August 11, 2024 - Pastor Message
December 30, 2024THE CATHOLIC TREASURY OF PRAYERS THE GLORY BE
THE CATHOLIC TREASURY OF PRAYERS
THE GLORY BE
“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.”
The above prayer, commonly referred to as the “Glory Be”, is probably the best known Catholic prayer after the Our Father and the Hail Mary and, with them, forms the heart of the Rosary. It is a type of prayer known as doxology, from the Greek for “speaking glory”. In doxology, we give praise and glory to God. This type of prayer predates Christianity and is found in various religions all around the world.
It has come to our faith from our Jewish roots and is found, for example, in the Psalms: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the firmament proclaims the works of his hands” (Psalm 19:2). St. Paul employs doxology often in his letters: “For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Romans 11:36). We also see it, for example, in the Book of Revelation: “To him who who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, who has made us into a kingdom of priests for his God and Father, to him be glory and power forever and ever, amen” (Revelations 1:5-6).
The particular doxology we call the Glory Be grew out of ancient baptismal formulas that invoked the Holy Trinity. To combat the heresy of Arianism, which did not recognize Jesus as the coeternal Son of God, it became common in the 4th and 5th centuries to conclude prayers with a Trinitarian doxology similar to the baptismal formulas. Trinitarian doxologies were integrated into the Mass as well, with a “greater doxology” - the Gloria we still sing at Mass today - and a “lesser doxology” - the Glory Be - which was added to the Mass in Rome in the 6th century and was in common use both in and outside of Mass throughout the Church by the 7th century.
The entire prayer is an affirmation of our faith in the Holy Trinity, glorifying not only the Father but also the Son and the Holy Spirit, all equally one God. They are all eternal, without beginning or end, which is the meaning of the second verse, and all deserving of eternal praise and glory. In a sense, this brief prayer summarizes our entire faith as God creates us to reflect his own glory and to sing his praises for all eternity, beginning here and now with our prayer and holiness of life.
Fr. Marc Stockton
-
Current News