The heavens proclaim his justice; all peoples see his glory. (Psalms 97:6)
Brother,
"God's Glory" is understood –– according to Holy Mother Church –– as the manifestation of His perfection, goodness, and holiness.
(Manifestation: a perceptible, outward, or visible expression or sign. Something real.)
It's not something God gains, but rather something He shares and reveals through creation and especially through humanity (CCC 31-33); an expression of humanity which is witnessed in the fullness of time in the Person of Jesus of Nazareth –– through his Incarnation, Passion, Death, and Resurrection.
In the context of "the heavens" proclamation... it's the manifestation of His essence - His BEAUTY, His ORDER.
His Glory is something He shares and reveals through creation... drawing man to Himself. The opening paragraph (27) of the Catechism of the Catholic Church –– on man's capacity to know God –– tells us that "God never ceases to draw man to Himself" and that "only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for."
In the same vain the second Vatican council says, "The dignity of man rests above all on the fact that he is called to communion with God. This invitation to converse with God is addressed to man as soon as he comes into being. For if man exists it is because God has created him through love, and through love continues to hold him in existence. He cannot live fully according to truth unless he freely acknowledges that love and entrusts himself to his creator."
(Emphasis mine.)
This is why the "heavens proclaim His justice" (Ps 97:6).
Because it is right and just for God to draw man to Himself, to truth –– through beauty. So man can come to know Him and share in His divine life (CCC 356). Justice is the foundation of charity (love); and love, by it's very nature, seeks to share and do what is right toward the one being loved.
We glorify God by living a fully human life. And through our beauty we draw people to the reality of God; we glorify God by being what God created us to BE –– a reflection of His image and likeness. A dog glorifies God by being a dog. A flower glorifies God by being a flower.
Humanity glorifies God by being a fully human person; and we can only live our humanity to it's fullest through the 7 Sacraments of the Church –– which have been instituted by Christ as a means to attain His Grace; His life; in our soul.
These Graces which are handed down, and administered, to us by the very men who witnessed God's Glory in a real way (Luke 9:32); Men who 1.) "possess the prophetic message that is all together reliable" (2 Peter 1:19).
2.) Have been entrusted with the deposit of faith once and for all (Matthew 28:20; Acts 2:42; 8:14-24; 2 Corinthians 5:18; Ephesians 3:2; Colossians 1:25; 2 Thessalonians 2:15; 2 Peter 1:19-2; Jude 3).
And 3.) Men who have witnessed from the beginning, heard with their ears, saw with their eyes, and touched with their hands... the very manifestation of the Glory of God; the life of God which was made visible to them (1 John 1:1-4).
In his book, The Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius of Loyola (the founder of the Jesuit Order, which is responsible for educating a vast majority of the West) said "man was created for a certain end. This end is to praise, to reverence and to serve the Lord his God and by this means to arrive at eternal salvation."
(Emphasis mine.)
One does not "achieve" God's Glory. But rather proclaims, praises, and participates in it. Man was created as a result of love, so man could in return love his Creator. All life seeks to glorify and reward it's benefactor by being what it was created to be; by attaining it's final end.
God's Glory helps man attain this end, which is full communion with the cause of his being and sharing in the Divine Life of his Creator –– in this life and the life of the world to come.
Thanks for reading.
Your brother in Christ,
St. Sebastian "The Dauntless Christian"
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