1. Our human concept of glory. For us glory is the measure of our own value. A recognition given by others giving us integrity, stability, happiness and harmony. In its earthy meaning, glory is such a power for which you do not have to fight again and again. Our longing desire for glory may accompany us as an insatiable and burning feeling through a whole unsatisfied, and (according to our measures) inglorious life. (If you would like to read more about this, please read my essay here.)
2. The real nature of Glory. The Glory of God is the exact opposite of glory considered in its earthy meaning: it is the light and love flowing out of Him to those who become part of the community of God. With His Glory, God does not receive but gives. However, God does not overspread us with His Glory according to our merits but because it is the very nature of His existence. By pouring out His Glory on us, God gives US integrity, stability, happiness and harmony if we are open to a connection with Him. The human soul, accepting the Glory of God does not only absorb it (as the devil does) but becomes alive and begins to reflect the Glory of God through its entire life. (If you would like to read more about this, please read my essay here.)
3. The Glory of the Trinity. Glory radiates from God. However, the flow of Glory and its power (that changes those human souls, which are open to become connected with God and Christ) are very important characteristics of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit may be the part of the Trinity that is the least possible to be characterized using human words. On one hand, the drift of the Holy Spirit may be so obvious and overwhelming that man getting quite far away of his previous self may take plenty of actions one after the other he could never ever imagine before. On the other hand, the Holy Spirit works in us in the silence of every day, too. Thus the Holy Spirit is the "direct representation" of the Glory of God for the souls that have not become united with Totality yet, whom it resurrects in Christ and enables to live a life reflecting the Glory of God. (If you would like to read more about this, please read my essay here.)
Introduction: Before the summer holiday in July-August in my last three essays I would like to describe a few thoughts about the Trinity: the trinity of space/kingdom, power/truth and glory/love. In my previous two writings I summarized a few (fragmentary) thoughts about the infinitely large space of God and His power embodied in Christ. In my present, concluding essay I will summarize a few thoughts about the nature of Glory. Many Readers of the blog realized that all the previous posts were based on the consecutive lines of the Lord’s Prayer. The increasing number of X-es at the beginning of the posts has referred to this, too. Reaching the end of the Lord’s Prayer, please find its text with a link below each line leading to the essay it inspired.
Our Father,
who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our supersubstantial bread.
And forgive // us our debts,
as we also forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation.
But deliver us from evil.
For yours is the kingdom
and the power
and the glory forever Amen.
1. Our human concept of glory
For us glory is the measure of our own value: nationwide (worldwide) fame, celebrity status, public honors that we receive due to our excellent performance or outstanding merit. According to this earthy interpretation, glory is recognition given by others. Our glorified status gives us integrity, stability, happiness and harmony arising from public recognition. In its earthy meaning, glory is such a power for which you do not have to fight again and again because it has become generally recognized and accepted. Moreover, instead of hate and fear of many forms of power, glory brings love and appreciation. Therefore, our longing desire for glory may accompany us as an insatiable and burning feeling through a whole unsatisfied, and (according to our own measures) inglorious life.
2. The real nature of Glory
"The love of God does not find, but creates,
that which is pleasing to it. The love of man
comes into being through that which is pleasing to it."
(Martin Luther: The Heidelberg Disputation 28, 1518)
The Glory of God is the exact opposite of glory considered in its earthy meaning. The Glory of God is not given to God by anybody else but it pours out of Him as an essential part of His very existence. The Glory of God is the light and love flowing out of Him to those who become part of the community of God. Thus with His Glory, God does not receive but gives: He overspreads those with His Glory who have found connection with Him. God does not overspread us with His Glory according to our merits but because it is the very nature of His existence. There is not any kind of recognition for us in receiving the Glory of God but this is such a Mercy that comes from the love spread by God because of Christ’s sacrifice. Integrity, stability, happiness and harmony are the very nature of God, who does not need Glory to complete them. On the contrary: by pouring out His Glory on us, God gives US integrity, stability, happiness and harmony if we are open to a connection with Him.
