The angels don’t need sermons or readings to tell them God’s word, says St. Augustine. They have God’s Word, God the Son, with them all the time. And we’ll be like that when we’re with the angels in Heaven. “Give us this day our daily bread” comes next in the prayer. We might be asking the Father for the support we need for the body, “bread” meaning whatever we need; or we might mean that daily bread we’re about to receive at... Read more
Do you really know, St. John Chrysostom asks, what an honor it is to be invited to communion with Christ? Angels tremble even to see the body of Christ, but we’re invited to make our bodies one with his. Think of how indignant you are against the traitor, against the ones who crucified Jesus. So look out! Make sure you yourself don’t also become guilty of the body and blood of Christ. They slaughtered the all-holy body, but you receive it... Read more
Our Mass in our own parish church, says St. Athanasius, is already part of that great heavenly banquet that we will share with the angels. This bread, my brethren, is the food of the righteous not just here, but in Heaven as well. It is not only the saints on earth who are nourished by such bread and such blood. We will also eat them in Heaven. The Lord is the food even of the exalted spirits; he spares them all... Read more
Brandon McGinley writes about faith, culture, and politics from his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His writing has appeared in print in National Review, The Human Life Review, Fare Forward, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Harrisburg Patriot-News, and the Pittsburgh Catholic and online at First Things, Public Discourse, The Week, The Federalist, National Review Online, Aleteia, Ethika Politika, Acculturated, and The Imaginative Conservative. He has also contributed to and edited books for Our Sunday Visitor Catholic publishers. Brandon works as Editor of... Read more
When a priest celebrates the Mass on earth, he takes part in the worship of Heaven. He corresponds visibly to the invisible angels. Whenever the priest invokes the Holy Spirit and offers the most awesome sacrifice—when he constantly handles the common Lord of all—tell me what rank shall we give him? What great purity and what real piety must we demand of him? For consider what kind of hands ought to minister in these things, and what kind of tongue utter... Read more
St. Augustine portrays Christ as a merchant buying and selling. But the deal he offers us is one we can’t refuse. We can trade our death and hard work for his life and endless bliss. Christ is himself the Bread which came down from Heaven ( John 6:51); but Bread that refreshes the failing, and does not fail; Bread that can be tasted, and cannot be wasted. This Bread is what the manna prefigured. This is why it is said, “He gave... Read more
All the angels, and the Lord of angels, rejoice at a baptism, says St. John Chrysostom. In that water a sinful human being dies and a new person is born. So if we’re dead to the flesh, why do we worry so much about material things? “When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Col. 3:4). So if we shall appear, let us not grieve when we are not honored. If this life is... Read more
Often the Fathers use the angels as examples of great but limited power, contrasting the abilities of superior but still created beings with the omnipotence of God. Here St. Cyril of Alexandria argues that Christ is fully God because He can do what no angelic being can do: grant us power over demons and sickness. “The fruit of good deeds is honorable”—that’s a true saying. If you wish to lead a life as pure and undefiled as it’s possible for... Read more
When a book arrived in my mailbox about the Angelus prayer, I had to agree with my wife Laura when she said, “Really an entire book on the Angelus?” Little did I realize how quickly I would take those words back. Indeed, the Angelus prayer is short but it’s richness is hidden behind its simplicity. Jared Dees gives the Angelus prayer the attention it deserves in his book Praying the Angelus: Find Joy, Peace, and Purpose in Everyday Life. “Praying... Read more
We hire a band for a wedding or a birthday, St. Augustine says, and everyone who hears it knows that something special is going on. But if we listen and don’t let the world distract us, we can hear the music of the angels singing at that endless festival in Heaven. Here, where we have festivals just for the fun of it, we put bands or sing- ers in front of our houses, or any kind of music that tempts us... Read more
The Catholic Book Blogger
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In