62 — JESUS AND THE FATHER’S GLORY

Presence of God. — O Jesus, infuse into me Your spirit and Your zeal for the Father’s glory, and teach me to flee all personal glory.

Meditation

1 — “I honor My Father... Yet I do not seek My own glory... I do not receive glory from men” (Jn. 8, 49 and 50; 5, 41).

It is evident: Jesus seeks only the Father’s glory and, to glorify the Father, He chose for Himself the deepest humiliation, even to becoming “the reproach of everyone and the contempt of the people” (Ps. 21, 7). Bethlehem, Nazareth, Calvary are the three great stages of Jesus’ humble and hidden life, which conceals from men’s eyes His glory as Son of God. But even in His public life, in which His divinity is more manifested, Jesus seeks as much as possible to flee human glory. More than once, after working a miracle, He imposes silence; to the three Apostles who witnessed His Transfiguration He commands “to tell no one what they had seen until... He had risen from the dead” (Mk. 9, 8); and after the first multiplication of loaves, “knowing they were about to come and seize Him to make Him king, He withdrew again to the mountain by Himself” (Jn. 6, 15).

Jesus’ glory is to be Son of God: He wants no other. To accept another would be, so to speak, to renounce this essential glory, and therefore He declares: “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me” (Jn. 8, 54). Jesus knows that after His death He must be glorified, recognized as Son of God and Savior of the world, but He wants even this glory to serve the Father’s glorification: “Father, the hour has come: glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You” (Jn. 17, 1).

2 — The Christian, in likeness to Jesus, must seek only God’s glory and for himself must desire no other glory than that of being child of God, brother of Jesus Christ, and member of His Mystical Body.

One must carefully watch over the instinct of pride, which in our actions, even the most spiritual and holy, leads us to seek a little satisfaction, praise, personal glory. If we aim, even in small things, at glorifying ourselves, our glory is nothing: it raises us before men, but lowers us before God, diminishes and can even endanger our glory as children of God.

Complacency in and pursuit of human glory hinders and blinds us in the ways of the spirit. To proud and boastful Pharisees Jesus said: “How can you believe, you who receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” (Jn. 5, 44). Only deep humility will allow us to conquer pride’s flatteries, to silence the inner voices of praise and vain self-complacency, to seek only and in everything God’s glory. Turning our gaze to Jesus’ interior attitude, St. John of the Cross urges us to renounce anything “that is not purely for the glory and honor of God; and this for love of Jesus Christ, who in this life had and sought no other satisfaction than to fulfill the Father’s will” (S.I, 13, 3).

Colloquy

O Lord, give me Your love for the Father’s glory; grant that I too, though a miserable and poor creature, may in some way serve my God and give Him glory.

“Grant, Lord, that for me too there may finally dawn the day when I can in some measure satisfy for the much I owe You! Arrange things as You please best, but always in such a way, my God, that Your servant may serve You a little. How many, even weak women, have done heroic actions for love of You. I know only how to chatter: perhaps for this You never put me to the test, because my service comes down only to words and desires. And thanks to You that even in this I am not altogether free, because otherwise I would only abuse it. Strengthen my soul, O Good of all goods, O my Jesus, and dispose it so that it too may do some good and not have to suffer the pain of having to receive so much and never pay anything! Cost what it may, Lord, but no longer allow me to come before You with empty hands, since the reward will be in proportion to works! Here, Lord, is my life, my honor, my will! I have given You all, I am Yours, dispose of me as You please best. I know my little worth, but once I have reached You, I shall be capable of all, provided You do not leave me. A single instant in which You leave me is enough for me to plunge into misery” (T.G. Vi. 21, 5).

But You, Lord, make me understand that to labor for Your glory, for the glory of Your Father, it is necessary that I be completely detached from every desire of personal glory; otherwise I would deceive myself into thinking I toil for God, while in reality I would only serve my self.

O Jesus, You know this is for me the greatest danger, what I fear most in my good works and above all in my apostolic works. Therefore I beg You to use every means to keep me far from it; and if these means were humiliation, failure, criticism, oh, pay no heed to the repugnances of my pride, pay no heed to my tears, but use them, use them abundantly, because I do not in any way wish to be a thief of Your glory and spoil Your works with my pride.