Christ above and below; Angels: Day 089

Christ above and below

Christ, says St. Augustine, is both above in Heaven and below in us. If our eyes were opened, we could see the angels constantly ascending and descending.

He who could do such great things was hungry and thirsty, was wearied, slept, was apprehended, beaten, crucified, slain.

This is the way: walk in humility, that you may come to eternity. Christ as God is the country we want to go to; Christ the man is the Way by which we go. To him we go, by him we go; why should we worry about losing the way? He did not leave the Father; and came to us. He sucked the breasts, and he contained the world. He lay in the manger, and he fed the angels.

Therefore, from now on, having now suffered in this humiliation, died, and been buried, he has now risen again, and ascended into Heaven. There he is, sitting at the right hand of the Father; and here he is needy in his poor.

Yesterday too I brought this up in the context of what he said to Nathanael, “You shall see greater things than these. Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see Heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man” ( John 1:50-51). He would not say, “ascending upon the Son of man,” unless he were above; he would not say, “descending upon the Son of man,” un- less he were also below. He is at once above and below: above in himself, below in those who are his; above with the Father, below in us. –St. Augustine, Sermon 73 on the New Testament, 3-4

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .

Angels, says St. Augustine, are constantly going between the body of Christ on earth and the Head in Heaven. When the angels come to me, what kind of member do they find me? Am I doing my part in the Body?

CLOSING PRAYER

Lord, you were pleased to make my weakness a spiritual member in the great body of your Holy Church. Send your angels down to me to guide me to eternity with your Son.

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