On that wondrous night two millennia ago what did it signify, that jubilant cry of the heavenly host when, announcing the birth of the Savior, they sang “Glory to God in highest”? What is glory? What has it to do with God? How does one glorify God? As kids we learn the doxology, but what do we mean when we pray: “Glory be to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”?
Perhaps each of us has a different explanation, or even no explanation. But, given that joyous angelic proclamation on that first Christmas night we might benefit from some reflection. Maybe the following seven biblical references hold something in common that will help us address the question.
One: Mary and Joseph separately and willingly comply with God’s requests. Two: by becoming one of us God restores our ability to become that for which he originally created us. Three: God enters the world as an infant entirely dependent on the guidance of his earthly parents. Four: children are taught to honor their parents and they bring joy to them by abiding by their instruction. Five: Jesus tells us to address God as “Our Father”. Six: Jesus teaches us to pray to the Father with the words “Thy will be done”. Seven: Jesus admonishes us that the kingdom of heaven is for the childlike.
What unifying message do these separate references connote about glory?
As a result of our falling away from him God becomes one of us to lead us to that perfect union with him for which he created us. To lead us means that we follow him, and to follow him means we do his will, that which he deems best for us. Just as a child honors his parents when he adheres to their guidance, we honor God when in the childlike attitude a child has toward his parents we do what God sees best for us. When we do this not only do we please God we find that we are more alive. When we are more alive we experience glory, our glory. St. Irenaeus says that ‘man fully alive’ is also God’s glory. Our glory and God’s glory are, if not the same, at least the shared consequence of our following God’s will.
To pray “Glory to God”, then, is more than to give praise. To praise is to offer extolment to another. To glorify is to submit to another. We praise God when we express admiration for him. We glorify God when we accept his will for us. To pray “Glory to God” is to declare our willingness to do his will. Perhaps this explains the song of that heavenly host two thousand years ago. The angels knew that with the Incarnation the fullness of time had arrived and God’s plan for our own glory – and therefore his – was being accomplished.
Let us all accept and cherish the challenge this promise of glory presents and understand that the more ‘fully human’ we are the more we glorify our Creator. Let us treasure this glory as a non-negotiable sacred possession lest we become like those stiff-necked souls in scripture who ‘exchanged their glory for the image of a grass eating bull’ (Ps. 106).
And, let us all have a happy and blessed Christmastide.