Angels confess their ignorance, Angels: Day 062

Angels confess their ignorance

Angels see the majesty of  God, says  St. Gregory the Great, but they cannot understand it. Like Job, we should be ready to admit that we can’t debate on equal terms with God.

“God, whose wrath no man can resist, and under whom they stoop that bear up the world” ( Job 9:13).

When it says “under whom they stoop that bear up the world,” we may also understand the angelic powers. They “bear up the world” in that they perform the duties of governing the universe—as Paul tells us when he says, “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation?” (Heb. 1:14).

So when he says “God, whose wrath no man can resist, and under whom they stoop that bear up the world,” it’s as if he were seeing the humiliation of every created being, and said in fear and trembling, “Who among weak mortals resists your nod, before whose might even the angelic powers stoop?”

Or certainly, since we see nothing of things above us when we stoop, those subtlest spirits must have stood straight if they completely reached the power of God’s majesty. But although, when they are lifted up, they do see the loftiness of the divine nature, yet not even the angelic powers manage to comprehend it; therefore “they stoop that bear up the world.”

And since the righteous man, from his weakness, cannot understand the divine nature, he remembers who he is with careful humility, and makes himself small in his own eyes compared with the omnipotence of the Supreme Majesty, saying, “How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him?” ( Job 9:14). –St. Gregory the Great,  Moralia in Job, 9.26

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .

When things seem to go badly for me, am I tempted to second-guess God? Does it help to remember that even the righteous Job—even the angels themselves—could never really understand the divine nature?

CLOSING PRAYER

Guardian Angel, teach me to remember my ignorance, and ask forgiveness for the sins I do not know.

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