June 28: Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam, Society of Jesus, Bible Camp

I am once again going to simply open up my fairly beat-up copy of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and stick my finger on a page:

I was created from a clot and set in proud, free motion:  so were they.  So was this rotifer created, this monostyla with its body like a light bulb in which pale organs hang in loops; so was this paramecium created, with a thousand propulsive hairs jerking in unison, whipping it from here to there across a drop and back.  Ad majorem Dei gloriam?

I love this quote.  All about creation and motion, from Dillard to rotifer to paramecium.  Dillard seems to be saying that we all come from the same place for the same reason:  Ad majorem Dei gloriam.  That is the Latin motto of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) of the Catholic Church.  It translates as, "For the greater glory of God."

That is the reason we are all here, why we are all created from those little clots of cells.  The glory of God.  We get up in the morning for the glory of God.  Eat breakfast, glory.  Go to work, glory.  Do whatever you do during the day--teach or write a poem or play chopsticks on the piano--and it's all about the glory of God.

Tonight, both of my kids are at Bible camp.  My son is there as a camper.  My daughter is there as a counselor.  I had to drive out to the campground this afternoon to drop off my daughter's sleeping bag.  I've been there many times before, and every time I step out of my car, I'm amazed at the serenity of the place.  The lake is blue, and the air smells of sand and pine and fish.  It's really easy to sense the glory of God when you're there.

Pretty soon, I'm going to publish this post for the glory of God.  (Okay, maybe that's pushing it a little bit.)  But, I hope that my two Constant Readers will take a few moments and think about what they're doing.  When I was a kid, I was often told that I needed to be the Jesus in people's lives.  That's what it's all about.  Remembering that no matter what you're doing, it can be a moment of praise and glory. 

I'm watching the news right now.  It's all about a terrorist attack in Turkey, an explosion at a factory, a shooting in an office building.  There's little of God's glory in those events.  Yet, I believe, truly, that somewhere in all that tragedy, God will find a way to bring about goodness and glory again.

Saint Marty just wrote an entirely positive post.  For the glory of God.