Spirituality. Hadjadj: the true glory of God is to welcome our daily life


Fabrice Hadjadj

Fabrice Hadjadj – Sicilians

In times of ephemeral self-celebrations on social media and of winning but intrinsically fallible images, Glory to me by the Franco-Tunisian philosopher Fabrice Hadjadj comes as a clarifying lash to re-establish priorities for those who believe in the Gospel and also for those who care for mankind. Released in France in 2019 and just translated by Emiliano Fumaneri for Berica, the essay suggests how many times ‘glory’ is pronounced in personal prayer and liturgy without perhaps grasping its spiritual and theological depth. “Of course, the Lord asks us to give him glory, and we sing that he is great, that he is beautiful, that he is powerful, but it is not for him, as if he needed it, as if he had serious problems of self-esteem and it was necessary that his creature reassured him every time about his divinity. If he asks us this question, like everything he asks of us, it is not for him, but for us », writes the author, in a biting and provocative language. Clarifying that the biblical notion of glory “has often been neglected for the benefit of a humility that seems more suited to the fainthearted than to the magnanimous.” Because the divine glory “shines on his creature” and must not be hidden or demonized, because “to be glorious is to be yourself”. Saint Ignatius of Loyola understood this, wounded in the leg: in his conversion “his ‘vain desire to earn honor’ is transformed into a ‘great impulse to serve Our Lord’ and to act ad majorem Dei gloriam. It is the same chivalrous temperament that simply becomes more radical. ‘ A motto so crucial that the founder of the Jesuits wanted it to characterize the books and buildings of the Society of Jesus. If Saint Irenaeus of Lyons affirms that “the glory of God is the living man”, in turn presupposes his emptiness, his receptivity hangs on a vertical gift “, because” it depends on his ability to carry a cross “: in Hebrew, in fact, kabod (glory) means weight. With a consequent revelation: “At the very moment in which I have shown that my chest is not swollen, I discover that I must have my hands pierced.” Therefore, in the logic of the Gospel, glory is not obtained by seeking “hardships and dangers”, but “in the face of the demands of everyday life”: “Some have to face dragons because they cannot stay a minute to converse with their mother-in-law. Others perform colossal works because they can’t play with a child or because they refuse to face the complications of their pimply and ungrateful teenager. The great adventure can serve as a pretext for me to flee the marital home ”, exemplifies Hadjadj. Therefore “the mystery of the Incarnation corresponds to the marriage of glory and the everyday”. Here is the sparkle: in loving deeply without seeking the applause of a real and virtual audience. Instead “the life of glory is given up for the performance indicators, for the indicator lights of the control screens”. Forgetting that “nothing is more brilliant than the one who illuminates” and gives, out of love, the light received as a gift already on this earth. And if “appearing is the springtime of being”, the glory “of the Father lies in the fruitfulness of his sons and daughters: he truly returns to him only by always going forward, bearing fruit and multiplying, from generation to generation”.

Spirituality. Hadjadj: the true glory of God is to welcome our daily life