Heavenly beings as well were made by the Word; Angels: Day 008

Last updated on: July 29, 2016 at 3:30 am by Pete Socks

Heavenly beings as well were made by the Word; Angels: Day 008 2016-07-18T18:26:42-05:00 Pete Socks

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Heavenly beings as well were made by the Word

Interpreting Psalm 45, St. Augustine imagines all the things that have been created by the Word: not just the stars, the earth, the sea, but also the angels and all the heavenly beings.

“My heart hath uttered a good word” (Ps. 45:1).

Who is the speaker? The Father, or the prophet? Some take it to be the Person of the Father, who says, “My heart hath uttered a good word,” hinting at a certain unspeakable generation. In case you should happen to think that some- thing had been taken into him, out of which God should beget the Son ( just as man takes something to himself out of which he begets children, namely, a union of marriage, without which man cannot beget offspring)—in case you should think that God needed some sort of nuptial union to beget the Son, he says, “My heart hath uttered a good word.”

You have a thought today, and you don’t need a wife to beget it. With that thought, born from your heart, you build something or other, and before that building exists, the design exists; and what you are about to produce exists already in the thought by which you are going to produce it. You praise the structure that as yet does not exist in the visible form of a building, but only drawn up in a de- sign; nor does anyone else praise your design, unless either you show it to him, or he sees what you have done. If then by the Word all things were made ( John 1:3), and the Word is from God, think of the structure built by the Word, and learn from that building to admire his counsels!

What kind of Word is that by which Heaven and Earth were made (Heb.11:3) and all the splendor of the heavens; all the fertility of the earth; the expanse of the sea; the air spread wide; the brightness of the constellations; the light of sun and moon? These are visible things—but rise above these, too, and think of the Angels, Principalities, Thrones, Dominions, and Powers. All were made by him. –St. Augustine, Exposition on Psalm 45, 4

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .

Do I give myself time to consider the wonders we know through astronomy and science, and the wonders we cannot know yet in Heaven? Have I praised God for his creation?

CLOSING PRAYER

My God, give me the gift of wonder at your creation. You are Creator of all things, seen and unseen, earthly and angelic. By your grace, may I come to praise the gifts I cannot see, the gift of your holy angels.

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