From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordAdoration is reverent worship, often embodied in lifted eyes, hands, and praise.
- In TraherneTraherne repeatedly makes adoration participatory.
- In this editionThe plural “adorations” at I.85 refers to acts of worship.
- A place to beginAdoration belongs to a many-sided response to Christ’s descending love.
Meaning
Adoration is reverent worship, often embodied in lifted eyes, hands, and praise. Its inward act is esteem directed toward divine excellence, not simply the outward posture that expresses it.
Use in the book
Traherne repeatedly makes adoration participatory. The reader is to behold Christ with the eyes of worshippers everywhere and delight in their adorations. Their separate devotions become an enlargement of one's own soul, reaching across places and generations. In the prayer to Jesus, adoration stands among humiliation, ardour, joy, and thanksgiving: reverence does not displace affection. Nor does the painful appearance of the crucified body exclude it. The descent into suffering reveals a love that commands adoration even in visible deformity. Worship is consequently a way of reading appearances through the action they manifest, and a way of making the happiness of other worshippers one's own.
Places to read
In this edition
The plural “adorations” at I.85 refers to acts of worship. It need not imply a multiplication of divine objects or a special liturgical rite.
Source note
Primary text: I.62, I.85, I.89. The prayers and directions cited ground adoration in Christ’s love and participation in others’ worship.