AWE -Adoration, Worship, Everything
I once learned a handy acronym that helps to call to mind the several forms of prayer - ACTS - standing for Adoration, Contrition, Thanksgiving and Supplication. We learn many things, but this has proved to be a particularly outstanding mnemonic, repaying me over and over again for the small effort needed to make it my own.
Rumination last evening led me to come up with a new mnemonic which pleases me with its cuteness because it stands on its own - AWE - as a worthy suggestion of how to relate to Almighty God, but also breaks down into three offerings that we owe, and can give to, Holy God - Adoration, Worship, and … EVERYTHING!
A lingering quibble: what, if anything, distinguishes ‘adoration’ from ‘worship’. Where are the angels when you need them…
The priest this weekend said the four kinds of prayer are the same as the four most important phrases for a happy life.
“I love you, I’m sorry, thank you, please.”
Which matches nicely with: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication, but is easier to remember.
I look at it this way: Adoration refers to a hallelujah feeling of Your so Awesome, Father; and Worship makes us bend our knee and bow our heads when we acknowledge Him.