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St. Thomas has three articles on adoration in his treatise on
religion.[1636] In the first he shows that adoration is an act
of latria, or religion. It is directed to reverence Him who is
adored, and it belongs properly to the virtue of religion, or latria,
to show reverence to God, on account of His supreme excellence as
Creator and Lord of all creatures. Hence to the devil, who tempted
Christ in the desert, saying: "All these I will give Thee if,
falling down, Thou wilt adore me,"[1637] Jesus answered:
"Begone, Satan, for it is written: 'the Lord thy God thou shalt
adore, and Him only thou shalt serve.",[1638] Adoration is
an act of honor, but not every act of honor is adoration; for equals,
even inferiors, are honored, but only the superior is adored.
Adoration in the broad sense is not an act of latria, but of dulia.
Thus the Scripture records that Nathan adored David,[1639]
bowing down to the ground, and that Abraham adored the angels, bowing
down before them to show his veneration.[1640] But the angels
and the apostles refused to accept the adoration of latria. It would
be idolatry as in paganism.
2) St. Thomas remarks that adoration is first an interior act,
which is the cause of a bodily act that expresses our submission, such
as genuflection, prostration, inclination.[1641] But the
principal act is the interior act of the mind, whereby, acknowledging
God's excellence, by a profound interior inclination before Him,
He is acknowledged as the most excellent Creator and Lord.
Wherefore Jesus said: "The true adorers shall adore the Father in
spirit and in truth."[1642] St. Thomas says: "We prostrate
ourselves, professing that we are nothing of ourselves."[1643]
3) It is in accordance with what is fitting that adoration requires a
definite place, namely, a temple, which is the house of God, as
being a place that is set apart, so to speak, from worldly affairs.
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