On The Lord's Prayer - St. Nikolai Velimirovic (12)

AND THE GLORY FOR EVER AND EVER

Thy glory is co-eternal with Thee, our Kingly Father. It is substantial in Thee and independent from us. It is not glory of words like the glory of mortals, but it consists of the same imperishable essence as Thou art. Yea, it is inseperable from Thee like the light is inseparable from the burning sun. Whoever has seen the center and the periphery of Thy glory? Whoever has become glorious without the touch of Thy glory?

Thy dazzling glory is enveloping us all around and looking silently at us half-smilling and half-wondering about our human pains and murmurings. When we become silent we hear a secret whispering: Ye are children of a glorious Father!

O, how sweet is this glorious whispering!

What could we want more than to be the children of Thy glory? Is it not enough? Surely it is enough for a normal life. But behold, men want to be the fathers of the glory. And that is the beginning and the culmination of their misery. They are not satisfied with being children and sharers of Thy glory; they want to be fathers and bearers of Thy glory. Yet Thou art the only Father and the only Bearer of all glory. There are many misusers of Thy glory and many self-deceivers. Nothing is so dangerous in the hands of mortals as glory.

Thou showest Thy glory, and men argue about theirs. Thy glory is a fact, men’s glory is a word.

Thy glory nourishes the poor and leadest the meekones; men’s glory, when separated from Thee, is the best of Satan.

How ridiculous people are who try to make a glory of their own, outside and apart from Thee! There was a fool who hated the sun and tried to secure a place out of the light of the sun and to have it as his own. He constructed a shady hut and made no windows, entered it, and stood in quite darkness, rejoicing that he had gotten rid of the great source of light. Such a fool and such and inhabitant of darkness is one who makes an effort to build a glory of his own, outside and apart from Thee, O immortal source of glory!

There is no glory of man’s, as there is no power of man’s. Thine is the power and the glory, our Father. If we do not borrow from Thee, we lack both qualities and fade away like dry leaves when separated from the tree and scattered, at the mercy of the wind.