The armies of God, Angels: Day 021

The armies of God

The angels are God’s armies, says St. Gregory the Great, because they are at war with  the fallen angels. And those of  us who  free ourselves from earthly concerns join that heavenly army and share the victory with the angels.

“Is there any number to his armies? Upon whom does his light not arise?” ( Job 25:3).

We rightly call the angelic spirits the armies of God, because we are aware that they are at war against the powers of the air. They carry on these conflicts, however, not by labor but by authority. Whatever they wish when they act against impure spirits, they can accomplish it by the aid of God, who rules all things.

Of this army it is written that, when our King was born, “suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host” (Luke 2:13). And the number of the elect from humanity is joined to this heavenly host, when by the lofty aspira- tions of the mind they are set free from the bondage of an earthly connection. About this Paul said, “No soldier on service gets entangled in civilian pursuits” (2

Tim. 2:4).

Though they are shown as few in number, in the invisible country they reign innumerably, because—although they are few compared to the evil-minded— when they are assembled together they cannot be measured in any way.

But because the goodness of those soldiers is made firm, not by their own powers, but by the inspiration of grace from above, it is rightly added, “Upon whom does his light not arise?”–St. Gregory the Great,  Moralia in Job, 17.19

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .

What earthly things are tying me down and keeping me from joining the victorious army of Heaven?

CLOSING PRAYER

Lord, with all the spirits of the just and of prophets; souls of martyrs and of apostles; Angels, Archangels, Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, and Authorities, and dread Powers; and the many-eyed Cherubim, and the six-winged Seraphim, let me sing the victorious hymn of your majestic glory.

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