GLORY

 

GLORY

'Glory' is a word often used in Christian liturgy, but when you think about it, what does it mean ? It is often accompanied by the word, 'praise' – and when we give the praise and glory to God, we are recognising God's hand at work in our lives, stepping back from taking the credit for our achievements. We are saying, no, this is God's work. He did it. But of course we can't give glory to God. He IS the glory.

You only have to try meditating the word to discover what glory is. Your brain shuts down and you are invaded by peace. You can't think at all. Perhaps that's why so little is written about it in Catholic or Protestant theology. But our Orthodox friends are bolder. So I turned to one of my favourite boooks, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church by Vladimir Lossky. The Glory is God 'who is'. And now, we remember that God gave his name to Moses as, 'I AM'. God is. We are not. We only exist, but at least we can become ... Now this we can meditate. And this glory, which is God is undivided, Father Son and Holy Spirit, one God brightly shining forever -

'Shining' is another word which takes us forward. We think of haloes round saints' heads. We think of pictures of Christ, rays coming from his hands. We remember the photograph of Mother Teresa of Calcutta emanating light as she went about her works of mercy. The light tells us that God was and is 'in it'.

I'm writing this coming up to the fifth Sunday of Easter when the given gospel text is Jn. 13, 31-35. The text originates in the happenings immediately after the last supper and before the crucifixion :

'Now has the Son of man been glorified,

and in him God has been glorified.

If God has been glorified in him,

God will in turn glorify him in himself,

and will glorify him very soon.'

It's a bit mistifying. But if we go back to the very beginning of John's gospel, we read :

'In the beginning was the Word.

The word was with God

and the Word was God

He was with God in the beginning.'

God, Father Son and Spirit can never be divided. But, just as the sun projects solar flares towards our world, God the glory 'who is', projected Jesus out of eternity into time and space to become the Son of Man. Jesus was and is 100% human and yet 100% divine – another aspect to meditate. And it's not so hard to understand. Consider dual nationals. They were and remain as say 100% British (or whatever) but at one and the same time they are 100% another nationality altogether. Jesus is still with the Father, while being Mary's human son. But all his action is in line with the Father's will – remember him as a child in the Temple expalining to his distressed parents that they ought to have realised he had to be about his Father's business. And remember what he told the disciples : 'You are my friends if you will obey my commandments.' Jesus did not, could not stray from his Father's will, which is his own. He is the glory and the glory is Jesus in the same way that the saints emanate the luminous glory of God by doing his will. God Has to be 'in it'.

So, God is and we are one with him if we do his will. And the promise that St Paul speaks of – the coming of the children of God can only happen when we all are one with God, doing his will as it is done in heaven. But how can we see and know the Glory ? Orthodox theology speaks of God's uncreated energies manifesting from the glory. Even if we don't see them, we can sense them, like sunflowers turning towards the sun. So even if it's hard to meditate the Glory, let us bask in the light of the divine. Let us adore God and then we will begin to shine. It's time. Val