The word glory has been jumping out at me from my readings for about a week now. When I read “God is man’s glory” this morning, I realized it was time to find out why. [Irenaeus, Against Heresies].
I have come to understand that not knowing the various nuances of the meaning of words frequently limits my quest for Truth. Thus, the “why” was likely rooted in the question – “What is glory?” I started with a basic dictionary. A redacted definition from Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary tells us that the word glory means: “praise, honor, or distinction extended by common consent: renown; worshipful praise, honor, and thanksgiving; a distinguished quality or asset; great beauty and splendor; something marked by beauty or resplendence.” Then I consulted a theological dictionary to better understand how this word is used in the Bible.1
With this information, the next question became, “how is God man’s glory”? When we stop to consider that all of our talents and the like come from him, we realize that we cannot have personal glory without acknowledging that the basis of such glory comes from God.
If one cannot have personal glory without God, then God is the only being worthy of true renown. Despite this, God chooses to share his glory with us; with the beings he created. I don’t know about you, but this is mind-blowing. I have a hard time practicing humility by not taking credit for things. How can the all-powerful God share his glory with me when I wouldn’t do the same for him? Yet, he does.
How does he share his glory with me? The answer starts with the incarnation. The God of all glory became man. He entered into our broken world to reveal himself to us. Paul says Jesus emptied himself, and became man. [Philippians 2:7]. He left all of his glory behind. While here, he taught us about a life of dying to self [Mark 8:34], a process by which we, too, are emptied. He taught us about the Holy Spirit, and how to receive him in baptism. In baptism, we receive God’s very self.
When we, with the help of the Holy Spirit, empty ourselves of all that is not of God, we become vessels that receive “God’s action and all his wisdom and power.” [Irenaeus, Against Heresies]. Through this process, we become more and more united to Christ, who was the revelation of God’s glory in the world. We become more and more Christ-like, and carry his glory into the world.
Thus, the more we empty ourselves of what is not of God, the more glorious we become, and the more we can share that glory with the world around us. This, in my opinion, is what Jesus meant when he came to give us the fullness of life. [John 10:10]. This life with God is the means by which we truly live. For one who struggles between existing and living, I find this incredibly good news, and I hope you do, too.
Spend some time with the Holy Spirit talking about your own glory. Does it stem from what you view as your own attributes or from his creative power in forming you and/or in his very presence flowing into the world through you? Ask him how you can cooperate with him to heal any attachments to your personal glory so you can become more a part of him. Ask him how you can better reflect his glory to the world. Close your time of prayer thanking Jesus for emptying himself and for teaching us to do the same. Then, thank him for the Holy Spirit who lives in you [or wants to live in you] by baptism, and for all that this salvific duo does and has done for you.
In Him,
dw
1 Sachs, John R., S.J. “Glory.” The New Dictionary of Theology. Edited by Joseph A. Komonchak, Mary Collins, and Dermot A. Lane, (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2000), 417–420.
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