Fr. Rolheiser writes about a friend who likes to tease the Jesuits about their motto: “For the greater glory of God.” He notes that “God doesn’t need you to enhance his glory.” Fr. Rolheiser notes that his friend is partly he’s right, but he also notes that the Jesuits are right too. “God doesn’t need our praises, but we need to give praise, otherwise, our lives degenerate into bitterness and violence.” Why? Well, it might surprise some in what I have witnessed in many parish communities. In our daily experience, we sit around talking with each other and, invariably, unless we’re praising someone, we’re verbally “killing” someone. Gossip, slander, harsh judgment, and vicious comments are often both the tone and substance of our conversations and they’re the very antithesis of a doxology, of offering praise to God. Nothing sounds less like a doxology (“Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit”) than many of our everyday conversations. Fr. Rolheiser goes on to say, “The main reason our faith asks us to constantly render glory to God is that the more we praise the less we slander, gossip, or pass judgment. Offering praise to God, and others, is what saves us from bitterness and violence. When St. Paul begins his Epistles, he usually does so in a rapture of praise: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ from whose great mercy we all drink!” Only by praising something beyond ourselves do we save ourselves from bitterness.