*The biblical quotations have been taken from the Douay-Rheims version.
I was recently recalling a prayer that some years ago I practised with great devotion, asking the intercession of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, who indeed obtained for me great favours from the Lord. I remembered that in one part of the novena it said: “Glorious Saint Ignatius.” And I say this because, together with those recollections, others became associated with them, from times when I would converse with Protestant brethren who, understanding the Word of God in an incomplete manner, affirmed that none but God can receive glory, honour and praise. Therefore — according to them — that we should call some saint, or our Mother the Virgin Mary, “glorious,” or that we should affirm them to be worthy of “praise” for their virtues and holiness, is erroneous and contrary to the divine will.
It is true that the Lord God is worthy to receive all honour, power, praise, glory and adoration, as we Catholics also believe. Sacred Scripture affirms this clearly:
1 Tim 1:17 “May all the honour and all the glory be for God for ever and ever!”.
Apoc 5:13 “And every creature that is in heaven, and upon the earth, and under the earth, and in the sea, and all the things that are in them, I heard saying: ‘To him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb, be praise, and honour, and glory, and power, for ever and ever.’”.
Nevertheless, this does not contradict our being able to praise the virtues and holiness of those persons who have gone before us into the encounter with the Heavenly Father, extolling moreover the glory which they possess before Him. These brethren of ours are the Virgin Mary and the saints. We must understand perfectly that, if we say God deserves these acknowledgements of glory and praise, it is obvious that they belong to Him in a supreme and infinite degree, since He is an Infinite Being, whereas His creatures will receive them in a far lesser degree. The glory and praise which we render to His children, sanctified by Him, take nothing away from the Lord. Mary deserves to be praised and glorified for her holiness, in a special way for being the Mother of the Lord. The glory and praise of God is in no way diminished; on the contrary, the Lord is praised and glorified in His saints.
Up to this point I might meet with the displeasure of the Protestant brethren, since their principle of Sola Scriptura (the Bible alone) prevents them from accepting any arguments other than those found in the sacred books (even though the doctrine of Sola Scriptura is not itself sustained in the Bible).
You will see that to praise a holy person — as we Catholics do — has nothing extraordinary about it, as Saint Paul himself tells the Corinthians they ought to do:
Rom 8:16-17 “For the same Spirit giveth testimony to our spirit that we are the sons of God. And if sons, heirs also: heirs indeed of God, and joint heirs with Christ; yet so, if we suffer together with him, THAT WE MAY BE ALSO GLORIFIED TOGETHER WITH HIM”
2 Cor 12:11 “I ought to have been PRAISED by you, for in nothing have I been less than those ‘great apostles,’ though I am nothing”.
Indeed, anyone might even praise himself, when he has grounds for doing so, as the prophet Jeremiah proclaimed:
Jer 9:24 “But let him that is to PRAISE himself PRAISE himself in this: in understanding and knowing me, that I am the Lord”.
The first Christians were praised by unbelievers on account of their good works:
Acts 5:13 “But the people PRAISED them greatly”.
The apostle Paul considered it sufficient reason to praise his brethren that they remembered him and followed what he preached to them:
1 Cor 11:2 “I PRAISE you, brethren, that in all things you are mindful of me”.
And it is precisely the virtue of the Christian that ought to move us to praise him:
Phil 4:8 “If there be any virtue, if anything worthy of PRAISE, think on these things”.
As for glory, let us recall that God Himself gave it to Solomon when the latter asked Him for wisdom:
1 Kings 3:13 “And moreover I have given thee the things thou didst not ask, both riches and GLORY”.
Thus, if the Lord Himself gives glory to His children, why deny it to those who deserve it by their holiness, even to the point of martyrdom?
Moreover, the human being in general has been crowned with glory and honour by the Lord, as His Word affirms:
Ps 8:5 “Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with GLORY and honour”.
