Dear Friends and Colleagues,
During this holy time of year, I’ve been reflecting from my faith tradition on what sets me free to work for religious freedom for all. It’s captured in what St. Ignatius called the Magis, doing all for the greater glory of God (ad majorem Dei gloriam) – a motto of many Jesuit institutions. There’s a wonderful poem by Rebecca Rulz who unpacks what this phrase means. You can find it below. Thank you to all for the work you do to advance such religious freedom in your own families, networks and work. Merry Christmas and Happy 2019!
Brian Grim, RFBF President
Living “Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam” by Rebecca Rulz
- To live Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam is a way of being that permeates every thought, every deed, every action and inaction—all is contemplated and weighed, all for the greater glory of God.
- To live Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam is to lay claim to a legacy of “other-ness” that sets us apart
- and puts us at ease with any culture or people,
- A completely integrated other-ness that seeks to make all things whole,
- That approaches the liminal without hesitation,
- Finds God in all things,
- finds the Good in all things,
- and seeks to proclaim His glory in all that we do.
- It is a heritage of service
- However, whenever, and wherever needed,
- Of leadership in service
- To those impoverished in mind, body, and spirit.
- It is a call to respect the dignity of each human,
- The splendor of all creation,
- unencumbered by societal constructs.
- It is a complete inability to be unaware of injustice
- or impervious to inequality,
- A Spirit-driven determination to find a way to right the wrongs,
- To lift the downtrodden,
- To bind the wounds,
- To welcome the stranger, the nationless, the outcast,
- To see the humanity in all those discarded by economies and policies.
- To rise to this challenge—for the glory of God alone.
- To offer one’s heart and one’s hands,
- One’s whole self, a Suscipe,
- In desolation and in consolation.
- To give up even liberty
- for the sake of the love of the other.
- To be held to a higher standard,
- To see through a lens that sees the good and the possible
- in every impossible situation.
- To be aware of our place as privileged children of a living God
- who demands only that we abandon all status and privilege.
- To be the voice for the voiceless
- Responding to the call of the Spirit
- One with the harmonious resonance of all creation praising God.
- To seek Him and to find Him in all things, people, circumstances, and places,
- Unafraid to speak Truth to injustice
- To embrace the contradiction of Love
- Clothed in the power
- of the One who died naked and penniless.
- To be unattached to any outcome except that which God wills,
- Leaving behind comfort zones,
- Releasing the ego into the bosom of the Creator.
- Rooted in the confident security
- and the joy of knowing Love beyond words.
- Unattached to and surrendered to
- none but that Love.
- Called together at one table, unity in diversity,
- One family, working together to realize heaven on earth.
- Answering the call to serve and to glorify, in all ways,
- The Love that always finds a way.
by Rebecca Rulz