Adoration Adoration is the first attitude of man acknowledging that he is a creature before his Creator. It exalts the greatness of the Lord who made us and the almighty power of the Savior who sets us free from evil. Adoration is homage of the spirit to the "King of Glory," respectful silence in the presence of the "ever greater" God. Adoration of the thrice-holy and sovereign God of love blends with humility and gives assurance to our supplications. (CCC 2628) Prayer of Praise Praise is the form of prayer which recognizes most immediately that God is God. It lauds God for his own sake and gives him glory, quite beyond what he does, but simply because HE IS. It shares in the blessed happiness of the pure of heart who loves God in faith before seeing him in glory. By praise, the Spirit is joined to our spirits to bear witness that we are children of God, testifying to the only Son in whom we are adopted and by whom we glorify the Father. Praise embraces the other forms of prayer and carries them toward him who is its source and goal: the "one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist." (CCC 2639)They sound pretty similar. When we worship God we are telling Him how wonderful He is. When we praise Him we are telling Him how much we love Him. We show honour, glory, reverence, and respect by listening to Him, asking for and doing His will, and offering Him gifts and offerings, the best of which is the gift of ourselves. Praise and worship of God is a realization that we are creatures and that He is the Creator. He is above us, and we are His servants. The only humble posture for adoration is on bended knee. This may feel awkward since it is not something we do every day with our family and friends. But when we love someone, we tell them and we show them. When we do the same with God, we are worshipping Him. Psalms of praise I don’t need to tell you where to find praise, worship, and adoration in Scripture. Primarily, there is a whole category of psalms called psalms of praise. These are the psalms that express praise, thanksgiving, and exaltation to God. Some verses you may recognize: “My mouth will speak in praise of the LORD. Let every creature praise his holy name forever and ever.” (Psalm 145:19) “I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.” (Psalm 146:2) “LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” (Psalm 8:9) Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.” (Psalm 150:6) When we don’t know how to worship God, these psalms are a great way to do so. But if all else fails, just say to God how much you love Him, how great He is, and how thankful you are to Him. And if you find it hard to enter into the spirit of worshipping God, remember that it’s also no coincidence that Scripture often encourages us to worship in song. In fact, some traditions call those psalms of praise hymns. I guess that’s why there’s a whole category of music that we refer to as “praise and worship”. Another reason why I love that for a month before Christmas the world worships without knowing as they play a lot of those traditional Christmas hymns on secular radio (read Deacon-structing Christmas Music to read more about this.) I was hoping this would be a short, simple post about how we can best worship God but have instead discovered there is so much to what it means to worship. Come back next week to delve a little deeper as we talk about adoration, thanksgiving, and blessing.
教宗良十四世:「願我們愈發學會分辨,知道如何選擇人生的道路,並拒絕一切使我們遠離基督和福音的事物。」
羅馬時間2025年6月20日下午5時,在教宗良十四世就任一個多月之際,梵蒂岡媒體於2025年6月20日放映紀錄片"León de Perú" (秘魯的良),重溫普雷沃斯特在秘魯的傳教歷程。