Speaking of Jesus Christ, the Epistle to the Hebrews confers upon Him a glory greater than that which Moses possessed, since they refer respectively to the Creator and to His creature. By this it is shown that the glory of a creature does not lessen the glory of the Lord; the difference, obviously, is that the glory of God is infinite:
Heb 3:3 “For this man was counted worthy of greater GLORY than Moses, by so much as he that hath built the house hath greater honour than the house”.
In general, the Christian who does good is worthy of glory:
Rom 2:10 “But GLORY and honour and peace to every one that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek”
Even the heavenly creatures have their own particular glory, as we read in the book of the Apocalypse:
Apoc 18:1 “After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was enlightened with his GLORY”.
In short, as we have seen, the glory and praise that the creatures of the Lord may receive take nothing away from the infinite glory and praise which the Lord deserves; rather, God is praised and glorified through the holiness of His chosen ones.
All of this being biblically sustained, how could we not consider Mary, the Mother of the Lord, worthy of glory and praise, as well as all the saints who serve the King of kings!
To conclude, I share with you other biblical verses that reaffirm the theme.
Gen 49:8 “Judah, thy brethren shall PRAISE thee”.
Deut 32:43 “PRAISE, O ye nations, his people!”.
Cant 6:9 “The daughters saw her, and declared her most blessed; the queens and the concubines, and they PRAISED her”.
2 Sam 14:25 “In all Israel there was not a man so PRAISED for his beauty as Absalom”.
1 Kings 20:11 “The king of Israel answered and said: Tell him, Let not him that girdeth on his armour PRAISE himself as much as he that ungirdeth it”.
Prov 27:2 “Let the stranger PRAISE thee, and not thine own mouth”.
Prov 12:8 “By his wisdom shall a man be PRAISED”.
Prov 31:28 “Her children rose up and called her blessed, and her husband also PRAISED her”.
Prov 31:31 “Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works PRAISE her in the gates!”.
Eccles 8:15 “Therefore I PRAISED mirth”.
Isa 61:7 “In place of your double shame and dishonour, they shall PRAISE you in their inheritances”.
Jer 49:25 “How have they forsaken the city so PRAISED, the city of my joy!”
Ezek 26:17 “How didst thou perish, thou that wast peopled by men of the sea, the city that was PRAISED, that was strong in the sea”.
Ps 49:18 “Though, while he liveth, he will call his soul blessed, and be PRAISED because he prospereth”.
Ps 63:11 “But the king shall rejoice in God; every one that sweareth by him shall be PRAISED”.
Luke 16:8 “And the lord PRAISED the unjust steward, forasmuch as he had done wisely”.
Rom 13:3 “Do that which is good, and thou shalt be PRAISED for it”.
1 Cor 4:5 “Then shall each man have his PRAISE from God”.
1 Cor 11:22 “What shall I say to you? Shall I PRAISE you? In this I PRAISE you not”.
2 Cor 10:18 “Not he that PRAISETH himself is approved, but he whom God PRAISETH”.
1 Pet 2:14 “As sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, but for the PRAISE of them that do well”.
Gen 45:13
You shall tell my father of all MY GLORY in Egypt, and of all that you have seen: make haste, and bring my father hither.
Deut 26:19 “To exalt thee above all the nations which he hath made, unto praise and fame and GLORY, and that thou mayst be a holy people”.
Deut 33:17 “As the firstborn of his bullock, so is his GLORY (referring to Joseph, the son of Jacob)”.
2 Sam 1:19 “The GLORY of Israel is slain upon thy high places!”
1 Chron 29:25 “And the Lord magnified Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and gave him such GLORY in his reign”.
1 Chron 29:28 “And he died in a good old age, full of days, and riches, and GLORY”.
2 Chron 1:12 “Wisdom and knowledge are granted to thee; and I will give thee riches, and wealth, and GLORY”.
2 Chron 17:5 “The Lord therefore established the kingdom in his hand, and all Judah brought presents to Josaphat; and he had riches and GLORY in abundance”.
2 Chron 32:27 “And Ezechias had riches and GLORY, exceeding great”.
Job 19:9 “He hath stripped me of my GLORY, and hath taken the crown from my head”.
