Spiritual Life through Reflections, Meditations and Contemplations

Easy Mistakes About Glory

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“Glory and Honour to You O Jesus Christ!”

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“Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,

As it was in the Beginning and Ever shall be,

World without End!”

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“Through Him, With Him and In Him,

In the Unity of the Holy Spirit,

All Glory and Honour is yours,

Almighty Father,

For Ever and Ever!

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When I was a child and a teenager, the term ‘glory’ so frequently used during the Holy Mass and other celebrations was for me only an obscure enigma. It carried no particular significance. I had even feared that it were a reference to a solemn ancient cult in which incense, candle lights and Gregorian chants were compulsory. I feared so, because the perspective to spend the best part of my existence, and all its beyond in such a state was not especially attractive for me, and it even seemed to me that it was a cult doomed to disappear. But the injunctions as mentioned above looked like invitations to go back to such states ‘for ever and ever!’

            As it is often the case, it is refreshing to search for the origin of a particular term, its etymology and its history, in order to recover its first meaning and significance. And the term ‘glory’ would not be an exception to this rule, on the contrary. Indeed, the Hebrew word ‘kavod’ means nothing else than what is heavy, as opposed as what is light. Therefore, glory is very concretely whatever weighs down, whatever makes the scale move from one side rather than from the other. Something endowed with ‘glory’ cannot be manipulated nor negotiated lightly.

            And it is also the case within the life of a person. It does fit my experience in any case. Indeed, there are always particular matters that preoccupy the spirit rather than others. There are specific things that mobilise resources and take more importance. It seems to me that it would be helpful to replace the term ‘glory’ by ‘importance’ in the liturgies wherever it is to be found. The message it conveys would be less obscure.

            There is no human being who may claim to be able to live without turning his or her face and energies towards certain matters rather than others. For instance, when a young man is preoccupied to win the heart of the one he loves, this later receives the ‘glory’ and resources of his being. Also, when a mother is worried about the well being of her children and work unceasingly in order to achieve it, she also turns the ‘glory’ of her being, including her strength and her energies, towards her family. And we could multiply examples at will. Towards which kind of specific matters is my being turning itself towards?

            It is impossible that a human being would not turn his or her face towards anything specific. Even the lazy person turns himself or herself towards rest or inactivity that he or she desires. But most often, the ‘glory’ is turned rather upwards, that means towards the climbing of the social scale. Most often indeed, motivations which are animating our beings are geared towards a hope to win a bit more money, or perhaps the perspective to enjoy a more comfortable life, or to become a little bit more respected and even famous. So, our masters, those who receive our personal ‘glories’ are naturally those who are a bit higher than ourselves in society, and that we imitate in order to integrate in ourselves their qualities, and all this even without us noticing it. Also, glory is a basic concept for the political world as it is often to be associated with power.

            It is sometimes very easy to fool oneself about the quality of the glory that we offer through our lives. For instance, there is a very healthy exercise that everybody can make for oneself and that consists in counting most exactly the timing of particular tasks within a day or a week. Also, we may try to account for our expenses and sort out what kind of activities or things are most deer to us. The result will say without a lie the quality of our particular ‘glories’ and towards what are they turning themselves. This test never lies. There is a religious community which took this exercise seriously and discovered consequently to its great surprise that more than 80% of the time within its councils were dedicated for financial matters, and so within a permanent fashion. Within a case such as this, what is the share of the ‘glory’ which is spared for the God that claims it serves?

            Glory is everywhere in our lives. It fills up our existences without ceasing, even before we may be able to think about it seriously. It will always remain something that is more important than another within the life of a person.

            The Gospel teaching invites us unceasingly to become more aware with whatever is happening within ourselves. Matters which are important in my life: are they the right ones? And what is God saying in this respect?

            What is God saying, you may guess, is rather revolutionary. The Holy Parish Priest of Ars, Saint Jean-Marie Vianney used very vivid images to explain his parishioners. And he used to compare the glory of this world against the glory that God proposes in the Gospel with the work of a scale of two plates: the more it is low and heavy on one side, the more it is high and light on the other side!

            Indeed, the more a human being is seduced by whatever is strong, wealthy or majestic, the more God despises it. And on the contrary, the more a person is humble, rejected, despised, marginalised in the eyes of the world, the more this person becomes important and glorious for God. Everybody will be able to find for oneself examples that are plentiful in the Gospels to this effect. From the day of the Annunciation of the Birth of Christ to Mary by the angel Gabriel, to the death of Jesus on the cross, it is also the most precious example that is offered to us.

            But human beings, it is well known, are rather strong-headed, and they continue unceasingly to fool themselves on the quality of the glory to be offered day after day.

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"My soul magnifies the Lord,

And my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,

For he has regarded the low state of his servant.

For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed;

For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.

And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm,

He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts,

He has put down the mighty from their thrones,

And exalted those of low degree;

He has filled the hungry with good things,

And the rich he has sent empty away.

He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,

As he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his posterity for ever."

Mary (Luke 1, 46-55).

Net and Web: Catching Fish or Promoting Humanity?

