The Numbers and Orders of the Angels

"In the multitude of people is the dignity of the king" (Prov. xiv. 28). God's magnificence is shown by the enormous multitude of the works of His hand. Consider the thousand millions of men actually living on this planet, and the uncounted numbers who have lived or have yet to live. Consider the teeming abundance of animal, plant, and insect life. Look up to heaven, and remember that God alone "telleth the number of the stars and calleth them by their names" (Ps. cxlvi. 4). The fixed stars, or suns, are perhaps as numerous as the whole number of living men on earth; each of these is surrounded by its attendant planets and satellites; and each of these is perhaps as full of life as our globe. And yet this is only the outer court of God s palace Heaven itself, the special realm of God's magnificence, must exceed the universe in the multitude of its inhabitants as it does in splendour. A momentary glimpse of the heavenly vision was granted to the prophet, and he tells us that about the throne of God" thousands of thousands ministered to Him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before Him" (Dan. vii. 10). We are impressed, or at times overwhelmed, by the strange influence that emanates from a great crowd, in the streets of a city or in the ranks of an army. How wonderful the effect of the mere numbers of that spiritual world that surrounds the throne of God! How thrilling the moment of your entrance among them!  Continue Reading.

The Spirituality of the Angels

Each ascending class of beings begins, in its highest specimens, to assume the characteristics of the class next above it; and so might serve, if need were, to indicate the peculiarities of the next higher group of creatures. Man, the last and most perfect in the line of material beings, is much more than mere matter. There is in him a higher element, not compounded of chemical substances or the subtle forces of matter. This enjoys faculties not belonging to other beings intellect and will; it has an apprehension of moral goodness, of the true, of the beautiful; it has cravings, sometimes half unconscious, for something higher than this universe and more enduring. Above all there is in mankind an ineradicable tendency towards the supernatural, towards God and religion; and this is forever asserting itself in various forms as one of the most energetic forces in human nature. All this is an indication of an actual higher state; for no impulsion exists in the universe without its corresponding object or cause. It is further an indication of a higher class of beings, endowed with more perfect spirituality, less encumbered by matter, more free in the exercise of mind and will, standing nearer to the throne of the Almighty Ruler. Progress is the law of being. Every thing points upward through a higher class to God. Cultivate, not those appetites which you share with the beasts, but those aspirations which raise you towards the angels.  Continue Reading.

The Existence of Angels

All creation is arranged in a regular sequence of stages. So much so, that science has on occasion asserted the existence of some species of animal that seemed needed to fill up a gap in the series: and that species has subsequently been discovered. Life is found everywhere, and in every conceivable form. Scientific men have observed that any form of life which is possible, considering the analogy of the rest of creation, is also probable. So we might have inferred the existence of angels if it had not been revealed to us. Tracing creation towards its source we come to more and more simple forms of life. Solid matter may be traced back to liquid and gas, and at last appears under forms of extreme tenuity. It is conjectured that the lightest of known substances, hydrogen, may be the primal form of matter out of which all the chemical elements have been made up. Then we arrive at immaterial, intangible forces, ether, heat, electricity, and the still more mysterious force of gravitation. As beings grow refined we find that they have a greater range, and greater power, and that they are able to pass through the substance of more solid beings. Analogy would lead us to surmise that there must be a still more refined class of existences, spiritual beings in fact, endowed with enormous powers. Adore in silence the marvelous possibilities of the power and wisdom of God. Continue Reading.

Creation in General

God was under no obligation to create anything. It is only His intrinsic activity in producing the Persons of the Trinity that is necessary; all other action might or might not be, according to His will. God did not require the world or any creatures. He was rich in all good, perfectly happy, powerful, enjoying immovable repose and perfect activity in His own being. That which was, before creation, was not a dead solitude; but the three Divine Persons formed a kind of society in Their unity. There was a manifestation of infinite perfections by each to each, a mutual understanding and appreciation of the attributes of each, and action, proportioned to the greatness of the divine nature, rendering glory to each. No further witnesses were required of the divine glory, no audience for the celestial communications between the Persons. Indeed no created being could give and take, by the action of its intelligence and will, in anything like the same measure as do the Divine Persons. God has no need of you. You can do nothing that is of any use to Him. "I have said to the Lord, Thou art my God, for Thou hast no need of my goods" (Ps. xv. 2). When you have exerted all your talents and done all that you can, you may say with most perfect truth, "I am an unprofitable servant."  Continue Reading.

