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St. Thomas on Adoration: Some Reflections

As he begins his treatment of adoration in Summa theologiae [ST] II-II, q. 84 (a question that has been much-neglected in scholarship on the Summa), Thomas points out that the aim of adoration is to reverence the person who is adored. He has already demonstrated during the course of his question devoted to the virtue of religion in general, ST II-II, q. 81, that “it is proper to religion to show reverence to God.” In the fourth article of this earlier question, he explains that we show honor or reverence to someone on account of some excellence that he possesses. A unique honor is due to God, however, on account of his singular excellence, since “He infinitely surpasses all things and exceeds them in every way.” The preceding article had highlighted the basis of this “singular excellence”: the fact that God is “the first principle of the creation and government of all things.” Stated in Trinitarian terms, “the three Divine Persons are the one principle of the creation and government of things.” Gilles Emery, O.P., writes: “Creation . . . finds its foundation in the trinitarian mystery of personal communication or communication of being. God’s activity in the world is rooted in the intra-divine activity of the processions.”