The angels wondered at the risen Christ; Angels: Day 199

Christ rose to Heaven in his glorified body, says St. Cyril of Alexandria. He imagines how the angels must have wondered at the sight: the God of  all creation appearing in human form, with scars from the nails still in his hands!

Thus the only-begotten Word of God returned to the heavens, with the flesh united to him.

How strange was the sight in Heaven! The throng of angels marveled when they saw the King of earth and the Lord of might in a form like ours. And they said, “Who is this that comes from Edom (meaning from the earth) in crimsoned garments from Bozrah?”—the interpretation of which is flesh, as being a narrow- ing and pressing (Isa. 63:1).

Then too they inquired, “What are these wounds in the middle of your hands?”

He answered, “With these was I wounded in the house of my beloved.” After his return to life from the dead, when he showed his hands to Thomas (for very good reasons), Christ told him to handle both the prints of the nails, and the holes bored in his side. In the same way, when arrived in Heaven, he gave full proof to the holy angels, that Israel was justly cast out and fallen from being of his family. For this reason, he showed his garment stained with blood, and the wounds in his hands, and not as though he could not put them away; for when he rose from the dead, he put off corruption, and with it all its marks and attributes: he retained them therefore, that the manifold wisdom of God, which he wrought in Christ, might now be made known by the Church, according to the plan of salvation, to Principalities and Powers. –St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke, Sermon 12

IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .

The angels themselves marveled at what Christ had done for the salvation of hu- manity. When I see the spectacle from their point of view, does it help me realize just how much God has done for me?

CLOSING PRAYER

Rise, Lord, and let your enemies be scattered, and let all who hate your holy name be put to flight.

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