The Glory of The Blessed Trinity

"There are three who give testimony in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost" (1 John v. 7). The Divine Persons give testimony to one another eternally. It is Their essential glory that each is thoroughly comprehended in all His infinite perfections by the other two Divine Persons, and is appreciated and valued accordingly, and is praised and glorified, therefore, to an adequate and infinite extent. Compared with this, all the appreciation and praise of creatures and glory from them is but as a grain in the balance. As God has wrought all His mighty operations in Himself, anteriorly to creation, and without the assistance of creatures; so the Divine Trinity glorifies Itself infinitely, within Itself, and has no need of us. Jesus Christ speaks to His heavenly Father of "the glory which I had, before the world was, with Thee" (John xvii. 5). And again : "I have glorified Thee on earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do. And now glorify Thou Me, O Father, with Thyself " (John xvii. 4, 5). The glory given by the Divine Persons to one another in Their revelations and works on earth is but a faint presentation of the glory which They render to one another within the Divine Essence. Rejoice and praise God for the fact that He receives the full glory which is His due, that He does not depend upon man for it, and that our offences and blasphemies do not impair that infinite glory which is of His essence.

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The Divine Persons as Given to us

The greatest wonder in the Divine temporal missions is that, not merely the grace and aid of God, but the Blessed Persons Themselves are given to us for our elevation and our comfort. Thus, in the Incarnation, the actual Person of God the Son, the Word of God, was bestowed on humanity, and became man and the Son of the Blessed Virgin. Further, our individual souls receive not only light in the intellect and ardour of love in the heart, but the Holy Spirit Himself personally. "The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us" (Rom. v. 5). "He that abideth in charity abideth in God and God in him" (1 John iv. 16). The supernatural likeness of God in us and our aspirations of love towards Him exercise such an attraction on the Divine Persons, that They become united with our souls, and cannot be separated from them except by mortal sin. They are present with souls that are in the state of grace, not simply by the immensity or ubiquity which causes Them to be in every place, but by a special personal indwelling, so that the human body becomes really the temple of the Holy Ghost, and of Christ and the Father too. Thus there dwell in you the Eternal Word produced by the infinite thought of God, and the Spirit produced by infinite love. How this surpasses all the gifts of the natural order, all bodily delights, all pleasures, dignities, sciences!

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The Mission of the Divine Persons

Our Lord several times spoke of His being sent by the Father, and of His sending the Holy Ghost into the world. This is called the external mission of the Divine Persons. It corresponds externally to the internal production of the Persons within the Godhead. It is the divine processions of the Trinity continued on the lower plane of the world of human souls, making the Divine Persons present in a new way with us, and producing in us an infusion of divine charity and various operations of grace. The Mission, then, consists of two elements, the eternal procession of a Divine Person and the temporal production of grace. As in the eternal processions there is a person producing and a person produced, so in the temporal mission there is a person sending and a person sent. The Father proceeds from none, He therefore is sent by none. The Son proceeds from the Father, and so is sent by the Father. The Holy Ghost, who proceeds from Father and Son, is consequently sent by Father and Son jointly. As in the Trinity, so in the mission of the Divine Persons there is no separation of Person from Person, but They abide in one another, and all are bestowed when one is sent. Thus there is an unbroken chain of action binding all being together from God down to the smallest atom. There is a supreme infinite action in God which produces the Divine Persons. The reverberations of that action pass on into creation, and produce the Divine Persons in the souls of men. Their presence and Their grace lead to the production of virtuous acts in us; and we in turn act upon the lower creation.

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The Mutual Indwelling of The Divine Persons

The three Divine Persons of the Holy Trinity, although differing as to personality, are inseparable as to the Essence or Substance of the Divinity, which is absolutely one in Them. So They are said to dwell with one another and in one another. St. John says: "The Word was with God,"and "The only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father" (John i. 1, 18). In the same Gospel Our Lord says: "The Father who abideth in Me, He doth the works. Believe you not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me ?" (John xiv. 10, 11). Therefore wherever the Father is, or the Son, or the Holy Ghost, there are also the other two Persons. The Divine Essence which is in the Father is fully in the Son and the Holy Ghost; for the Divinity, or the Divine Essence, is Father, Son and Holy Ghost. No one of the Persons can exist apart from the whole of the Divine Essence; nor apart, consequently, from the other Persons, who are fully in the Divine Essence. The personal relations and productions are not external but are immanent. The Father generates the Son, not as a separate entity, but by an intrinsic intellectual action within Himself; the Father and Son also produce the Holy Ghost by an interior action of mutual love, which is entirely within Themselves. This indwelling is called the circumincession. You are also substantially in God and God is substantially in you when you are in the state of grace; and the three Divine Persons are with you, as Our Lord promised: "If any one love Me . . . My Father will love him, and We will come to him and will make Our abode with him" (John xiv. 23).

