clarification regarding the use of the term “worship” in relation to the categories of adoration and veneration. Historically, schools of theology have used the term “worship” as a general term which included both adoration and veneration. They would distinguish between “worship of adoration” and “worship of veneration.” The word “worship” (in a similar way to how the liturgical term “cult” is traditionally used) was not synonymous with adoration, but could be used to introduce either adoration or veneration. Hence Catholic sources will sometimes use the term “worship” not to indicate adoration, but only the worship of veneration given to Mary and the saints. Confusion over the use of the term worship has led to the misunderstanding by some that Catholics offer adoration to Mary in a type of “Mariolatry,” or idol worship given to Mary. Adoration of Mary is a grave rejection of Christian revelation and has never been nor will never be part of authentic Catholic faith and life.
  • The complete attention of the faithful in the infant years of the One Church of Christ had to be directed pre-eminently to Jesus Christ himself. The proper adoration of Jesus had to be established before any secondary veneration of Mary would be appropriate or fitting. Her honour, of course arises first and foremost from her being the mother of Jesus.

Blessed Mother Teresa gives 22 reasons to sign up for a Holy Hour of Eucharistic Adoration! edit

 
The Eucharist displayed in a monstrance, flanked by candles being adored by a kneeling altar server
 
Chapel of the Blessed sacrament
 
Christ with the Eucharist, Vicente Juan Masip, 16th century.

Saints Adoration Quotes - Page 1 Blessed Mother Teresa gives 22 reasons to sign up for a Holy Hour of Eucharistic Adoration!

  • The Importance Of Eucharistic Adoration - Saints Give Over 600 Reasons To Signup For A Holy Hour

Founder of the "Missionaries of Charity", known for helping the poor throughout the world, Mother Teresa would not open a Missionary House for the Poor unless it had an Adoration Chapel in it. She emphasized Adoration and Prayer for her Nuns so they could bring Christ to the Poor. Some of her sayings about the importance of Eucharistic Adoration in our lives are:

  • Every Holy Hour we make so pleases the Heart of Jesus that it will be recorded in Heaven and retold for all eternity.
  • It opens up the floodgates of God’s merciful Love upon the world.
  • Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is the best time you will spend on earth.
  • It will make your soul everlastingly more glorious and beautiful in Heaven.
  • A Holy Hour of adoration helps bring everlasting peace to earth.
  • It brings us personal peace and strength.
  • It brings us a greater love for Jesus, for each other, and for the poor.
  • Every holy hour deepens our union with Him and bears much fruit.
  • Nowhere on earth are we more welcomed or loved than by Jesus in Eucharist.
  • When you look at the crucifix, you understand how much Jesus loved you. When you look at the Sacred Host you understand how much Jesus loves you now. This is why we need Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration in every Parish throughout the entire World.
  • What will convert America and save the world? My answer is prayer. What we need is for every parish to come before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament in Holy Hours of prayer.
  • On the Cross Jesus said ‘I thirst’. From the Blessed Sacrament Jesus continues to say to each of us ‘I thirst’. He thirsts for our personal love, our intimacy, our union with Him in the Blessed Sacrament.
  • When the Sisters are exhausted, up to their eyes in work; when all seems to go awry, they spend an hour in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. This practice has never failed to bear fruit: they experience peace and strength.
  • If you are looking for vocations, as a community have adoration every day. Once the Missionaries of Charity started daily adoration, their vocations doubled.
  • I know I would not be able to work one week if it were not for that continual force coming from Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament (during my Holy Hour of Adoration).
  • To be alone with Jesus in adoration and intimate union with Him is the Greatest Gift of Love - the tender love of Our Father in Heaven.
  • Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration offers to our people the opportunity to join those in religious life to pray for the salvation of the world, souls everywhere and peace on earth. We cannot underestimate the power of prayer and the difference it will make in our world.
  • Jesus has made Himself the Bread of Life to give us life. Night and day, He is there. If you really want to grow in love, come back to the Eucharist, come back to that Adoration.
  • Our hour of adoration will be special hours of reparation for sins, and intercession for the needs of the whole world, exposing the sin-sick and suffering humanity to the healing, sustaining and transforming rays of Jesus, radiating from the Eucharist.
  • Each one of us is a co-worker of Christ - we must labor hard to carry Him to the hearts where He has not yet been known and loved...But, unless we have Jesus, we cannot give Him; that is why we need the Eucharist. Spend as much time as possible in front of the Blessed Sacrament and He will fill you with His strength and His power.
  • Perpetual adoration is the most beautiful thing you could ever think of doing. People are hungry for God.
  • Imagine for a moment that we are living in Jesus’ time and He has invited us to visit with Him and spend some quiet time getting to know Him better. Being aware who He was, we would be humbled and honored by such an invitation. The good news is that Jesus is here with us TODAY - body, blood, soul and divinity – in the Holy Eucharist. Although Jesus comes to us under the appearance of bread and wine, His presence is as real to us NOW as He was flesh-and-blood-real to His disciples when he walked this earth. He can perform miracles, heal us, teach us, and love us. We can talk to Him and He can speak to us through His Word and through the Holy Spirit who lives in us through our baptism and confirmation.
  • Jesus has made Himself the Bread of Life to give us life. Night and day, He is there. If you really want to grow in love, come back to the Eucharist, come back to that Adoration.

