Rosary Run --The Glory Be
BrendanMcGroarty
Posts: 945 Member
Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever, world without end.
The simplicity of the Glory Be focuses our attention not on our problems or needs, but for a moment on the relationship within the Trinity itself. The brevity of the prayer underscores the mystery by which we approach the Trinity. Through the life death and Resurrection the Trinity reveals itself to us. The mystery of the Trinity remains hidden from us, yet at the same time is revealed through Christ. We are invited to participate in the relationship that nonetheless remains hidden from us. We can only give glory like the seraphim, the angels closest to God, who pour themselves out simply in never-ending praise.
In every observation about running with the rosary, we can make the point that our efforts, successes, and failures in running simply do not compare to the mysteries being prayed. It is almost incongruent to juxtapose the mundaneness of running with the sublimity of these prayers. On the other hand, we cannot turn our lives over to God unless we become conscious of God in every aspect of our lives, and our lives are consumed with the ordinary. Through prayer, an ordinary experience like running can point us toward the experience of mystery.
In order to keep ourselves motivated, we often follow the culture around us and grasp at self-acclaim and the praise we hear from others. Our identity can become tied up in the gratification this praise provides us, despite and perhaps because of its inconsistency. Graciousness remains a virtue, however. It is important to acknowledge and appreciate the efforts of others to encourage us, and be thankful if we are able to encourage others. However, this prayer reminds us that all glory and power belong to God, and all that we have or are return to him. To imitate the humility of Christ, we must let go of praise as well as criticism and even ideas or images of ourselves, as helpful as they might be at times, and allow ourselves to be mindful of God alone. When we run, we must sometimes just let ourselves run. The feeling of exhilaration and freedom we sometimes feel only comes with forgetting the self, and allowing ourselves to pour ourselves into the simple act of running. That type of joy might best be expressed in this prayer.
The Glory Be also alludes to the eschatological fulfillment of time. The glory of God has always been, is now, and always will be. This in itself points to something beyond the capacity of human language to express. Human language and experience are tied to time. When we speak about the eternal, we often speak of it as existing in the future. In fact, our experience of time and history is itself the unfolding of eternity. We experience the eternal in the present moment primarily, but that present moment also includes all of our history and involves our future fulfillment. In a small way, running may have the same effect. We measure time differently on runs. If we are mindful of it, it is also intimately connected with distance, as it is connected with our selves, that is to say, our bodies. We "feel" time and space very literally. Despite this intimate connection with time, running may also provide us with a positive or negative sensation of timelessness. In some sense, all that exists is the present moment, each step up a hill, and not the hill itself.
The simplicity of the Glory Be focuses our attention not on our problems or needs, but for a moment on the relationship within the Trinity itself. The brevity of the prayer underscores the mystery by which we approach the Trinity. Through the life death and Resurrection the Trinity reveals itself to us. The mystery of the Trinity remains hidden from us, yet at the same time is revealed through Christ. We are invited to participate in the relationship that nonetheless remains hidden from us. We can only give glory like the seraphim, the angels closest to God, who pour themselves out simply in never-ending praise.
In every observation about running with the rosary, we can make the point that our efforts, successes, and failures in running simply do not compare to the mysteries being prayed. It is almost incongruent to juxtapose the mundaneness of running with the sublimity of these prayers. On the other hand, we cannot turn our lives over to God unless we become conscious of God in every aspect of our lives, and our lives are consumed with the ordinary. Through prayer, an ordinary experience like running can point us toward the experience of mystery.
In order to keep ourselves motivated, we often follow the culture around us and grasp at self-acclaim and the praise we hear from others. Our identity can become tied up in the gratification this praise provides us, despite and perhaps because of its inconsistency. Graciousness remains a virtue, however. It is important to acknowledge and appreciate the efforts of others to encourage us, and be thankful if we are able to encourage others. However, this prayer reminds us that all glory and power belong to God, and all that we have or are return to him. To imitate the humility of Christ, we must let go of praise as well as criticism and even ideas or images of ourselves, as helpful as they might be at times, and allow ourselves to be mindful of God alone. When we run, we must sometimes just let ourselves run. The feeling of exhilaration and freedom we sometimes feel only comes with forgetting the self, and allowing ourselves to pour ourselves into the simple act of running. That type of joy might best be expressed in this prayer.
The Glory Be also alludes to the eschatological fulfillment of time. The glory of God has always been, is now, and always will be. This in itself points to something beyond the capacity of human language to express. Human language and experience are tied to time. When we speak about the eternal, we often speak of it as existing in the future. In fact, our experience of time and history is itself the unfolding of eternity. We experience the eternal in the present moment primarily, but that present moment also includes all of our history and involves our future fulfillment. In a small way, running may have the same effect. We measure time differently on runs. If we are mindful of it, it is also intimately connected with distance, as it is connected with our selves, that is to say, our bodies. We "feel" time and space very literally. Despite this intimate connection with time, running may also provide us with a positive or negative sensation of timelessness. In some sense, all that exists is the present moment, each step up a hill, and not the hill itself.
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