Giving Glory to God

In today’s (11/18) Gospel, we read the story of Jesus healing the blind man in Jericho.  Though it is a familiar story, reading it this morning, I was struck by this line, “He immediately received his sight and followed him, giving glory to God.  When they saw this, all the people gave praise to God” (Luke 18:43).  The blind man can now see and the first thing he does is give glory to God.  The blind man serves as an example for how we are to give glory to God in our lives too.

The blind man receives a miracle from Jesus, as his sight is restored.  In this moment, He recognizes the healing as a gift and He chooses to give God praise, honor, and recognition of His power and goodness.  And this then leads to other people praising God.  What if other people were led to praise God because of the glory we gave to Him in our lives?

We are all called to give God glory.  At the end of mass, we are often sent off with the message to “go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.”  Our thoughts, words, and actions should point to God.  Our very lives should be a witness to God, allowing His light, love and goodness to be shared with the world around us.

There are many ways we can glorify God.  We must live lives of gratitude, always thanking God, not only in the good times but also when we experience challenges and suffering, recognizing that He can bring good out of everything.  We should strive to use our gifts and talents to honor and point to Him.  We need to go to mass weekly or more if we have the opportunity and pray daily.  We can share our faith with others, letting them know the reason for our joy and hope.

Our number one goal and priority in life should be to glorify God.  As with most things, we will fail often.  Through our sin, weaknesses, and shortcomings, there are many times where we don’t give God the proper honor and praise that He deserves.  But we must keep trying and allow the graces of the sacraments to help us.

A question we can all take time to reflect on often is, am I giving glory to God by my words, actions, and the way I live?  And when we need to refocus, we can pray, “God, I want everything I say and do to point to you.”  May we all glorify the Lord by our lives, today and always.