God always approaches us by giving a gift first. He gives us Himself, His love spreading from Him, His Providence, order and Glory. The Ten Commandments provide a beautiful example for this, where the first three commandments clarify man’s relation to God. In fact, these starting three Commandments are also great gifts from God meaning that we MAY HAVE a relationship with God. Christ’s incarnation and sacrifice of the Cross are the greatest gifts of God for us because we not only could get in direct contact with God, we were not only given Christ’s Path as our Direction to God but with forgiving our sins the Mercy of the Eternal Life became open for us, too.
The Glory of God, which spreads all over the whole Creation giving us harmony stands very close to the concept of Providence. Providence includes events when God directly intervenes the course of history, people’s lives or the development of the human soul. However, at the same time the flowing love of the Glory of God is an important element of Providence which continuously renews Creation and at the same time restores the order of Creation again and again.
Thus God is the source of Glory. On the contrary, we are the absorbers and beneficiaries of Glory. In one of my previous essays I wrote that devil is a sink, where all good becomes vanished. However, there is a large difference between human nature and devil in what they answer to the Glory and love of God poured on them. The devil fully absorbs glory and love spread on him. Those, who got connected with God, after they became able to leave their own original ego due to Christ’s sacrifice of the Cross, come alive because of the Glory of God shining on them. The human soul, which became alive due to the Glory of God spreading on it, gets even closer to God. During this process the human soul begins to show the Glory of God through its life and its acts, and with this reflects the Glory of God to others. Thus we do not merely "absorb" the Glory of God spread on us without any answer but we gain a new heart and a new soul out of it. With his new heart and soul we begin to praise God. Thus praising God does not only mean "a few sentences of doxology" but also our thanksgiving for the existence of God, His relationship with us, His gifts of Mercy, His blessings spread on us and (last but not least) for Christ Himself. Praising God becomes a state of our lives which have become radically changed by the Glory of God shining on us. Therefore man’s whole life becomes a continuous thanksgiving and an ongoing prayer in which he shows and radiates the Glory of God on the ones surrounding him.
3. The Glory of the Trinity
"The Spirit breatheth where he will;
and thou hearest his voice,
but thou knowest not whence he cometh,
and whither he goeth:
so is every one that is born of the Spirit."
(John 3:8)
Glory radiates from God. At the same time Glory (as kingdom – God’s divine space, and power – the Path showed by Jesus) is the indivisible characteristics of the Trinity as a whole. However, the flow of Glory and its power (that changes those human souls, which are open to become connected with God and Christ) are very important characteristics of the Holy Spirit.
The essence of the concepts of God and Christ’s divine nature cannot be approached by the human mind having only a rather limited vision. However, the Holy Spirit may be the part of the Trinity that is the least possible to be characterized using human words. The essence of the Holy Spirit can be found in its flow, its nature that cleans, transfers and encourages the human soul (and human communities) to make a chain of actions, and its nature of endowing men with characteristics (gifts and mercies) making them able to accomplish these actions. The firstfruits of the Holy Spirit are the intimate core of God’s creative strength that is the initiator of especially high-impact and long term processes. "The Holy Spirit does not lock us somewhere (e.g. to our own ego), but makes us free. It opens us, gives us future, and directs us towards serving others and spiritual gifts." (Reverend Benedek Dobszay) On one hand, the drift of the Holy Spirit may be so obvious and overwhelming that man getting quite far away of his previous self may take plenty of actions one after the other he could never ever imagine before. On the other hand, the Holy Spirit works in us in the silence of every day, too. So the Holy Spirit is the "direct representation" of the Glory of God for the souls that have not become united with Totality yet, whom it resurrects in Christ and enables to live a life reflecting the Glory of God. Amen.
I wish all my Readers
a summer that senses and passes on the Glory of God!
The next blog post can be reached here.
