It’s not a very long prayer – but chances are, if you’ve ever been at a Catholic event like sacramental preparation, youth ministry gathering, or any other parish meeting – you’ve prayed the Glory be:
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
You may also have come across another translation of this prayer – most commonly found in the Liturgy of the Hours:
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
Amy Welborn says that this prayer is the summary “of everything our prayer has been (or should have been) about,“ a prayer which “points us in the right direction and attaches us to the divine and the eternal.“ This is high praise for one of the shortest prayers in our tradition – a prayer we don’t say at Mass – but do use at the conclusion of each decade of the Rosary and many times during the Liturgy of the Hours. It also tends to show up at the conclusion of many gatherings – particularly if someone forgot to prepare something or if we might be running short on time.
Although the Glory be is brief, it’s a rich prayer both because of what it is – and what it reminds us. [Read more…] about Teach us to pray: Glory be…
