“We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you, we give you thanks”. What does it mean to glorify God? As implied in the Gloria, that ancient liturgical prayer which contains these words, to glorify must be different than to bless, or to adore, or to give thanks. When we recite the Gloria at Mass or repeat the Doxology in every Rosary what do we intend with the words “we glorify you”, and “glory be to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit”?
To glorify God cannot signify giving Him something or in anyway changing Him. He is infinite and immutable. Therefore, to glorify God must somehow mean to change ourselves or, specifically, to change our relationship with Him. It is to enter into a deeper understanding of Him and, especially of His will as it pertains to us.
Jesus teaches us this. As recorded in John’s gospel in his prayer before his passion Jesus prays to his father “I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do” (Jn 17:4). Of course, his emphasis on God’s will his highlighted in the prayer he taught us: “Thy will be done”.
To glorify God, then, is first to acknowledge that in His infinite love he created us to share the fullness of life with Him, that in our free will we rebuffed His invitation, and that – again with infinite love – He has redeemed us. Our redemption, however, depends on our acceptance of and execution of what our Creator wills for each of us to do or be.
What does God want of us? Jesus instructs us to be perfect as God is perfect (Mt. 5:48). The word ‘perfect’ here means much more than flawless adherence to some moral code. It translates from the Greek word ‘teleios’ which means ‘whole’, ‘fully grown’, or ‘final’. (Teleology is the study of end purposes). To strive for perfection, then, is to realize fully the potential (purpose) uniquely possessed by each of us. It is to be fully engaged in creation. St. Irenaeus, that second century bishop of Lyons, wrote “The glory of God is man fully alive”. God wants us to make the most of our lives. Doing so glorifies Him.
Jesus also teaches us that to be fully alive is to live for others, to use the talents and strengths each of us possesses in service to others. So, in response to what we perceive to be His will for us we glorify God by using the gifts He has given us to help others realize their own full potential. This, too, glorifies God.
Helping others realize their potential is philanthropy. Philanthropy is more than financial aid. Any voluntary assistance in service to others is philanthropy. The word derives from the Greek words ‘phil’ for ‘love’ and ‘anthropos’ for ‘mankind’ (no offense to the gender police).
Around the world, through financial support and otherwise, philanthropists are engaged in activities that while making others ‘fully alive’ make themselves more ‘fully human’ as well. It is a privilege for us at NCCF to highlight these endeavors. In the column below we feature and article written about a new organization called The Abortions Survivor Network. Readers will agree its mission is a compelling example of giving glory to God.