Conference on Angels: Conf. #2: How We Are United With The Angels in Heaven!

Conference on Angels: Conf. #2: How We Are United With The Angels in Heaven!

When we speak of the angels, it is important to attend to one of the most important ways where the church is most sensitive to the presence of the angels.

And that is during the act of our collective divine worship, which we call the liturgy. Um, And again, this is something that the church has taught from the very beginning, recognized from the very beginning, and yet we reflect upon far too little.

And so, for example, when we celebrate Mass, what we are not doing is simply celebrating Mass on our own. Every time we gather for that holy sacrifice and holy sacrament, we are united to that great liturgy which is taking place in heaven. And so, note, while our eyes see no further than what is around us, the building which we occupy, the people who are with us, this is actually the small part of what is happening.

We Unite . . .

Rather, in that action, we are caught up into the grander, the greater, the enduring act of worship, which takes place in heaven. This is one of the reasons why when we take the liturgy for granted, when we celebrate it in a pedestrian way, when we just go through the motions, we cheat ourselves! Indeed, we also diminish what it is that’s happening!

At Mass, our gifts are on the altar, the presence of Christ is here, and these words are spoken: lift this up by the hands of your holy angel. to your altar, not here on earth, but on high in heaven. That as we are doing something here, something is happening elsewhere!

Unite With What Is Going On In Heaven!

And what we do here is connected to that. It is not separate from that. It is part of that same action, mysteriously and wonderfully. And the church has long understood that. But as we celebrate that great mystery, which is the source and summit of our faith, we celebrate in union with the angels. Whether we’re conscious of it or not, that as we gather around the altar and praise and honor the presence of the Lord, the angelic host is likewise doing so.

Whether we’re five for mass, 500 or 5, 000. It doesn’t matter. That is, in fact, what is happening. And so having said that, we recognize then that with good reason we have long celebrated that the angel, the angelic hosts of the Lord are organized into, not armies, but choirs. Isn’t that interesting when you stop and think about it? Hear more within the Homily!

What Actually Do Angels . . .

We don’t speak of the nine armies of angels. We don’t even speak of the nine classifications of angels. Indeed, we speak of the nine choirs of angels. And what is a choir? It is that organized, well ordered body, which sings the praises of God during worship. When we speak then of the choirs of the angels, we’re saying something about their very essence.

It is not just that they stand before the face of God, it is not just that they serve God, it is not just that they protect us, it is not just that they are messengers. All of that is true because they belong to the choirs. The ordered praises of God sung continually and unrelentingly by the angelic hosts.

This tremendous body of music, chant, and song: And so, through Christian art and the Christian imagination across the centuries, especially taking the words of the Psalms, Praise the Lord with harps, praise the Lord with flute and strings, praise the Lord with pipes and drums. If you walk into the great cathedrals of the world, what do you see?

. . . Do in Heaven?

Angels with pipes and drums, and harps. Recognizing that these statements are not just a call to Israel, they’re not just a call to the people of God to lift their voices in song, that there’s an absoluteness about these words. And absoluteness about these words that is fulfilled and realized first in heaven, spills down to earth.

And so, we are most clearly and most fully united to the angels in worship. In worship. Which is why the great hymn, Celebrating the angels begins in the presence of the angels, I will sing your praises, oh my God. In the presence of the angels, I will sing your praises.

What a marvelous, marvelous reality that is. That there is something about the angel that doesn’t just simply teach me how to obey. Doesn’t simply point out the way I must follow. It teaches me how to praise. How to rightly worship. And so, we see time and again in sacred scripture it is the angel who holds the incense.

The angel who is pleased to receive the sacrifice and bear it upward to the Lord. It is the angel who assists and who aids the people of God in their worship that worship might be realized rightly and correctly. This is also why then in some areas the longstanding custom was at the entrance to the church to have an image of Saint Michael. Why? Hear more within the Homily!

Listen to this Meditation Media. Listen to:

How We Are United With The Angels in Heaven!