The incorruptible riches of the angels; Angels: Day 304

The incorruptible riches of the angels; Angels: Day 304 May 23, 2017

angels_augustine_1The two greatest commandments, as Jesus taught us, sum up the whole of thScriptures: love God and love your neighbor. True believers who remember those commandments,  says  St. Augustine, are promised the incorruptible riches of the angels.

All is contained in these brief sentences: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and “love your neighbor as yourself.”

In this love, all our holy fathers, patriarchs, prophets, and apostles pleased God.

In this all true martyrs contended against the devil even to the shedding of blood, and because it never grew cold or failed in them, they became conquerors.

In this all true believers daily make progress, seeking to acquire not an earthly kingdom, but the kingdom of Heaven; not a temporal, but an eternal inheritance; not gold and silver, but the incorruptible riches of the angels; not the good things of this life, which are enjoyed with trembling, and which no one can take with him when he dies, but the vision of God, whose grace and power of giving happiness transcend all beauty of form in bodies not only on Earth but also in Heaven; tran- scend all spiritual loveliness in human beings, however just and holy; transcend all the glory of the angels and powers of the world above; transcend not only all that language can express, but all that thought can imagine concerning him.

And let us not despair of the fulfillment of such a great promise because it is so very great, but rather believe that we shall receive it because he who has promised it is so very great. –St. Augustine, Letter 189

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .

Am I really progressing daily toward the incorruptible riches of the angels, or do I see myself sliding backwards from time to time?

CLOSING PRAYER

Lord, though I am unworthy, I desire an eternal inheritance with your angels in Heaven. Grant that, in the end, I may be united to your love.


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