Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/664

 GLOSSES

586

GLOSSES

constitutes the Universe — the book, one might say, in which God has recorded His greatness and majesty. As the mirror of the telescope presents an image of the star that shines and wheels in the immeasurably remote depths of space, so does this world reflect in its own fashion the nature of its Cause between Whom and it lies the gulf that separates the finite from the Infinite. The telescope, however, knows not of the image which its surface bears; the eye and mind of the astronomer must intervene in order that the signifi- cance of the shadow and its relation to the substance may be grasped. To praise, in the exact sense of the term, demands not alone that worth be manifest, but also that there be a mind to acknowledge. The un- conscious testimony of the universe to its Creator is rather potential than actual glory. Hence, this glory which it renders to Him is called in theological phrase gloria matcrialis, to distinguish it from the formal glorrj rendered to God by His intelligent creatures. They can read the writing in the book of creation, understand its story, accept its lessons, and reverently praise the Majesty which it reveals. This praise involves not merely intellectual perception, but also the practical acknowledgment by heart and will which issues in obedience and loving service. The endow- ment of intelligence with all that it implies — spirit- uality and free-will — renders man a higher and nobler image of the Creator than is any other being of this visible world. The gift of intellect also imposes on man the duty of returning to God that formal glory of which we have just spoken. The more perfectly he discharges this obligation, the more does he develop and perfect that initial resemblance to God which exists in his soul, and by the fulfilment of this duty serves the end for which he, like all else, has been created.

The natural revelation which God has vouchsafed of Himself through the world interpreted by reason has been supplemented by a higher _ supernatural manifestation which has culminated in the Incar- nation of the Godhead in Jesus Christ: "and we saw his glory, the glory as it were of the Father, full of grace and truth". Similarly the natural resemblance to God and the relation of our being to His, as estab- lished by creation, are supplemented and carried into a higher order by His commimication of sanctifying grace. To know Ciod through the medium of this supernaturally revealed truth, to serve Him in love springing from this grace is to be " Filled with the fruit of justice, through Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God" (Phil., i, 11). In manifesting the glory of God by the development of their proper powers and capacities, inanimate creatures reach that per- fection or fulness of existence which God has pre- scribed for them. Likewise man achieves his perfection or subjective end by giving ^lory to God in the com- prehensive sense above indicated. He attains the consummation of his perfection not in this life, but in the life to come. That perfection shall consist in a direct, immediate, intuitive perception of God; "We see now through a glass in a dark manner ; but then face to face. Now I know in part ; but then I shall know even as I am known" (I Cor., xiii, 12). In this transcendent knowledge the soul shall become, in a higher measure than that which obtains by virtue of creation alone, a participant and therefore an image of the Divine nature; so " we shall be like to him: because we shall see him as he is " (I John, iii, 2). So that objectively and actively the life in heaven shall be an unending inefTaljle manifestation and acknowledgment of the Divine majcwty and perfections. Thus we under- stand the Scriptural language in which the future life of the blessed is described as a state in which "we all beholding Ihe glory of the Lord with open face, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord" (II Cor., iii, 18).

The Catholic doctrine on this subject is defined by

the Council of Florence (see Denzinger, 588). (See Creation; Good.)

2. Human Glory. — To enjoy glory before men is to be known and honoured on account of one's character, qualities, possessions, position, or achievements, real or imaginary. The moral question arises, is the de- sire and pursuit of this glory lawful? The doctrine on the subject is succinctly stated by St. Thomas (fi- ll, Q. cx.xxii). Posing the question whether the de- sire of glory is sinful, he proceeds to answer it in the following sense: Glory imports the manifestation of something which is estimated honourable, whether it be a spiritual or a corporal good. Glory does not necessarily require that a large number of persons shall acknowledge the excellence; the esteem of a few, or even of oneself, may suffice, as, for example, when one judges some good of his own to be worthy of praise. That any person esteem his own good or excellence to be worthy of praise is not in itself sinful; nor, in like manner, is it sinful that we should desire to see our good works approved of men. " Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works" (Matt., v, 10). Hence the desire of glory is not essentially vicious. But a vain, or perverse de- sire for renown, which is called vainglory, is wrong; for it is founded not on truth but falsehood. The desire of glory becomes perverse, (a) when one seeks renown because of something not really worthy; (b) when one seeks the esteem of those whose judgment is undiscriminating; (c) when one desires glory before men without subordinating it to righteousness. Vain- glory may become a deadly sin, if one seek the esteem of men for something that is incompatible with the reverence due to God ; or when the thing for which one desires to be esteemed is preferred in one's affections before God; or again, when the judgment of men is sought in preference to the judgment of God, as was the case with the Pharisees, who "loved the glory of men more than the glory of God" (John, xii, 43). The term " vainglory" denotes not alone the sinful act, but also the vicious habit or tendency engendered by a repetition of such acts. This habit is ranked among the capital sins, or, more properly vices, because it is prolific of other sins, viz., disobedience, boastfulness, hypocrisy, contentiousness, discord, and a presump- tuous love of pernicious novelties in moral and re- ligious doctrine.

St. Thomas, I-I, QQ. xii, xliv, xlv, xciii, ciii; II-II, QQ. ciii, cxxxii; Idem. Cont. Gent., tr. Rickaby. God and His Creatures, II, ch. xlv; HI. ch. xxviii, xxix, Ivi-lxiii; IV, ch. liv. See also theological and philcsophical textbooks, in which the subject is treated under Creation, The End of Man, Eternal Life; WiLHELM AND ScANNELi., Manual of Catholic Theology (New York, 1S99), vol. I, bk. Ill, pt. I; Gray and Massie in Hast., Diet, of Ihe Bible, .s. v.; Hastings, A Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels (New York, 1906), s. v.; Pace, The World-copy according to St. Thomas in The Catholic University Bulletin, vol. V. ^

James J. Fox.

Glosses, Scriptural. — I. Etymology and Prin- cipal Meanings. — The modern English word gloss is derived directly from the Latin glossa, itself a trans- cript of the Greek ■y\Ci(T(Ta. In classical Greek y^Ciaaa. (Attic yX&TTa.) means the tongue or organ of speech and figuratively a tongue or language. In the course of time Greek grammarians, commenting on the works of Greek authors, used the word y\Ciir<ra to designate first a word of the text which needed some explanation, and next the explanation itself. And it is in this last sense that Christian writers have principally em- ploved the word glossa, gloss, in connexion with Holy Writ. Among them, as among Greek grammarians, a gloss meant an explanation of a purely verb,al diffi- culty of the text, to the exclusion of explanations re- quired by doctrinal, ritual, historical, and other obscurities; and the words which were commonly the subject of their glosses may be reduced to the follow- ing five classes: (1) foreign words; (2) provincial dia- lectical terms; (3) obsolete words; (4) technical