The creation of angels; Angels: Day 007

Last updated on: July 28, 2016 at 3:30 am by Pete Socks

The creation of angels; Angels: Day 007 2016-07-18T18:20:45-05:00 Pete Socks

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The creation of angels

Genesis doesn’t tell us explicitly when the angels were created, says St. Augustine, but we know that they were created from other passages in Scripture.

Where Scripture speaks of the world’s creation, it doesn’t tell us plainly whether or when the angels were created. If it does mention them, it mentions them implicitly under the name of “Heaven,” when it is said, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” But I can’t believe they were completely left out, because it is written that on the seventh day God rested from all his works that he made; and this very book itself begins, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” so that before heaven and earth God seems to have made nothing.

Still, though the fact that the angels are the work of God is not left out here, it’s true that it’s not explicitly mentioned. But elsewhere Holy Scripture asserts it in the clearest way. For in the Hymn of the Three Children in the Furnace it was said, “Bless the Lord, all works of the Lord” (Dan. 3:57); and among these works mentioned afterwards in detail, the angels are named (Dan. 3:58). And in the psalm it is said, “Praise the Lord from the heavens, / praise him in the heights! / Praise him, all his angels, / praise him, all his host! / Praise him, sun and moon,/ praise him, all you shining stars! / Praise him, you highest heavens, / and you waters above the heavens! / Let them praise the name of the Lord! / For he com- manded and they were created.”

Here the angels are very explicitly—and by divine authority—said to havebeen made by God. It says about them, among the other heavenly things, “he commanded and they were created.” –St. Augustine, City of God, 11.9

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .

Psalm 148 invites everything created, animate and inanimate, to praise the Lord. If inanimate creation spontaneously praises God, how much more lavish should I be in rais- ing my voice with the choir?

CLOSING PRAYER

Pure spirits, who are high glories of God’s creation, help us to restore all things in Christ, so that all the world may tell his glories and praise the Father.

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A Year with the Angels

Mike Aquilina

Saint Augustine

Saint Benedict Press

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