During the Bible Service on Holy Saturday, the verse that struck me most is:
“Through him we obtain this favour in which we remain and we even rejoice in the expectation of sharing the Glory of God.” (Romans 5:2)
There were two questions that I asked myself.
1. What is the Glory of God?
2. How may I share in this Glory of God?
To the first question, the inspiration that came to me is: “The Glory of God is UNITY.”
God’s Glory in Himself is the Great Mystery of the Blessed Trinity – where there are Three Divine Persons, each of them a God, but who are so united that they become just ONE GOD.
To the second question, however, I am reminded of what St. Athanasius said: “The Glory of God is Man Fully Alive.”
God’s Glory in man is also his Unity, or his Oneness with God, with his fellowmen, with his own self, and with the laws of nature.
Unity with God is what we may call “Spiritual Unity”.
Unity with one’s fellowmen is what we may call “Social Unity”
Unity with oneself is what we may call “Personal Unity”
Unity with nature is what we may call “Ecological Unity”
When man attains this fourfold Unity, then he becomes “Fully Alive” and he shares in the Glory of God, because he becomes One with God spiritually, socially, personally and ecologically.
But what is it that can bring about this Unity with God, with our fellowmen, with oneself, and with nature? The answer to this question, I believe, is LOVE. The great thinker and palaeontologist, Rev. Fr. Teilhard de Chardin, SJ, said that “the only force that can unite men without destroying them is Love.” True love of God, of our fellowmen, of oneself, and of nature is the Way that can make a Man Fully Alive, the Glory of God.
By: Salvador B. Cagurangan
Aug. 2, 2009
