Glory be is our Destiny

Everybody wants to go to Hell. Well, at least when it comes to Dante’s Divine Comedy. People love seeing all the people punished in his Inferno, almost as if they’re taking delight in seeing how the evil are punished; perhaps they’re imagining certain coworkers, family members, or politicians suffering in those Circles of Hell. But then, the interest diminishes when Dante travels onward and upward through his Purgatory, since there the souls are still punished, in a way, but perhaps a better word here would be “corrected.” Dante’s Purgatorio is more like a spiritual rehab facility – not exactly “fun” when you undergo it, but at least you know you’re getting fully healed and functional. I would venture that his Paradiso is the least popular part of his trilogy. There are fewer personalities that speak, and they speak longer and in a more philosophical discourse, explaining the cardinal and theological virtues. It’s a bit like hearing a coach or teacher on how to become excellent at your sport or craft – almost nobody is interested in practice, but everyone loves to perform and excel, without doing all the hard work and process that it takes to get there. But those who excel without some kind of inherent nigh supernatural talent come to love and embrace “the process,” as sportscasters and athletes are fond of saying. That’s where we go back to Purgatory. This is a curious note for the secular reader who encounters the souls in Purgatory. Who would be happy in Purgatory? Well… everyone. Again, Purgatory is not a pleasant experience, but it is leading to the ultimate true and everlasting pleasure, the long desire of our souls – God.

Even in this life, we are constantly doing practice. We gain the virtues and their rewards by practicing the virtues. Many ask God for patience, but nobody wants to put patience into practice. You become patient by practicing patience, especially if it’s not in your character to be patient (of which I am guilty). As there is a whole process as an athlete before you get to the podium, bearing your medal and honors, so there is a whole process for the saints to excel at the virtues. Sure, we all have our gifts and talents, and grace builds upon nature, but none of us is a completed edifice of saintliness. We need God’s grace, and we need to build up that edifice, brick by brick, patiently.

The most famous example is perhaps that of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Readers often love her very lovely and flowery (pun intended) language and prose, but for me, my favorite part of her writings is how she came to be a saint, especially the so-called “Christmas Miracle,” for it was not just the Christ Child born that Christmas, but also the death of the old Thérèse, and the birth of the new Thérèse:

"Now I will tell you, dear Mother, how I received this inestimable grace of complete conversion. I knew that when we reached home after Midnight Mass I should find my shoes in the chimney-corner, filled with presents, just as when I was a little child, which proves that my sisters still treated me as a baby. Papa, too, liked to watch my enjoyment and hear my cries of delight at each fresh surprise that came from the magic shoes, and his pleasure added to mine. But the time had come when Our Lord wished to free me from childhood's failings, and even withdraw me from its innocent pleasures. On this occasion, instead of indulging me as he generally did, Papa seemed vexed, and on my way upstairs I heard him say: "Really all this is too babyish for a big girl like Thérèse, and I hope it is the last year it will happen." His words cut me to the quick. Céline, knowing how sensitive I was, whispered: "Don't go downstairs just yet—wait a little, you would cry too much if you looked at your presents before Papa." But Thérèse was no longer the same—Jesus had changed her heart.

Choking back my tears, I ran down to the dining-room, and, though my heart beat fast, I picked up my shoes, and gaily pulled out all the things, looking as happy as a queen. Papa laughed, and did not show any trace of displeasure, and Céline thought she must be dreaming. But happily it was a reality; little Thérèse had regained, once for all, the strength of mind which she had lost at the age of four and a half.

On this night of grace, the third period of my life began—the most beautiful of all, the one most filled with heavenly favours. In an instant Our Lord, satisfied with my good will, accomplished the work I had not been able to do during all these years."
(Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, accessed via Christian Classics Ethereal Library, ccel.org).

Sometimes the best lesson as a boxer-in-training is simply taking a punch to the face. Sometimes the best lesson for a saint is take a direct hit to the soul, like St. Thérèse, or St. Paul on the road to Damascus. Because then we truly learn what we’ve been doing wrong, and now we put the lessons of the Lord into practice. The best occasions for me when I have gone to confession are not always the ones where I feel the experience of God’s mercy warmly and softly, like the Prodigal Son, but when I take that spiritual “body blow” right to the solar plexus and realize where I went wrong.

What does all this have to do with the Glory Be? The Glory Be is where we all want to end up, whether we like the “practice” we do in this life or not. The Glory Be is really the final, eternal, and definitive act of the soul thanking God for all His goodness, for loving God as He is and what He is – goodness and being itself. As I’ve mentioned before, and it may well be the thing I’m most remembered for, we have to practice thanksgiving, we have to learn to be grateful, even if it feels like spiritual “rehab” and we don’t want to do it. Virtue is often not an emotion for the virtue itself, but a choice to do the virtue, to put it into actual practice. St. Therese shows us that in her life.

This is why we, like the spoiled spiritual children that we often are (again, guilty here), need to worship God, to give Him thanks in this life, because that’s what we’re all hopefully going to be doing in the next. Not going to Sunday Mass or failing in the bare minimum of worship is being a spiritual ingrate. “But Father, it’s difficult.” Yes, so are all things in the beginning, even in practice. Only laziness and mediocrity are easy. We need to be good spiritual children and write our thank-you notes, and give our prayers. In liturgy we often speak of “a sacrifice of praise,” taken from Hebrews 13:15. It is our most basic function as the priesthood of believers. The ministerial priest offers the sacrificial gifts at Mass, together with that sacrifice of praise of the laity, offering it all to God.

Let’s pray for that Little Flower-like Christmas Miracle for each of us, to recognize the good gifts God has given us, and continues to give to us, even in and especially in the difficult situations. We take so many things for granted – all the hard work, all the sacrifices people make to bring food to our table, to keep everything running, even the very beauty of creation all around us, the wonder of nature, and the very basic beauty of the human soul, made in the image and likeness of God. We expect to be given things, not realizing that, in the natural order, nothing is due to us. As a society we choose to organize ourselves in certain ways so folks do not lack the basic necessities, but without the anchor of Faith and God, we lose our thankfulness, and become warring classes, rich against poor, poor against rich, without realizing that we are called to be there for each other, giving thanks for what we have, and for what we are capable of giving others, and for what we receive from others.
This is where blessedness dwells, in that spirit of thankfulness. The blessed angels where, in the moment of their decision, gave thanks to God and served His goodness. The fallen angels are the ones who said, “No thanks” and went their own unmerry way.
When we get to those Pearly Gates, therefore, will we say “Thanks” or “No thanks” to God? Nobody is forcing us to go to Heaven, because no one is forcing us to be grateful. So let’s all start practicing those little spiritual “thank yous” in this life.

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. Amen. Thank you, God!

The Rosary is one of the most powerful devotions entrusted to us by Our Lady, and in these turbulent times, it remains a sure path to peace, conversion, and deeper love of Christ.
Pope Leo XIV

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