Ps 49:16 “Be not thou afraid when a man shall be made rich, when the GLORY of his house shall be increased”.
Ps 149:9 “To execute upon them the judgment that is written; this GLORY is to all his saints”.
Prov 20:29 “The GLORY of young men is their strength”.
Prov 28:12 “When the just rejoice, great is the GLORY”.
Isa 5:13 “Therefore my people was led away captive, because they had no knowledge; and their GLORY perished with hunger”.
Isa 10:3 “Where will you leave your GLORY?”
Isa 17:3 “And what remaineth of Syria shall be as the GLORY of the children of Israel”.
Isa 17:4 “In that day the GLORY of Jacob shall be made thin”.
Isa 35:2 “The GLORY of Libanus is given to it, the beauty of Carmel and Saron”.
Isa 60:15 “Instead of being forsaken and hated, so that none passed through thee, I will make thee to be an everlasting GLORY”.
Isa 61:3 “To appoint that unto the afflicted of Sion there be given GLORY instead of ashes”.
Isa 66:12 “For thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will bring upon her peace as a river, and the GLORY of the nations”.
Ezek 24:25 “On the day when I shall take away from them their strength, the joy of their GLORY, the delight of their eyes”.
Dan 5:18 “The most high God, O king, gave to Nabuchodonosor thy father a kingdom, and greatness, and GLORY, and majesty”.
Hos 9:11 “The GLORY of Ephraim shall fly away like a bird, so that there shall be no birth”.
Amos 8:7 “The Lord hath sworn by the GLORY of Jacob: I will never forget all their works”.
Nahum 2:2 “For the Lord will restore the GLORY of Jacob, like the GLORY of Israel”.
Zech 12:7 “And the Lord shall save the tents of Judah first, that the GLORY of the house of David, and of the inhabitant of Jerusalem, be not magnified against Judah”.
Matt 6:29 “But I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his GLORY was arrayed as one of these”.
Luke 14:10 “Go, sit down in the lowest place, that when he who invited thee cometh, he may say to thee: Friend, go up higher; then shalt thou have GLORY before them that sit at table with thee”.
Rom 2:7 “Life everlasting to them who, by patience in well doing, seek GLORY and honour and immortality”.
Rom 9:4 “Who are Israelites, to whom belongeth the adoption, the GLORY, the covenant, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises”.
1 Cor 2:7 “The hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world, unto our GLORY”.
1 Cor 9:15 “For I would rather die, than that any man should make void my GLORY”.
1 Cor 11:7 “The man indeed ought not to cover his head, because he is the image and GLORY of God; but the woman is the GLORY of the man”.
1 Cor 15:31 “I assure you, brethren, by the GLORY which I have of you in our Lord Jesus Christ, that I die daily”.
1 Cor 15:40 “And there are bodies celestial, and bodies terrestrial: but one is the GLORY of the celestial, and another of the terrestrial”.
1 Cor 15:41 “One is the GLORY of the sun, another the GLORY of the moon, and another the GLORY of the stars; for one star differeth from another in GLORY”.
2 Cor 1:12 “For our GLORY is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, and not in human wisdom, but in the grace of God…”
2 Cor 1:14 “As also you have known us in part, that we are your GLORY, as you also are ours”.
2 Cor 3:11 “For if that which perisheth had GLORY, much more glorious shall be that which remaineth”.
2 Cor 11:10 “By the truth of Christ that is in me, this my GLORY shall not be broken off in the regions of Achaia”.
Eph 3:13 “Wherefore I ask that you faint not at my tribulations for you, which are your GLORY”.
1 Thess 2:20 “You are our GLORY and joy”.
1 Pet 1:7 “That the trial of your faith, much more precious than gold, which is tried by the fire, may be found unto praise, and GLORY, and honour at the appearing of Jesus Christ”.
Apoc 21:26 “And they shall bring the GLORY and honour of the nations into it”.
Author: Dr. Jorge Arturo Rodríguez Reyna
