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| The sun rises over the Sea of Galilee. The Gloria was first used in the Liturgy of the Hours during the morning prayer as a hymn of praise. CNS photo |
THE GLORIA was first used in the Liturgy of the Hours during the morning prayer as a hymn of praise for the glory and peace given through Christ’s resurrection (symbolised by the rising sun in the morning).
It began to be used at Mass in the early sixth century and has always marked more festive occasions in the Church.
The Gloria fittingly follows the penitential rite, allowing God’s people to burst into praise for the mercy received in response to our admission of sinfulness. It is a poetic text of numerous scriptural quotes.
The opening lines come from Luke 2:14: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom His favour rests.”
In the new translation, the Gloria slightly alters this biblical phrase to say “peace to people of good will”.
The Church loves to stress the importance of the will, both human and divine. When a human will is ordered to the divine will, then it is a “good will” that allows us to experience true peace.
The current translation – “Glory to God in the highest and peace to his people on earth” – leaves out the reference to “good will”. This new wording is important since peace does not come without real conversion and real justice.
When Jesus appeared in the flesh, He taught us what it looks like when a human will is in perfect communion with the divine will: “Not my will, but thy will be done” (based on Mt 26:39).
Five verbs then follow, flowing from this good and peaceful will: Conformed to Christ, we praise, bless, adore, glorify and give God thanks for his great glory (ultimately in the Eucharistic Prayer). The current translation only mentions three of these actions – worship, praise, and give thanks – but all five reveal a different response to this appearance of God’s glory in our midst.
Then we have the words of John the Baptist from the Gospel of John: “The next day [John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world’” (1:29).
The new translation of the Gloria, however, words it this way: “Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us; you take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer.”
The Baptist provides the theological punch for the whole piece: Christ is the true Passover Lamb who takes away the sins of the whole world (not only those of the Jewish people).
In the Scriptures, the Baptist points to the central figure of the whole Gospel, and in the Gloria, John fulfils the same function of pointing out the central theme of the whole hymn.
This central theme is further explained with the biblical quote of Jesus ascending to the Father and being seated at his right hand: “You are seated at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us.”
This is an important theme, as evidenced by the numerous Scripture verses that relate to it.
The hymn ends with a flourish of titles for Christ that are placed in the context of a Trinitarian finish with the naming of both the Holy Spirit and God the Father: “For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.”
These titles – Holy One, Lord, and Most High – emphasise Christ’s divinity and His relationship to the other persons of the Holy Trinity.
There are two scriptural sources behind these titles: “Who will not fear You, Lord, or glorify Your name? For You alone are holy” (Rev 15:4), and “You alone are the Lord, the Most High over all the earth” (Ps 83:19).
The quote from Revelation refers to Christ as the Lamb of God.
The quote from the Psalm refers to the one God of the universe.
In both quotations, the use of “Lord” refers to the name of God as revealed to Moses in the burning bush.
The Gloria is not a hymn only for the baby born on Christmas night. It takes us through the full sweep of the paschal mystery, and the new translation highlights this theology. n CNS
By Fr Daniel Merz
Fr Merz is associate director of the US bishops’ Secretariat of Divine Worship.
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