The English term ‘Internet’ stems from the root ‘net’ which initially is a trap as for instance, a ‘fish-trap’. Also, the word ‘web’ conveys the same idea if we remember what a ‘cobweb’ or a ‘spider web’ is for. 

When I visited the Iad Vashem museum in Jerusalem, which is a memorial to the holocaust against the Jewish people carried out around the Second World War, I was introduced into a room representing the year 1943 of the war. In this room, the walls were decorated with an immense spider web with the following comment: ‘before this date, it was still possible for a European Jew to escape the massacre while using underground means. But from this year, the web ties up and nobody would then be able to hope to pass safely through it.’ The feeling was very impressive.

Internet is first of all a trap or a net which takes in it a lot of people who were just passing by, if only ‘to see’. But are they getting out of it? And in case they do, have they done the crossing safely? For instance, considering the abundance of immoral pictures which invite themselves to the screen, and sometimes without even being called for, it is clear that unhealthy dependences are created. But even without those, do they not affect the purity of heart?

The Bible proposes a few references to the net, such as the ‘fisher net’. Within the Gospel according to Mark 1: 18, Jesus invites four men to become his first disciples: Peter, Andrew, James and John. It is the call of the first disciples to become ‘fisher of men.’ And they left their nets which were used to catch fish, in order for Jesus to provide them nets used to catch human beings. And these are the same disciples we find at the end of the Gospel of John and to whom Jesus asks after a vain catch of fish: ‘throw the net to the right side of the boat!’ They did so, and the net filled up, to breaking point, with big fish. They were 153, which represents the number of known peoples at that time. They had, symbolically fished men from all nations.

Perhaps it is a bit like that with the web or internet: often it is an instrument used to catch fish that are beings in their animal or bestial passions. And because it is still the commonest quality of the human race, immoral sites are still the most commonly visited since the creation of the web. They are very successful and are unceasingly trapping. As it is often the case, people who are marginalised, suffering with loneliness, depression or loss are the first and prominent victims. The revolution of the instrument called ‘Internet’ from whatever was available before is the completely anonymous character added sometimes with being completely free of charge. Heroic strength is needed to resist such temptations. Anybody is enabled to perform his little dirty business on demand without disturbing anybody else, or without being embarrassed by it. Except that he may spoil himself even without him knowing it. This is so because images come to transform the inner qualities and willingness of those who are contemplating them. Have we not this innate tendency to integrate in ourselves something of whatever we are contemplating?

And in which year are we? Before or after 1943?

In the Bible, creation is always the result of a safe crossing of the waters. For instance, its first pages depict the creation of the world as a successful separation of the waters, and baptism itself is but an immersion in the waters. And between those both events, there are plentiful examples of successful crossings of the waters: the flood, the crossing of the red sea, the entering into the Promised Land, the calming of the storm etc.

A net is something which comes to prevent the success of this crossing. It is an obstacle to the achievement of the divine creation. Of course, we cannot expect going back suppressing by a simple decree the use of the instrument Internet, but we have to encourage the success of the crossing of humanity towards the Kingdom, towards a greater fraternal spirit among human beings, that is towards whatever is beautiful, helpful, edifying and in unity with what represents the divine will.

As it is with soccer, the best defence always has been the attack, and that is why Jesus proposes other kinds of nets, nets which will this time catch human beings and no longer fish. These are nets made for human beings who are using their full capacities to think, to love, to honour human dignity and brotherhood and forbid themselves to simply consume it. Jesus invites to the promotion of the full spiritual aspirations of humanity, and in order to do so, he proposes the constitution of special nets in order to attract those who desire ‘to see God’. They are the ones with ‘pure hearts’ (Mt. 5: 8), or those to whom it is given to understand the benefit of such an institution as voluntary continence (Mt. 19: 12). They are those who are like ‘little children’ (Mt. 19: 14), because finally, little children are the very ones who succeed to live a chaste life without it to be a burden for them, or without being preoccupied by it!

In order to pass successfully through the fish net, which are so many unhealthy web sites, we must become... very small indeed!

Ultimately, Internet is still condemned. It is condemned to transform itself. Instead of being the fish trap as it is too often the case today, it must become a trap for human beings, respecting every aspect of their humanity, encouraging it, nurturing it and beautifying it. In ancient times, the famous Diogenes used to walk in broad day light while carrying a lit lantern and shouting ‘I am looking for a man! I am looking for a man worthy of his title!’ The poor man could hardly meet any. A Sukuma proverb (Tanzania) succinctly expresses the fact that ‘animality’ or bestiality is easy, but humanity is difficult.

As it is so, the transformation would not happen without the participation of an always greater number of people looking for human beings, people who are purifying their eyes and their hearts, people who will encourage through their participations and contributions to web sites which are not compromising on human dignity and brotherhood, thank God they are already existing in plenty.

It may be impossible to suppress internet, but it is not fair to ask for human beings to become again, mere fish.

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“Your eyes are too pure, too holy to look at evil,

And you cannot stand the sight of people doing wrong.

So why are you silent while they destroy people,

            Who are more righteous than they are?

How can you treat people like fish that have no ruler to direct them?

The impious enemies catch people with hooks, as though they were fish.

