The Catholic Book Blogger
When he was in the flesh, Jesus himself took his Father’s orders through the angels, says Dionysius the Areopagite. Though he himself was the cause of their existence, Jesus kept himself within the limits assigned to mankind.
The angels were the first ones initiated in the divine mystery of the love of Jesus for humanity. Then the gift of that knowledge passed through them to us.
For example, the most divine Gabriel taught Zechariah the priest that the son who would be born to him—by divine grace, when he had no hope of a son— would be a prophet of the work of the Lord Jesus, God incarnate, which would be shown in the world for its own salvation, as becomes God’s goodness.
Gabriel also revealed to Mary how she would bear the supremely divine mystery of the ineffable God made flesh.
Another angel taught Joseph how the things that had been promised to his ancestor David would really be fulfilled.
Another brought the glad news to the shepherds, who were purified by their separation from the crowd and their quiet life; and with that angel a multitude of the heavenly host announced that often-sung doxology to us on earth.
Now let us rise to the highest manifestations of light in Scripture: we see that even Jesus himself, who was the cause of these heavenly beings’ very existence, kept within the limits of mankind when he had become a man, and subjected himself to the will of God the Father through angels. Through the mediation of angels God announced to Joseph that the Son must leave for Egypt, as the Father had arranged; and the return from Egypt to Judea was announced in the same way. And through angels we see Jesus subjecting himself to his father’s decrees. –Dionysius the Areopagite, Heavenly Hierarchy, 4.4
IN GOD’S PRESENCE, CONSIDER . . .
Jesus had no need of the angels’ ministry; he accepted it in order to lead us by example. Am I following that example by relying on the angels to lead me to God?
CLOSING PRAYER
Dear Jesus, you received the ministry of angels in the desert and in the garden. Help us to benefit from their ministry in the deserts and gardens of our own lives.
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