Like angels, but not exactly like; Angels: Day 335

Like angels, but not exactly like; Angels: Day 335 June 23, 2017

angels_methodiusEven in paradise, says St. Methodius, we will have bodies, which distinguishes us from angels. Christ did not say that we would be angels, but like angels.

Thus it was that, having contrived the parable about the woman and the seven brothers, that they might cast doubt upon the resurrection of the flesh, “The same day Sadducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection” (Matt.

22:23).

If there had been no resurrection of the flesh, but the soul only were saved, Christ would have agreed with their opinion as a right and excellent one. But as it was, he answered and said, “in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in Heaven” (Matt. 23:30)—not because they have no flesh, but because they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are henceforth incorruptible.

And he speaks of our being near the angels in this respect, that, like the angels in Heaven, in paradise we no longer spend our time in marriage-feasts or other festivities, but in seeing God and cultivating life under the direction of Christ. For he did not say “they shall be angels,” but “like angels,” in being, for instance, crowned, as it is written, with glory and honor; differing a little from the angels, but near to being angels.

–St. Methodius, Discourse on the Resurrection, 1.12

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .

How much of my present life do I spend living the angelic life—seeing God and cultivating life under the direction of Christ?

CLOSING PRAYER

Grant me, Lord, that I may be pleasing to you in my words, works, thoughts, and deeds, so that I may be worthy of a new and true life among your angels in the kingdom of Heaven.


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