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CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH SECOND EDITION

103: For this reason, the Church has always venerated the Scriptures as she venerates the Lord's Body. She never ceases to present to the faithful the bread of life, taken from the one table of God's Word and Christ's Body.

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No, the catechism should NOT speak of "adoration" in that context, but that's not because the body of the Lord is not to be adored.

Because only God is to be adored, there cannot be a similarity between the respect given to Scripture and the adoration given to the Lord's body. The catechism is saying because Scripture contains the words God has spoken, the Church shows respect for it (venerate) as the Church shows respect for the Lord's Body.

Adoration is higher than veneration, but adoration would imply veneration.

Should we adore the Lord's Body? Yes. Christ is one Person, human and divine. We adore Christ in his humanity on account of the Word.

Damascene says (De Fide Orth. iv, 3): "On account of the incarnation of the Divine Word, we adore the flesh of Christ not for its own sake, but because the Word of God is united thereto in person." ... As stated above (Article 1) adoration is due to the subsisting hypostasis: yet the reason for honoring may be something non-subsistent, on account of which the person, in whom it is, is honored. And so the adoration of Christ's humanity may be understood in two ways. First, so that the humanity is the thing adored: and thus to adore the flesh of Christ is nothing else than to adore the incarnate Word of God: just as to adore a King's robe is nothing else than to adore a robed King. And in this sense the adoration of Christ's humanity is the adoration of "latria." Summa Theologiae, IIIa Q25 A2

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  • Are adoration of the Temple and adoration of The God who dwells in the temple the same thing? We adore the king in his robe on account of the king. The robe profits nothing, right?
    – Mike Borden
    Commented Nov 6 at 23:56
  • If that is your key takeaway, you are missing the point. Don't confuse the analogy with the underlying reality.
    – eques
    Commented Nov 7 at 2:44
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I'm not catholic, but they post all their stuff online and document so here is what I found.

There are 3 levels of "veneration/adoration" according to Fr. James

  1. Latria, The adoration of God.
  2. Dulia, the simple respect and veneration/adoration of angels and saints.
  3. Hyperdulia, the adoration due to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

In simple english for common understanding I would call them.

  1. Worship/Adoration
  2. Veneration.
  3. Veneration++

Now if God is truly present within the Eucharist... then it is likely that the proper response is to worship God, venerate the Sacrament that contains God's precious blood and body, and then continue to worship God.

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    Latria, dulia and hyperdulia are actually Greek-derived terms. Latria has the same root as idolatry; dulia/hyperdulia have a root meaning "servant"
    – eques
    Commented Nov 6 at 15:51

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