The Glory of God is Man Fully Alive

          At Strake Jesuit, and all over the world, we are called to be man fully alive. According to St. Irenaeus, "The Glory of God is Man Fully Alive". Throughout this school year, I have been asked that question several times and have pondered about what it means. When I first entered Stake Jesuit and was asked that question, I replied "It means that the glory of God is to live life to the fullest and praise Him in all that you do." That is right to a certain extent, but what if you do something immoral, such as rob a bank? Using the gift of reasoning and natural law, I doubt God receives glory from you doing that. Ultimately, this quote has both a definite and a non-definite answer. Everyone interprets it in different ways, but all those different responses (assuming they are correct) have one main aspect to them in common. In short, the glory of God is living your life they way God intends for you to live it. We have to keep our ears and hearts open and so that we may not only hear but listen to what God has in store for our life.
          An important part to living fully alive is to recognize that we don't need an extraordinary life in order to be fully alive and for God to love you as an individual. In fact, Jesus lived an ordinary life nearly his entire life! From the ages of twelve to thirty (the year he began his public ministry), we know nothing about Jesus' life. If we are to imitate Christ, then it is actually important to live a rather ordinary life and take pride in what you do and praise God for all he has done for us. Of course, the way you live your life is ultimately dependent upon God's specific plans for you and whether or not you choose to follow them. There are times though when we mess up and sin. In order to restore communion with God, we must pray to God and ask for forgiveness, and if you truly mean what you say, God will forgive you. If the sin is grave, then it is important to go to confession for multiple reasons, the main one being that it is a sacrament from which we can receive grace. After our sins are forgiven, we must remember that we are both spiritual and physical beings, and thus we must also say we are sorry through our actions. We must work at never committing the sin again and depending on the severity of the sin, do something to show you are actually sorry for what you have done.
          There are many sayings today that have been interpreted by the people in a certain way, but I interpret them differently. Yolo, so do all that you can while here on Earth in order to better the lives of those who are not as lucky as you. You only live once on Earth (and then when your Earthly life is over , hopefully, you go to heaven), and although we all have different vocations, everyone is called to live the Commandment of Love. That is, to love others as Christ loves us. If you live a good and holy life, then you will forever live a life of happiness, joy, and love. In English I my teacher taught me what Carpe Diem meant. It means "Seize the Day", to never put off anything for the next day that can be done today. Living as man fully alive means that you make the most out of live and wasting time on unimportant things does not fall in the category of fully alive. I thank God every night for the day and no matter how bad they day may have gone, Hakuna Matata. There are no worries, and by that I mean with God. As long as we have faith and trust in God and at the same time try our hardest to do what is right and work to achieve the goals at which God has set for us, then there are no worries. God will always provide for us, even if the future of our life seems bleak for a time.
         The question of what does it mean to say "The Glory of God is Man Fully Alive" is not an ordinary question that can be looked up and has an exact answer to it. It is a question in which its answer continually grows and improves as we live our live fully alive. My answer to this question has grown extensively over the last two years and I have come to understand my faith much better thanks to my wonderful teacher, Mr. Cole. God created us out of love, and when we live our lives in a loving manner, God is proud of us and he receives glory from our love. Thus, the root of the question is "What is love". On that note, I leave these lines from St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians which I believe summarizes it perfectly.

          "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (I Corinthians 13:4-7)

          #ForeverSpreadTheLove