Salesian Literature

Chapter 12  :  God’s supreme praise of himself, and the part our benevolence plays in it

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The whole of our Saviour’s human acts are infinite in value, in merit; they are the actions of a person who is one same God with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  For all that, they are not infinite in nature or essence.

 

The essential quality of our Lord’s human actions is due not to his divine personality, but to the humanity in which he does them; their value is infinite, but their nature is finite.  This means that, although Christ’s human actions are infinite compared to ours, yet they are finite compared to the essential infinity of godhead.  Their value, worth and dignity are infinite, because they are the actions of a person who is Go; their nature and essence are finite, because God does them as a human individual whose nature is finite.

 

That is why the initial wonderment at the glory of our Lord’s praise for his Father, which quite takes our breath away, still leaves us aware that all the same the godhead deserves infinitely more praise than the whole of creation – than even the eternal Son in his human nature – can ever give.

 

At last, we come to understand that God alone can provide what is his due; he alone can match his supreme goodness with paramount praise.  Now we cry: “Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.” To make it quite clear that what we are wishing for God is not the glory of created praise, but the essential and eternal glory which he knows in, through and from himself, the glory of being God, we add: “As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.”  It is as though we were desiring that God be glorified for ever with the glory he had before the world began (cf. Jn. 17:5; Col. 1:15).  So we add this verse of praise to each psalm and canticle, following the ancient practice of the Eastern Church (a custom which the great St. Jerome begged Pope Damasus to introduce here in the West), in order to affirm that all human and angelic praise is too low to be worthy of God’s goodness, that he alone can give himself the glory, praise and blessings he deserves.

 

Heaven knows the gratification, the joy, that awaits the man who loves God, when his wish is granted, when he has sight of his beloved infinitely exalting himself with blessings and praise!  This gratification, however, breeds anew a further desire for praise.  The human heart is filled with a  longing to praise the praise which God gives himself, to thank him for it fully, to call all other creatures to its aid in glorifying the glory of God, blessing his infinite blessings, praising his eternal praise.

 

In this way, as praise echoes upon praise, the heart begins to enter – between gratification and benevolence – a blissful labyrinth of love, where it is utterly lost in the sweetness of praising a God who can be properly praised only by himself.  We begin by wanting to praise God to perfection, but eventually come to desire the opposite – content with our humble gratification at the sight of God’s infinitely praiseworthy goodness that only his infinity can adequately praise.

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