Theology at the Eucharistic Table: Master Themes in the Theological Tradition (2003) edit

 
Jeremy Driscoll: The center of eucharistic spirituality is found, of course, in the communal celebration itself; but private prayer and adoration of the blessed sacrament are an excellent means of personally digesting the immense riches of the actual celebration.

Jeremy Driscoll, in Theology at the Eucharistic Table: Master Themes in the Theological Tradition (2003)

  • Adoration of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament is always to be understood as deriving from the presence of Christ in the actual celebration of the eucharist; adoration is meant to bring us again to the celebration of the eucharist with greater fervor and understanding. So, adoration begins in the celebration of Mass itself. However, in the Mass adoration is primarily to God the Father. It is adoration in “spirit and truth” (John 4:23), that is, adoration of the Father through Christ, the Truth and in the Holy Spirit.
    • As tradition and teaching of the Church, in p. 237.
  • The center of eucharistic spirituality is found, of course, in the communal celebration itself; but private prayer and adoration of the blessed sacrament are an excellent means of personally digesting the immense riches of the actual celebration.
    • In P. 11.
  • The whole form of the eucharistic rite is thoroughly trinitarian in its structure. It is by moving within this structure in faith and with loving adoration that the mind learns to bear the blinding light of the divine revelation.
    • In P. 20.

In Hinduism edit

 
Glyn Richards:Radha was an ordinary village belle (gopi), but such was the passion and intensity of her love and devotion to the Lord that she has come to occupy a position of unrivaled to adoration in the Hindu pantheon.
 
Mukul Goel:[In Hinduism] numerous devotional practices exist. Besides chanting God’s name with faith and satsang, the classical nine kinds of devotion listed in the Ramacharitamanas include adoration of God’s legends.
  • Radha was an ordinary village belle (gopi), but such was the passion and intensity of her love and devotion to the Lord that she has come to occupy a position of unrivaled to adoration in the Hindu pantheon.
    • Hiro G. Badlani, in "Hinduism: Path of the Ancient Wisdom (30 September 2008)", p. 149.
  • The learned Brahmin attempts to prove the impossibility of an adoration of the Deity, saying … that which cannot be considered, cannot be worshipped. Should the learned Brahmin consider a full conception of the nature, essence, or qualities of the Supreme Being, or a physical picture truly representing the Almighty power, with offerings of flowers, leaves, viands, as essential to adoration, I agree with the learned Brahmin with respect to the impossibility of the worship of God.
  • By Generally, the words worship, prayer, adoration and devotion are used in the same sense. Considering their meanings in the literal sense, they may be explained in the literal sense, they may be explained differently but the hidden meaning is the same for all these words. These words express the feeling of submission towards our deity. Adoration of our deity is such a mental process of exercise which has to be performed calmly and quietly, sitting in solitude, wherein our emotions, our trust and immersion is the prime factor. In fact, adoration is purely based on the strong determination and faith of the devotee. To express the strongest feelings for our deity, we externally offer various worship materials as gifts to the deity. Such offerings made are accepted by Him according to the feelings of the devotee.
  • ...should adoration imply only the elevation of the mind to the conviction of the existence of the Omnipresent Deity, as testified by His Wise and wonderful works, and continual contemplation of His power as so displayed, together with a constant sense of the gratitude which we naturally owe Him, for our existence, sensation, and comfort – I never will hesitate to assert, that His adoration, is not only possible, and practicable, but even incumbent upon every rational creature.
    • Glyn Richards, in "Source Book Modern Hinduism (1 February 2013)", p. 7.

In Buddhism edit

 
Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva - Though it, Divyavadna (the Heavenly Avadanas), begins with a Mahayanistic benediction, “Om, adoration to all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas."
  • Buddha became an object of adoration and also meditation. The term “buddhanusmriti” in early Buddhists scriptures had four meanings: (1)meditation on the virtues of Buddha; (2) hearing the name of Buddha; (3) repetition of the name of Budddha; and (4) meditation in the figure of Buddha.
    • Rydoon Yoshiyoka, in "Indian Buddhism: A Survey with Bibliographical Notes (1980)", p. 84.

Zen Buddhism

 
The bodhisattva Guanyin.
 
