"Hallowed be thy name" and "Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam" (For The Greater Glory of God)

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s we journey through the month of July, we prepare to celebrate the feast of St Ignatius of Loyola on July 31. For Jesuits and the Ignatian family, this month is an opportunity to rediscover the heart of Ignatian spirituality, often summed up in four familiar letters: AMDG—Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam, "For the Greater Glory of God." Before we can appreciate the depth of AMDG, I invite you to reflect first on a closely related expression found in the Lord's Prayer (Mt 6:7-15).

Jesus teaches us how to pray, and the very first petition may sound rather strange: "Hallowed be thy name." Have you ever stopped to wonder what that really means? A skeptic might ask, "Isn't God's name already holy? If we pray that God's name be made holy, are we implying that God is somehow lacking in holiness? Can our prayers make God holier?" It is a good question, and the answer is no. God does not become holier because we pray. He does not become greater because we glorify Him. God is already infinitely holy, infinitely glorious, and infinitely perfect. He lacks nothing.

So why, then, does Jesus teach us to pray, "Hallowed be thy name"? The answer lies in the biblical meaning of the word "name." In Scripture, a person's name is far more than a label. It represents the person, his presence, his character, and his reputation. To pray, "Hallowed be thy name," is not to cause God to become holy. Rather, it is to pray that His holiness may be recognized, honored, and revealed—in us and through us.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church expresses this beautifully. The term "to hallow" is to be understood here not primarily in its causative sense (only God hallows, makes holy), but above all in an evaluative sense: to recognize as holy, to treat in a holy way (CCC 2807-2821).

As St Cyprian beautifully explains, "We do not ask that God be made holy by our prayers, but that His name may be hallowed in us" (The Treatises of Cyprian, 12). In other words, we are praying, "May You be known as holy through our lives." Notice that this petition changes not God but us.

St John of the Cross offers a tangible image. He compares the soul to a window and God to the sunlight that continually shines upon it. The problem is not with the sun, for it never ceases to shine. The problem is with the window. As long as it is covered with dust and grime, the light cannot pass through it clearly. But once it is cleaned and polished, the window becomes so radiant that it seems almost indistinguishable from the sunlight itself. As St John writes, "The extent of illumination is not dependent on the ray of sunlight but on the window" (The Ascent of Mount Carmel, II.5.6–7).

The same is true when we pray, "Hallowed be thy name." God does not need to become holier, just as the sun does not need to become brighter. Rather, what needs cleansing is the window of our own hearts, so that God's holiness may shine through us. This also helps us understand why the opening petitions of the Lord's Prayer are all directed toward God: "Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done." None of these petitions asks God to change. Rather, they ask that God's eternal holiness, kingdom, and will become increasingly manifest in our lives and in our world.

For my second point, we are now ready to dig deep into the Ignatian motto, AMDG—Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam, "For the Greater Glory of God." I sometimes wonder whether we write AMDG too quickly, almost by habit, without pausing to reflect on what they really mean. Today, I would use it with greater caution and reverence, lest I appear to be claiming more than I should. Who are we to claim that our actions bring greater glory to God? Worse still, if misunderstood, AMDG can become a dangerous motto, especially when it is used to justify ambition, triumphalism, or the illusion that God is automatically on our side.

We are brought back to the very same question we asked when we prayed, "Hallowed be thy name"? Just as our prayers do not make God's name holier, neither do our actions make God more glorious. The Church herself reminds us of this in the Common Preface IV: "You have no need of our praise, yet our thanksgiving is itself your gift. Our praises add nothing to your greatness but profit us for salvation." God gains nothing from us; we are the ones who are transformed. AMDG, then, is not about increasing God's glory but about allowing our lives to be drawn ever more deeply into the glory that is already His.

History reminds us that the very name Society of Jesus, chosen by St Ignatius and his first companions, was not without its critics. To many, choosing the name Society of Jesus and adopting AMDG gave the critics even more ammunition.

But every rose has its thorn. The thorn, in this case, was the criticism that continually challenged the Society to examine whether it was truly seeking God's glory or its own. Such criticism purifies one's motives and is a good reminder that any human work can never make God more glorious than He already is. St Ignatius understood this well. Out of humility, he referred to the Society as la mínima Compañía de Jesús—the Least Society of Jesus. AMDG needs such an antidote. It is no wonder, then, that St Ignatius continually calls his sons to contemplate the poor and humble Jesus, the strongest bulwark against self-importance and institutional pride. St Ignatius even begs God that he and his companions be placed with the poor, humble, and cross-laden Jesus, for it is there that we discover that our weaknesses cannot diminish God's glory, nor can our successes increase it.

For our final point, I would like to quote the Spanish biographer and companion of St Ignatius, Pedro de Ribadeneira. He writes:

“In matters which he took up pertaining to the service of our Lord, he made use of all the human means to succeed in them, with a care and efficiency as great as if the success depended on these means; and he confided in God and depended on his providence as greatly as if all the other human means which he was using were of no effect.”

Perhaps this is the invitation Jesus places before us today. The first petition of the Lord's Prayer and the Ignatian motto AMDG belong together. Both remind us that God is already holy and glorious. His glory is not measured by our victories or our defeats. Rather, God remains free to reveal His glory through whatever He chooses—even our greatest strengths and our deepest weaknesses.

God is at the heart of our strength and our weakness, our prayer and our work. He alone can transform them into instruments of His greater glory. This is the spirit behind another maxim attributed to St Ignatius: "Pray as if everything depended on God, and work as if everything depended on you." In prayer, we entrust everything to God, knowing that all ultimately depends on Him. At the same time, we do our very best with the gifts, responsibilities, and opportunities He has entrusted to us. This keeps us from complacency and reminds us that trust in God is never an excuse for half-hearted effort. As St Paul reminds us, "Whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God" (1 Cor 10:31). Amen. Fr JM Manzano SJ