Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
From: Amos 6:1a; 4-7
A life of luxury gives a false sense of security
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Thus says the Lord the God of hosts: [1] “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion!
[4] Woe to those who lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat lams from the flock, and calves from the midst of the stall; [5] who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp, and like David invent for themselves instruments of music; [6] who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph! [7] Therefore they shall now be the first of those to go into exile, and the revelry of those who stretch themselves shall pass away.”
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Commentary:
6:1-7. The third “woe” (v. 1; cf. 5:7, 18) marks the start of the last section of this part of the book. Two distinct fragments can be detected in this passage, but they both attack pleasure-seeking and pride. The first (vv. 1-7) reproaches those who live thoughtlessly (vv. 4-6), be they in Samaria or in Zion (v. 1), putting their trust in the ruling classes of “the first of the nations”, that is, the Northern kingdom, Samaria. In describing the country in that way, Amos is being sarcastic. But there is no sarcasm about his threat that those who “anoint themselves with the finest oils” (v. 6) “will be the first of those who go into exile” (v. 7). The main charge laid against them is that of living a life of luxury, heedless of the misfortunes of others, of “the ruin of Joseph (v. 6). Concern for others is always a religious duty: “Coming down to practical and particularly urgent consequences, this council [Vatican II] lays stress on reverence for man; everyone must consider his every neighbor without exception as another self, taking into account first of all his life and the means necessary to living it with dignity…In our times a special obligation binds us to make ourselves the neighbor of every person without exception and to actively help him when he comes across our path, whether he be an old person abandoned by all, a foreign laborer unjustly looked down upon, a refugee, a child born of an unlawful union and wrongly suffering for a sin he did not commit, or a hungry person who disturbs our conscience by recalling the voice of the Lord, ‘As long as you did it for one of these the least of my brethren, you did it for me’ (Mt 35:40)” (Gadium et spes, 27).
An Appeal to Defend the Faith
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[11] But as for you, man of God, shun all this; aim at righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. [12] Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. [13] In the presence of God who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus who in his testimony, before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, [14] I charge you to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ; [15] and this will be made manifest at the proper time by the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, [16] who alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
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Commentary:
11-16. The letter's final piece of advice is given with special solemnity. There are two reasons for constancy in the fight (v. 12): the call to eternal life, and fidelity to the confession of faith made at Baptism. The second obligation, to keep what is commanded (v. 14), is urged with an appeal to the presence of two witnesses--God the Father, and Jesus Christ (v. 13), who firmly proclaimed his kingship to Pontius Pilate.
There is a very close connection between perseverance and the eternal sovereignty of God (v. 16): "The eternity of God", St Bernard teaches, "is the source of perseverance [...]. Who hopes and perseveres in love but he who imitates the eternity of his charity? Truly, perseverance reflects eternity in some way; only to perseverance is eternity granted or, to put it better, only perseverance obtains eternity for man" ("Book of Consideration", 5, 14).
11. "Man of God": this expression was used in the Old Testament of men who performed some special God-given mission--for example, Moses (Deut. 33:1; Ps 40:1), Samuel (1 Sam 9:6-7); Elijah and Elisha (1 Kings 17:18; 2 Kings 4:7, 27, 42). In the Pastoral Epistles (cf. also 2 Tim 3:17) it is applied to Timothy insofar as ordination has conferred on him a ministry in the Church. Through ordination "the priest is basically a consecrated man, a "man of God" (1 Tim 6:11) [...]. The ministerial priesthood in the people of God is something more than a holy public office exercised on behalf of the community: it is primarily a configuration, a sacramental and mysterious transformation of the person of the man-priest into the person of Christ himself, the only mediator (cf. 1 Tim 2:5) " (A. del Portillo, "On Priesthood", pp. 44-45).
"Fight the good fight": St Paul often uses military comparisons to describe the Christian life (cf., e.g., 2 Cor 10:3-6; Eph 6:10-17; Col 1:29; 2 Tim 2:3; 4:7), and they have found their way into the ascetical tradition of the Church (cf. note on 1 Tim 1:17-19). Here and in 2 Timothy he is referring more to keeping the truth unsullied, and to preaching: the "good fight of the faith" is of great importance to everyone.
"Confession in the presence of many witnesses": in addition to the day of his consecration (cf. 1 Tim 4:14), Timothy would have often had occasion to make public confession of his faith. However, this phrase is couched in such formal terms that it seems to refer rather to the profession of faith which has been made at Baptism ever since the early years of the Church (cf. Acts 2:38-41).
13-14. "Keep the commandments": The Greek may be referring to one specific commandment (as the RSV reflects); but it can also mean law as a whole and, more likely, the truths of Revelation, that is, the deposit of the faith professed at Baptism.
St Paul very formally calls in, as witnesses to this instruction, God the Father and Christ Jesus, "who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession". Jesus' "testimony" includes his entire passion and the declaration he made to the Roman procurator about messianic kingship and his true identity (cf. Jn 18:36-37).
"Until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ": when referring to the second coming of Christ the New Testament often uses the term "parousia" (cf. 1 Cor 15:23; 2 Pet 3:4) or "revealing" (cf., e.g., 1 Cor 1:7); the Pastoral Epistles prefer "appearing", epiphany, manifestation (cf. 2 Tim 4:1, 8; Tit 2:13), which better reflect the coming of Christ in glory as Savior (cf. 2 Tim 1:10). There is, of course , a wonderful continuity between the redemptive work of Christ, the action of the Church in conserving Revelation and passing it on, and the final coming of Christ at the end of time.
15-16. This doxology or hymn of praise, one of the richest and most beautiful in the New Testament, may have been taken from the Church's liturgy (which may also be the case with the other hymns in this letter: cf. 1:17 and 3:15 -16). It was possibly a reply to pagan hymns honoring rulers and emperors as gods. However, it is more likely that this particular hymn was inspired by the Old Testament, which speaks of God in similar language. Whatever its origin, the important thing about the hymn is that it expresses faith in God who merits all praise.
At a time known only to him (cf. Mt 24:36), God the Father will bring about the glorious manifestation of Jesus Christ. The text refers to four attributes which show the power and sublimity of God: he is the "only Sovereign", from whom all lawful rulers on earth receive their authority (cf. Jn 19:11). He is the "King of kings and Lord of lords" (literally, "the King of those who reign and the Lord of those who wield lordship"); this is not, then, a merely honorific title: he does actually exercise sovereignty over those who claim to possess it (cf. Rev 17:14; 19:16). He is "immortal", for immortality is proper to God, who is Life (cf. Jn 1:4); angels and souls are immortal only by virtue of the nature given them by God. Finally, he is "light" and brightness: these are attributed to God (cf. Ps 104:2) to show his sublimity: God transcends all created things and cannot be fully comprehended by man. St Thomas explains that an object can be invisible on two counts either because it lacks brightness, as occurs with things which are dark and opaque, or because it is too bright, as occurs in the case of the sun, which is so bright that the human eye cannot look at it; God is so far beyond the capacity of the human mind that man cannot entirely take him in even though what we can learn about him by the right use of reason and through revelation is true and accurate (cf. "Commentary on 1 Tim, ad loc."). The conclusion of the hymn, which is liturgical and pedagogical in style, is similar to that found in 1:17: there it says "honor and glory", here "heaven and eternal dominion", putting more stress on God's sovereignty.
This and the other hymns which appear in the letter show that the first Christians were fully aware that man's true purpose in life is to give glory to God. "We do not live for the world, or for our own honor, but for the honor of God, for the glory of God, for the service of God. That is what should motivate us!" (St J. Escriva, "The Forge", 851).