Quoniam tu solus sanctus, tu solus Domi-nus, tu solus altissimus Jesu Christe, cum Sancto Spiritu in gloria Dei Patris. Amen
Ὅτι σὺ εἶ μόνος Ἅγιος, σὺ εἶ μόνος Κύριος, Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, εἰς δόξαν Θεοῦ Πατρός. Ἀμήν.
For thou only art holy; thou only art the Lord; thou only, O Christ, with the Holy Ghost, art most high in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
The final phrases of the Western Gloria have this sense of separation between us and God. "Only...holy" and "Only...Most High" seem to depict a very old idea of a remote God so very far removed from His Creation. Yet they are applied to Our Lord Christ which produces quite a fascinating paradox, for Christ is the Person of the Holy Trinity with Whom we have had Human to Human interaction. How can this Human Christ who chose, together with the Father and the Paraclete, to be with us be simultaneously so remote from us?
Let us think a little more deeply because we can find ourselves being rather equivocal in the way we treat the words "remote" and "separation". In what way is God remote from us? The hymn says it all: He is remote in Glory. We return to the beginning of the hymn talking about the impact that God has on Creation. No other being has this impact, and this demonstrate God as being utterly unique in the whole of Existence, so unique that we can only really describe Him with analogies that sometimes we stretch and twist too far to prove a point (mea maxima culpa). This immediately sets Him him apart from all that there is, but this is not an isolation.
God could have chosen to be isolated from Creation, but He hasn't. For whatever reason, He chose to create us; He has chosen to share it with us all the way; His isolation is in His uniqueness, but not in His intention. In this way we see a humble God, fully aware of Who He is, yet not wishing to revel in that Being as the only thing that mattered, but rather to share it respectful of our wishes and will. This seems to me to be why we were created -as visible expressions of God's humility. God shows us an intense desire to share beauty, love, and warmth with everything which is not-Him. He demonstrates that sharing is a two-way activity, though the nature of that activity is clearly different. What God shares with us is vastly different from from what we can share with Him.
Perhaps this is also why Evil exists: God shares with us the problem of what things are without Him in order that we can see Him more clearly, though this is a terribly trite and pitiful statement in the light of the recent sufferings in Haiti. This too demonstrates the unknowable nature of God. The knowing of God's mind will not help those suffering, but actions of love do speak louder than theodicies and philosophies in this matter.
The Gloria brings us full circle into the Mystery of a God who is unknowable and yet demonstrates His own revelation, presenting us with the unfathomable made visible, showing us realities beyond observability and always pointing to what is greater.
In the East, things don't end there.
Καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν εὐλογήσω σε, καὶ αἰνέσω τὸ ὄνομά σου εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα καὶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦ αἰῶνος.
Day by Day shall I bless Thee and praise Thy name now and into
the Age of Ages.
Again, I've already spoken about that wonderful phrase "Age of Ages", an the Eastern Church rejoices in having this phrase as continuing their reading of the Gloria. They then incorporate ten more verses from the psalms, a trisagion and a Gloria Patri.
However, thus ends a hymn with which we begin or end our Mass, depending on whether we are using a Missal or a strict observance of the format of the BCP Communion. From what I understand, it belongs at the beginning, because it points to the inadequacy of words to describe our relationship with God and leads us into the rites and ceremonies of the sacrament where we meet with God Himself. It lifts our hearts to Him, and we are called upon several times in the Mass to reflect back to this hymn ("Glory be to Thee, O Christ" "Lift up your hearts", "Lamb of God...").
And this hymn resounds with that final and ubiquitous "Amen", a word often forgotten because it is said so frequently and yet punctuates the Christian life so frequently and penetrates it so fully. We should never despise our "Amen".
Glory be to God on High? Amen - YES! So Be It.
2 comments:
You are doing a good job by sharing the Word of Faith. I appreciate your simplicity as Christ Ambassador. You are open to suggestion and even correction. Keep it up.
Languages, except those that are static, are evolving, organic entities. We often view phrases in the liturgy or in hymns with the mindset of the modern, common usage of words.
Words and phrases used to denote the awe and majesty of God often have very different but related meanings in todays world. The understanding of terms quite common and warm in Medeival and Elizabethan times may seem curious to us who know only the modern usage.
The Gloria, whether Eastern or Western, is a profound and endearing proclamation of awe and majesty.
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