All for God’s glory

DEO omnes gloria! This should be the basic principle to

follow in all our thoughts and intentions, our plans and desires, and

our actions from the most hidden and personal ones to the most social

and global.

            Everything comes from him. Everything belongs to him. He

is the source of all truth and goodness, the author of the ultimate

reality. He should always be in our mind and heart, the beginning and

end for everything in our life. Outside of this loop, we would be

creating our own ivory tower, our own bubble, our own silo.

  

            That is why St. Paul repeatedly made these reminders:

“Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and

not for men, because you know that you will receive an inheritance

from the Lord as your reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

(Col 3,23-24)

  

            In another occasion, he said: “Whether you eat or drink or

whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10,31) And

still another: “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in

the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through

him.” (Col 3,17)

             We need to train ourselves to make God the beginning and

end, the Alpha and Omega, of all our thoughts, words and deeds. We

need to rectify our intentions and keep that rectitude all the way to

the consummation of those intentions.

  

            This will indeed require a lot of discipline. Very often

we are simply dominated by worldly values, like efficiency,

profitability, practicability, etc., which if not inspired by love for

God will always fall short of what is proper to us.

  

            Let us always remember that we are bad in handling good

things and other blessings unless they are referred to God. Sooner or

later, we will misuse them. And they will eventually spoil and corrupt

us. And instead of being their master, we will become their slaves.

  

            That’s why Christ clearly told us that if we want to

follow him, we have to deny ourselves and carry the cross. (cfr Lk

9,23) This self-denial starts when we pray, since by praying we deny

talking with ourselves so that we can converse with God all the time.

             When we pray, we somehow get to be in the know of God’s

plans, his will and ways at all times. Our knowledge of them,

mysterious as they are, may not be perfect but at least we get

familiar with them, and that would be good enough, for practical

purposes.

             This is the most ideal situation for us to be in. We just

have to try our best that we manage to pray all the time, carrying a

running conversation with him which is actually the most interesting

dialogue we could have, for what better, more exciting talk could we

have other than that with God?

  

            We should be able to convert everything in our life into

means and occasion for prayer, since there’s actually no dead spot

insofar as our communication with God is concerned. Even our worst

scenario can be a most fertile ground for prayer to gush out.

             From there, everything else will be lived with God and for

his glory!