John 17:4

I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. The work of preaching and redemption, for which Thou didst send Me into the world, I shall in a few hours consummate after the brief period of My Passion and Death. And I am about to commit the teaching thereof to the Apostles. S. Augustine says, "I have glorified Thee by making Thee known, to those whom Thou hast given Me. God is glorified when He is made known to men, and is preached to those who believe by faith." For, as S. Chrysostom says, "He had been already glorified and adored by angels in heaven. He speaks therefore of that glory, which concerns the worship of men." Ver. 5. And (i.e., therefore, because I have performed the work of My mission), 0 Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was. S. Augustine, and after him S. Thomas, understand it of the glory which Christ had as man from all eternity, not indeed in act, but in the decree and predestination of God. He asks "that the glory which He had in predestination, he might have in the complete restoration of it to Him at the right hand of the Father; for He saw that the time for His predestined glorification had arrived." And so Suarez, "Glorify Thou Me with the glory of the Resurrection, to which Thou didst predestinate Me before the world was."

Others understand it more simply, of the glory which, as Son, He had from the Father, in sitting at His right hand, as equal to Him in dignity and glory. That is, Grant, 0 Father, that I may, after My death, ascend into heaven, and sit at Thy right hand as Thy Son, and so be glorified, and acknowledged by men not only to be man but also God. And that by the union of My divine nature to My manhood, that manhood also may be exalted in great glory to Thy right hand. That thus My Godhead may communicate to My manhood which is conjoined with it the glory which It had from all eternity. He asks therefore that the Godhead which was latent in His humanity might he acknowledged, and that both might be glorified together. So S. Chrysostom, Cyril, Theophylact, Euthymius, S. Thomas. Place Me at Thy right hand, that all may understand that I have that glory which in truth I had with Thee from all eternity, and that I am Thy very Son by nature, and equal to Thee. So Cyril (Hil. lib. iii. de Trin.), S. Augustine, Leontius, Toletus, and many others.

A threefold glory of Christ is here signified. First: The uncreate and uncreated glory of His Godhead and divine Sonship. Secondly, the created and finite glory of His manhood, which it obtained by the Resurrection and all its glorious gifts, and afterwards by His Ascension. For He sitteth at the right hand of God, not as God only, but as man. And His prayer is, Grant that I, who have sat from all eternity at Thy right hand as God, may sit there also as man. The third glory is that by which both these former glories were manifested to the Apostles and the rest of the faithful, for when they saw Him gloriously ascending into heaven, the angels welcoming Him, and the Holy Spirit sent down by Him with the working of so many signs and miracles, by which they converted the whole world to Christ, from all this they acknowledged that Christ was no mere man, but the Son of God, seated as such at the right hand of the Father in supreme majesty and glory, and they preached this through all the world. Christ therefore asks that His first glory may be made manifest by His second, i.e., by the ascension of His manhood into heaven; and that His second glory may be manifested by His third glory, that is, to the Apostles and the rest of the faithful. He asks, in short, that His Godhead, like a heart concealed by the mire and shell of His manhood, may shine forth (when death has broken that shell) and diffuse on every side the rays of its glory. Just as the sun disperses by its warmth the clouds which envelop it, and scatters its shining rays in every direction. And when that comes to pass, the glory of Christ will shine forth over the whole world, by His resurrection, His ascension, His sending the Holy Spirit, and the conversion of the Gentiles.

S. Chrysostom by His glorification understands His Passion, and thus addresses Him, "What sayest Thou? When Thou art about to be led to the Cross with robbers and malefactors, and to undergo the death of the accursed, to be spit upon, to be beaten with rods and blows; callest Thou that glory? Indeed I do, for I shall suffer all this for those I love, &c. If then He counts it not glory to be on His Father's throne, but to suffer contumely, how much more must I reckon that to be glory?" And a little before, "If Christ counted it not so great a thing to be in glory, as to endure the Cross for my sake, what, I ask, ought I not to endure for His Name?"

Here note that "with Thee" is the same as "from Thee." For the Son derives His Godhead and all His glory from the Father. Or it may mean "In Thy presence," for though no angel or man were to glorify Christ, yet would He have infinite praise and glory in the Father's presence. For with such honours the Father lauds and glorifies the Son, and the Son in turn glorifies the Father. And so also with regard to the Holy Spirit. Hence we sing the Gloria Patri at the end of every Psalm. Indicating the glory with which Each Divine Person glorifies the other two, and is in turn glorified by Them. 3. With Thee indicates the consubstantiality of the Father and the Son. See John 1:1, and notes.

Therefore some heretics, as S. Augustine testifies, wrongly suppose that this glorifying was caused by the manhood in heaven being converted into the Godhead. This is impossible, for in this case the manhood of Christ which suffered would not be glorified. For it would no longer exist, when changed into the Godhead. There would be Godhead only. The manhood therefore participates in the glory of the Godhead (far above all angels and men), as being hypostatically united to it. Just as the air participates in the light of the sun, and the blessed participate in the glory of God. So SS. Chrysostom, Hillary, Ambrose, and Athanasius, writing against the Arians.