They drag them off in nets and shout for joy over their catch!

They even worship their nets and offer sacrifices to them,

Because their nets provide them with the best of everything.

Would they empty their nets without any dream?

Would they keep on destroying human beings without mercy?”

                        (Habakuk 1: 13-16)

On Slavery or the Curious Path of a Quote

“I am Man, and Nothing that is Human is Foreign to Me.”

Members of the Society of the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) are very familiar with these few words. It is a sentence pronounced by their founder, Cardinal Lavigerie. He has done so for the first time within the church of Gesu, Roma, on the 22th of November 1888, as part of a virulent campaign against slavery, still practised at that time, mainly in Africa.

Here is the context of the speech from the Cardinal: “In a church crammed full, the Cardinal spoke gravely, as if overwhelmed with the feeling that the fate of millions of people was hanging in his words. He presented himself as the spokesman, not of a nation, nor even of a religion, but of humanity: That is why I am appealing to everyone” he said, “without distinction of nationality, party or religious creed: Homo sum, et nihil humani a me alienum puto. I am a man and nothing of what is human is foreign to me. That is a cry which came from Rome (…). I am a man, injustice towards other men is revolting my heart. I am a man, cruelty towards men horrifies me. I am a man and what I would like people to do to restore to me freedom, honour and the sacred bonds of family, I want to do that to restore the sons of this unhappy race, family, honour and freedom” Papers of all shades were in actual facts unanimous in promoting the work and praising the worker. This Christmas 1888 was a Christmas of peace and hope.’ [René Xavier Lamey M.Afr ‘Cardinal Lavigerie Selection of Articles’ Rome 1990, pages 200-201.].

Indeed, the quote in Latin is effectively coming from Rome as it is from Terentius in his work ‘The Man who Punishes Himself’ (I: 1, 25), written almost exactly 2000 years before the speech of the Cardinal.

But was it then truly a ‘cry’? Here is the context of the quote in the work of Terentius, which is a comedy. It is a dialogue between two neighbours, two Roman noblemen called Chemes and Menedem. Chemes has noticed that Menedem takes a lot of time doing manual work, a situation unworthy of his condition. So he decides to enquire from his neighbour the reason for this strange situation:

“Chemes: - If I go out in the morning or even late in the night, every time I see you toiling your garden, plowing and carrying many things; in short, you never cease and you do not count your labour. Is it for pleasure? I do not believe it. You may tell me ‘so few people work these days that I am sad about it’ still all the burden that you take to perform these tasks, you should make a better use through compelling your own slaves to work.

Menedem: - Your business, Chemes, leave you much leisure so that you may even care for those of others, which are none of your concerns.

Chemes: - I am a man, and nothing that is human is foreign to me. [‘Homo sum, et nihil humani a me alienum puto’]. Advise, curiosity, you may take my words as you wish. If your conduct is just, I will adopt it, otherwise, I will convince you to change.

Menedem: - I am as such; as for you, do as you wish…”

[In Heautontimoroumenos (The Man who Punishes Himself) v. 66 following my own translation from a French version.]

            As incredible as it may seem, in the original text from Terentius, Chemes does indeed encourages his neighbour to make good use of his slaves and therefore promote the institution of slavery. It seems that for him, humanity does not comprise the social class of slaves. This is all the more confusing when considering the identity of Terentius, called in full ‘Publius Tenrentius Afer’. ‘Afer’ refers to ‘The African One’ as he was born in Carthage and brought to Rome in infancy as a slave. He was sold as such to Terentius Lucanus who gave him education and released him from his condition. [See Larousse du XXe Siècle, 1933, tome 6 page 644].

            Therefore, same sentence means one thing and its exact contrary, according to the context in which it is inserted.

            And if it was so about people, about events and symbols that we daily meet? Indeed, all those take meanings and significations according to their respective surrounding, environment and context in which they are found.

            Rain is the nightmare for the foot pilgrim or the tourist, but is blessed by the farmer.

            There is a boy who cursed his infirmity which compelled him to limp from birth, till the age of 20. At this age, he witnessed all his class companions leaving for the army, then for the war from which they never came back. His infirmity took all of a sudden another meaning for him.

The Christian symbol par excellence, the cross, was first of all and during the first centuries of Christendom only a mark of cruelty and shame that was carefully avoided to refer to. It took a slow meditation and contemplation from the Christian people before accepting and integrating the fact that it can also represent a source of life and of hope.

It is the human genius as to be able to make use of creativity and freedom, so that to re-situate our lives and all the events which are included in them, according to edifying, constructive and useful perspectives. To make efforts to remind oneself of a caring and loving God upon each one of us should help us to break from ungenerous and narrow minded attitudes which are too often those offered to us by the world. To remind oneself of the qualities of God in front of humanity, as they are revealed by Christ, is to remind oneself of our greatness and dignity.

To pray is to choose not to stay prisoner. Prisonner from our mental representations, through operating a selection among those and placing them in higher perspectives.

The message of Cardinal Lavigerie as he originally intended it could well hide some more other ones, because there might be so many different ways to be slave!

Promise of a sunny day which is about to start or on the contrary, announcement of the close darkness of night?