INTRODUCING “GLORY BE MOMENTS”

 

It was early morning, and I was riding in the truck with my father to go to work in some of his landscaping jobs. We were heading east to start the day at the clients on the North Shore in Milwaukee.  The sun was just coming up, and even though I was still half asleep, I could appreciate that it was a particularly beautiful sunrise. My dad noticed, too.  “Oh, would you look at that,” he said.  “It’s times like these that make me just want to say a ‘Glory Be.’” And knowing my dad, I’m sure he said one out loud, right then and there.
 
Maybe I joined him, I honestly don’t recall. I was a young teenager then, and like I said, I was half asleep. But the concept stuck with me: that prayer, even rote prayer, can be spontaneous, and related to the present moment, and not limited to specific times or places. I came to learn of my father’s appreciation for nature, and how it was a key part of his spirituality. Indeed, “through the greatness and the beauty of creatures one comes to know by analogy their maker,” (Wis 13:5).[i] I now call such experiences, that is, feeling God’s presence in the present moment and feeling called to somehow respond, as “Glory Be moments.”
 
I became aware of how important Glory Be moments are in my spiritual life shortly after starting in my first parish less than a month after my ordination. As one would expect of a parish priest, I began to have people come to speak with me regarding prayer and their broader relationship with God. And they expected me to have something to say! I found myself returning to my personal basics for my relationship to God, and so began to share with them this concept of Glory Be moments.
 
Now, as I write this, I’m hardly a seasoned priest (just over 5.5 years ordained).  But I have worked in three different parishes in three different countries.  And having these types of conversations with people from different places, income and education levels, cultures, and languages, I still find myself returning to this basic practice of “Glory Be moments.”  I don’t think it is out of laziness; rather, I have been somewhat surprised by how many people lack a basic sense of an ongoing connectedness with God, of seeing his presence as something constant and active in their lives.  I imagine Paul’s words seem to many as distant as they must have sounded to the people of Athens: “he is not far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being,’” (Acts 17:27-28). 
 
I have thus found reflecting on Glory Be moments to be an effective tool for helping someone through a difficult time when God feels far away, or at the beginning of a more in-depth period of spiritual directions. It helps us to focus on basic tenets of spirituality (Christian or otherwise) such as to call attention to the present moment and God’s presence in that present moment. And this sort of “awareness is a powerful tool in the initial stage of spiritual transformation.”[ii]
 
In the beginning of the process, I usually invite people to implement the simple exercise of saying three Glory Be’s throughout the day. The trick is to say one after experiencing something that is beautiful, good or loving, right away, in the moment. I say to not shoot high but rather that it can be as basic as a delicious slice of pizza, a sunset, or a hug from a grandchild. To some, this may seem simple, but I have found for others (like for me), it has been a game changer regarding one’s relationship with God. It is an intentional exercise that then becomes a habit and hopefully leads one to fulfill the instruction of Meister Eckhart, the great medieval theologian and mystic: “Be in all things a God-seeker and at all time a God-finder, among all kinds of people and in all kinds of circumstances.”[iii]
 
After years of reflection on my experience with this concept of Glory Be moments in my personal prayer life and in guiding others, I now find it to be an exercise worth exploring and promoting.  Though a future series of reflections here in the Agora XXI Blog, I aim to reflect on this exercise in order to both explain it as well as to offer how it has the potential to lead to a deep relationship with God. I believe this simple exercise, turned into a habit, can have dramatic results in our lives as people of Christian faith. For, like many things related to God, what first seems simple oftentimes has the most profundity.
 
In future reflections, I will discuss how maintaining a habitual openness to Glory Be moments and responding immediately to them establishes a regular communication that is fundamental in our relationship with God (like any lasting relationship). Furthermore, it makes us aware of God’s presence to help us through difficult times; it develops into an attitude of gratitude that creates true humility; it drives us to face our sinfulness and strive for justice. In this way, over time, this simple exercise can lead to conversion of heart, and from there, to joy and mission. 
 
I know this sounds a lot to expect from the shortest of the basic rote prayers, but what I propose is a tool, not an end in itself. As a tool it can help to train us to “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor 5:7). It is walking by faith, then, that we become aware of how “the Lord speaks to us in a variety of ways, at work, through others and at every moment.”[iv]  To which I say: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning is now, and ever shall be, world without end.  
 
In each reflection in this series, I will invite you to participate in a simple exercise. It should come as no surprise that with this introduction I invite you to:
 

[i] Translation as found in Pope Francis, Laudato Si, no.12.
[ii] Haase, Albert (OFM). 2014. Catching Fire, Becoming Flame: A guide for spiritual transformation. Brewster, Massachusetts. Paraclete Press.  p. 21.  Albert Haase is a Franciscan friar who has written much on Christian spirituality.
[iii] Talks of Instruction, 22. As cited in Haase, p. 77.
[iv] Pope Francis, Gaudete et Exsultate, no. 171.