In the Christian prayer life there is a richness of ways to pray, and +generally we choose those devotions which help us to delve into the mysteries of +our Faith and to deepen our relationship with God. However, even though there +are a variety of particular devotions one may use (e.g. the Rosary, Liturgy of +the Hours, the Angelus) the ways we must interact with God to grow in our faith +are the same. Primarily, we traditionally understand there to be four +cornerstones of prayer: adoration, contrition, thanksgiving, and supplication +(a.k.a. ACTS). All four of these are necessary for having a good prayer life, +though we may effectuate them in different ways. Of these, perhaps the easiest +and most commonly seen is supplication, as this is simply asking God for +something; and God who is our heavenly Father wishes to give us all which we +need, and which we ask for in the name of His Son for He loves us (John +16:23-27). As a consequence, thanksgiving is also a common trait in our prayer, +albeit perhaps less frequent than it should be. Contrition is perhaps less +common and more difficult, as it requires the humility of recognizing our faults +before God in a solemn act of repentance; but even so many Christians know this +to be a fundamental part of their prayer life. All this said, what is perhaps +the most lacking element of prayer in most (Catholic) Christian groups I've +attended is simply adoration: to adore God not because of what He does for us +(as such is thanksgiving), nor because of His relationship with us, but simply +because of who/what He is, because He is God and Lord of all creation.
+ +When we truly love someone it is not because of what they do for us, as such +is only a conditional and (ultimately) utilitarian love. When that +person ceases to do these things for us we no longer show them love. Christian +love, and especially love towards God, however, cannot be as this. As +Christians we understand that God is worthy of our worship because He is God, +He is our Lord. He could give us nothing and we still owe Him our worship, +praise, and adoration, for He by His nature is a being worthy of our worship - +and He alone, as it is unjust for Him to have to share this worship with any +created thing, as it owes any goodness to Him alone.
+ +In the Catholic context it is perhaps easier for us to mistake things like +thanksgiving or communal prayer for adoration primarily because this is what we +call it when we expose the Holy Sacrament (the Eucharist) in the tabernacle. For +indeed, this is done traditionally for the purpose of adoration. He is placed +there for us to see Him and to adore Him. Yet often times what ends up happening +in these expositions (at least in Spain) is that in one way or another the +ambience or collective prayer is shifted away from adoration. There may be a +collective prayer where some people provide testimony of their personal +experience with the Lord, and give thanks. On occasion during Lent or Advent the +exposition of the Lord has been a time to do an examination of conscience to +repent, go to Confession, and ultimately prepare oneself for the great +celebrations to come. It's also often a site of many a supplication, where a +dire situation is at hand and we wish to bring the situation before the Lord and +ask for His mercy. Music also tends to be focused on either what we do or want +to do for the Lord, or what He does for us. And all these things are good and +beautiful, even during the exposition of our Lord. However, what seems to always +be lacking is that time of true adoration, when for just a moment we forget +about ourselves and focus on Him alone. Not on Him in what He does for us, just +Him.
+ +To adore God may be something difficult at first, as perhaps we feel awkward +that it seems kind of redundant - God is great, He's marvelous, He's +extraordinary, He's glorious... - but despite this monotony we discover that we +don't need an infinitude of words to describe just how amazing God truly is. We +just need to marvel at His glory. That is the reason why He is there in the +monstrance. Indeed, this is exactly what we shall be doing when we enter the +Beatific Vision. We shall spend the rest of eternity contemplating and +marvelling at the glory of God. In fact, this is the only form of prayer that +will be left in Heaven. There will be no more need for supplication, as all the +old things have passed away, and we will need nothing more than God's amazing +glory. There will be no more need for thanksgiving, as time no longer exists and +we have already been given the greatest gift in being in His presence in Heaven. +There will be no more need for contrition, as all evil will be eradicated from +us, and we shall be purified before our Lord. All that's left to do is to bask +in God's infinite glory and adore Him for all eternity.
+ +In case you are wondering what adoration of our Lord may look like, I'd +recommend listening to one of my favorite hymns, "How Great Thou +Art".[1] It is a simple song of adoration, +praising God and how great He is. That's all there is to it.
+ +God is truly great! Hallelujah, hallelujah!
+ +