An image of the heavenly city; Angels: Day 340

An image of the heavenly city; Angels: Day 340 June 28, 2017

angels_augustine_1Zion—Jerusalem—is an image of the heavenly kingdom, says St. Augustine. The captivity of the earthly Jerusalem in Babylon is an image of our pilgrimage here on earth; our friends the angels await us in the heavenly Jerusalem.

“When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream” (Ps. 126:1).

By this he meant to say that we became joyful. When? “When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion.”

What is Zion? Jerusalem. The same is also the eternal Zion. How is Zion eternal, and how is Zion captive? In angels it is eternal; in human beings it is cap- tive.

Not all citizens of that city are captives: only the ones who are away from there are captives. Man was a citizen of Jerusalem, but, sold to sin, he became a pilgrim. All the human race came from his descendants, and the captivity of Zion filled all lands.

And how is this captivity of Zion a shadow of the eternal Zion? The shadow

of that Zion—which was granted in an image or figure to the Jews—was in captiv- ity in Babylonia, and after seventy years the people were restored to their own city. –St. Augustine, Exposition on Ps. 126, 3

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .

If I am a wanderer here on earth, am I wandering toward or away from the eternal city of the angels?

CLOSING PRAYER

Lead me, Lord, to your glorious Zion of the angels, and preserve your holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church throughout the world.


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