To avoid routine in your vocal prayers try to say them with the same ardour with which a person who has just fallen in love speaks… and as if it were the last chance you had to approach Our Lord. (1)

As I have been considering the approach of Advent, the theme of adoration keeps running through my mind.  And in the free-association sleeplessness that comes from a mixture of jetlag, going back to back long days and trying to live for a week in a country with a primary different language, I started thinking in french for some reason last night, picturing the shepherds kneeling by Mary and Joseph, peering into the feeding trough and looking at… God incarnate!  ( I know- picturing the manger scene with French speaking shepherds may be a little wierd… but)

The are looking, in awe, at the Messiah, the Son of God, God incarnate…. their Creator!

As the finally were able to speak, the only words that were uttered, softly and meekly, nous t’adorons.

We adore YOU!

Not said in the English idea, that the baby was just adorable…  (I doubt they pinched the Messiah’s cheek – but you never know)  But with the passion that is described in the quote taken from my morning devotions. With the ardour, with the passion, with the desire to never leave His side, to spend every moment thinking about our Lord and Deliverer.  It is by no means romantic, yet a similar kind of enthusiasm, a similar kind of joy exists.  The joy of discovering a love whose height and depth, breadth and width cries out to be discovered,  A love which needs to be explored – a love of the Creator, the One who has promised to fix and heal and make our lives the way they are meant to be – not just for this time, but for eternity.

We don’t just “follow Him”, we don’t just study His teachings, we don’t just honor what He has done at the cross and the empty tomb and all the miracles.

We Adore Him.  Nous T’adorons Jesus!

For He has come into our lives… and they will never be the same….

(1)Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 1665-1667). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.