The right and left hands of God, Angels: Day 072

The right and left hands of God, Angels: Day 072 October 1, 2016

angels_gregory_the_great_1The right and left hands of God

The heavenly host stands at the right and left hands of  God. One side is the good angels, says  St. Gregory the Great, and one side is the evil angels. Both serve God, though the evil ones are working for their own evil purposes.

“I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of Heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left” (1 Kings 22:19).

What is the “throne” of the Lord, unless we understand it as the angelic powers? He is enthroned on high in their minds, and thus he controls everything below.

What is “the host of Heaven,” unless it means the many ministering angels?

Then why does it say that the host of Heaven stands “on his right hand and on his left”? Since God exists in everything, and is also outside everything, he is not limited by right and left hands.

But the right hand of God is the elect part of the angels, and the left hand of God means the fallen part of the angels. Not just the good serve God by the help they give us, but the wicked also serve him by the trials they inflict on us—not just the ones who lift up anyone who turns back from sin, but also the wicked who push down anyone who refuses to turn back.

So the angelic host stands on the right hand and on the left hand of God: the will of the elect spirits harmonizes with the divine mercy, and the minds of the fallen ones, when they serve their own evil ends, obey the judgment of God’s stern decrees. –St. Gregory the Great,  Moralia in Job, 2.38

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .

Do I work in harmony with the Divine Mercy, as the holy angels do? Or does God have to work his will in spite of me, as he does with the fallen angels?

CLOSING PRAYER

Holy angels, teach me to serve God in everything with my own will, as you do, so that at last I may join you in praising God eternally in Heaven.

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