The Buddha and VajrapaniGandhara during 2ndCentury

Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki]], [Manual of Zen Buddhism (2007)

  • The Yemmei w:Guanyin:Kwannon Ten-Clause Sutra
    [Adoration to] Kwanzeon!
    Adoration to the Buddha.
    to the Buddha we are related
    In terms of cause and effect.
    Depending on the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha,
    Nirvana is possible which is] eternal, ever-blessed,
    autonomous, and free from defilements.
    Every morning our thoughts are on Kwanzeon
    Every morning our thoughts are on Kwanzeon
    Every thought issues from the Mind.
    Every thought is not Separated from the Mind.
    • In Page 10, in the 10 lines of daily prayer, 'Yemmei' means "prolonging life" and 'Kwannon' means "relating to health".
  • Prayer on the occasion of feeding Ghosts
    If one wishes to be above all the Buddhas of the past, and
    future, one should contemplate on the nature of this Dharmadhatu
    essentially as the creation of absolute Mind.
    Adoration to the Buddhas in the ten quarters;
    Adoration to the Dharma pervading the ten quarters; Adoration
    to the Sangha in the ten quarters;
    Adoration to Sakyamuni the Buddha who is our master;
    Adoration to Kwanzeon the Bodhisatva, who is the great
    compassionate and pitying one, ready to save things from
    afflictions;
    Adoration to Ananda the Arhat who is expounder of the
    Teaching,...
    Adoration to Hoshin the Tathagata;
    Adoration to Taho the Tathagata;
    Adoration to Myoshishin the Tathagata;
    Adoration to Kohashin the Tathagata;
    Adoration to Rifui the Tathagata;
    Adoration to Kannoo the Tathagata;
    Adoration to Omito the Tathagata.
    Namu omitoboya tatogyatoya,
    Toniyato
    • In page 11.

In Jainism edit

 
Parasnath, a mountain in Bihar of great sanctity; it is the eastern, as Mount Abu is the western metropolis of Jain worship and pilgrimage.
  • Parasnath, a mountain in Bihar of great sanctity; it is the eastern, as Mount Abu is the western metropolis of Jain worship and pilgrimage. 10,000, annually, from distant parts of India, visit the scene of Nirvana or beatific annihilation of the ten of the 24 deified saints or Thirthankars, who are the objects of Jain adoration; and from the last of these, Parswa or Parswanatha, the hill originally called samet Sikhar took its better known name as Parasnath.
    • Subodh Kapoor (2002), in "Indian Encyclopaedia, Volume 1". p. 5499.
  • The whole mountain is covered with other shrines which the pilgrim, at some risk to life and limb, must visit. The rite is followed by adoration at the temple of Parsvanatha, and by the circuit (pradadsina) of the holy site, involving a journey of about 10 km.
    • Subodh Kapoor (2002), in "Indian Encyclopaedia, Volume 1". p. 5499.

In Islam edit

 
In Islam the Prophetic tradition or Sunnah which can also be called as Tao of Islam, literally meaning Way to Divine Submission, includes abundance of solitude, contemplation and adoration of the Divine.
  • Spiritual foundation consists of the practice of solitude, contemplation and adoration. While this is true for every single religious tradition, but often we see from reality that this foundation gets ignored and undernourished.
    • In "The Practice of Solitude in Islamic Tradition".
  • It is indeed the duty of every believer to love his brethren and be tolerant. Moreover, God has created for us our partners with whom we share love and affection (Sura 30, verse 21), yet all this love should always be exercised within its proper context. No matter how much we may love our children, our partners, or indeed God's prophets whom He sent with guidance; we should never love them as our love of God. Only the love of God is worthy of being elevated to the state of adoration. There is a very thin line between love and adoration.
    • Quran, in "The Concept of 'Worship' (Al-Ebadah) A Quranic perspective: Act Three: Adoration and Veneration".

Sufism

 
Dr. Liyakat Takim:The most famous Sufi form of adoration is a mystical exercise called dhikr. This refers to the systematic repetition of God’s names so as to attain continuous awareness of God’s presence.
  • The most famous Sufi form of adoration is a mystical exercise called dhikr. This refers to the systematic repetition of God’s names so as to attain continuous awareness of God’s presence.
    • Dr. Liyakat Takim, in "Adoration in Islamic Mystical tradition", p. 3.
  • The Sufi adoration of God is also expressed by the salat (ritual prayer), which is in fact, the second pillar of Islam… Prayer is seen as an intimate conversation between the human and the Divine....Rumi’s view, absorption in the Divine Unity is the soul of prayer.
    • Dr. Liyakat Takim, in "Adoration in Islamic Mystical tradition", p. 3.

In Zorashranism edit

 
Investiture of Sassanid emperor Shapur II (center) with Mithra (left) and Ahura Mazda (right) at Taq-e Bostan, Iran.
 
Zorashtrianism is also known as Mazdaism from the name of the Supreme god, Ahura Mazda, and as Magism from the name of its ancient priests, the magi. The Three Wise Men of the Bible are believed to have been Zoroastrian magi, hence the Adoration of the Magi.
  • When at the time of awarding, men,
    with the help of truth, shall
    vanquish the lie;
    When deception and untruth - for long decried – of false gods and
    men, stand exposed,
    Then at the time of salvation, there,
    shall be full adoration of Thy Glory.

External links edit

 
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