Being punished is not an evil; Angels: Day 129

Are the angels evil when they punish sinners? No, says Dionysius  the Areopagite: what is evil is not being justly punished when we have earned punishment.

Evil does not exist in the angels. By participation, the angel is in a second- ary degree what God, whom he announces, is in the first degree as Cause. If the angel who has the likeness of good proclaims the goodness of God, then the angel is a likeness of Almighty God: a manifestation of the unmanifested Light—an untarnished mirror, as clear as can be, flawless, pure, without spot. He receives, so to speak, the full beauty of the good-stamped likeness of God without stain. Then he pours out, without impurity, the goodness of the Silence who dwells in the innermost shrines.

Evil, then, is not even in angels. But are they evil when they punish sinners? By that rule those who punish criminals would be evil, and so would those priests who shut the profane out of the divine mysteries.

But being punished is not an evil; what is evil is becoming worthy of punishment in the first place. And being deservedly expelled from holy things is not evil; what is evil is becoming accursed by God, and unholy, and unfit for things that are undefiled. –Dionysius the Areopagite, The Divine Names, 4.22

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .

We all sin and become worthy of punishment. But how often do I ask my guardian angel for help in resisting temptation?

CLOSING PRAYER

Guardian Angel, be with me when I confess my sins; remind me of the transgressions I need to confess, and help shield me from the temptation to sin again.

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