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The Equality of The Divine Persons

The three Divine Persons are perfectly equal in all things inasmuch as They are perfectly one. The Divine Essence is not divided amongst Them, but They are of identically the same nature and the same substance. No one, and no two of Them, can be greater than another nor can the three together possess more or do more than any one of Them. Even considering Them separately in Their personalities, with the differences of Their mutual relationships, there is still perfect equality between Them. The Sonship and the procession of the Third Person are as perfect and as necessary in the Divinity as the Paternity. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are eternally simultaneous constituents of the activity of the One Godhead within It self. The reception of the Divine Essence is as infinite and noble as the communication of it. It is an equal dignity and glory to the Father to be without first principle or source, to the Son to be produced by the infinite Father, and to the Holy Ghost to be the termination and completeness of the divine action without producing another person. Take a comparison. A ray of bright sunlight was long supposed to be a unity only: now it is proved to be a trinity of three rays, each having a different colour and a different effect on vegetation. These act as one principle. They occur in a certain order, but one does not exist before the other nor apart from another. Each is equally sunlight, and is equally necessary to constitute the glowing unity of the sunbeam and to maintain life on earth. Attach great importance to right thinking about doctrines. But this requires right living and right worship. Each of this trinity is essential to make up the unity of full religiousness.

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Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost

Of old the Holy Spirit had inspired the prophets who foretold Our Lord s coming: He effected the mystery of the Incarnation in His chaste Spouse, the Blessed Virgin Mary; He guided the Sacred Humanity, as when He led Our Lord into the desert and descended on Him in the form of a dove. Jesus Christ declares part of the function of the Holy Ghost where He says, "He shall glorify Me" (John xvi. 14). And this the Holy Spirit does, demonstrating by miracles that Jesus is indeed the Son of God, and moving men by inspirations of grace to believe in Him.

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Three Specialities of the Holy Ghost

February 18, 2023 

It is a special peculiarity of the Holy Ghost that He is the bond of union between the Father and Son, Their harmony, Their peace, and Their love. This is the case inasmuch as the Father and Son become one principle in the production of the Holy Ghost; They have one and the same relation towards Him; and He has one single relation towards Them. This peculiarity does not belong, for instance, to the Father. He is not the bond of union between the Son and the Holy Ghost, because He stands in different relations towards Them; viz., in the relation of generation towards the Son, and of spiration towards the Holy Ghost. In another way also the Holy Spirit is the bond of union, as being the personified propension, or inclination of the Father towards the Son, and of the Son towards the Father. He is the love of each for the other, and so binds the Blessed Trinity into a special union of Persons over and above the unity of their essence and nature. It is the peculiarity of love to unite different objects; and the Holy Ghost, as being eternal, uncreated, infinite Love, is the accomplishment of the most wonderful of unions. Beseech this Spirit of love to be the bond ot union between you and the Godhead, and between you and all your brethren.

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The Procession of the Holy Ghost

February 17, 2023 

The Divine Father begetting the Son, equal to Himself and the Image of His glory, by an act of the intellect, is simultaneously moved to exercise His will in an act of infinite love towards this reflection of His perfections. The Son in return necessarily loves the Father with an equal and infinite love. This joint action is within the Godhead; it is God; and it constitutes a production, and a term which has personal consciousness of that love, and which is the Holy Ghost. Thus the Third Person proceeds from the First and Second together as from one principle or source of action, for they are one in will and in love. The Father eternally begets the Son having the same divinity and the same powers as Himself, and amongst these is included an equal power with Himself of being the principle of the Holy Ghost. It is this fact of producing the Holy Ghost which is the source of the reciprocal relations between the Son and Holy Ghost: without these relations there would be no distinction and They would not be different persons. The production of the Holy Ghost is the great glory of the Son with the Father, as the generation of the Son is the great glory of the Father. The propension of the will towards the supreme good is the completion of our activity as spiritual beings. So love is the accomplishment of the law; so love covers a multitude of sins.

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The Third Person

February 16, 2023 

In a spiritual being the fundamental fact is its existence, and from this proceeds a double activity, inseparable from the being but different from it. The first activity is the intellect, which exercises itself on objects as being true, and its exercise is knowledge, reason, wisdom. The next is the will, which exercises itself in love, or a propension towards objects as being good. These are two distinct operations, and are essential to completeness and to one another. The intelligence is the basis; the propension of the will proceeds from this, and constitutes its efficacy. The intelligence brings the object, in a manner, into itself by conceiving its image: love is a going forth and bestowal of self upon the object. Here we have plurality of operations in the unity of one being; they cannot be separated from it or from one another; and they embrace the whole activity of a spiritual being. These faculties represent two great classes of duties in man, the knowledge and love of God, the service of mind and heart. Exercise them both on the only object that can elicit and satisfy all their activity, i.e., on God.

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Qualities of The Divine Sonship

February 15, 2023 

The Sonship of the Second Person, although true and real, differs in some important respects from that which is in Nature, and must not be judged of according to this last. In Nature, the father exists before the son. In God that is not the case, but Father and Son are equally eternal. So the Eternal Son speaks under the name of Wisdom in the Old Testament: "I was set up from eternity, and of old before the earth was made. The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived . . . before the hills I was brought forth" (Prov. viii. 23, 25). In nature, a being may exist and is perfect without offspring. In God the production of the Eternal Son is not a voluntary circumstance, but is the necessary mode of God's existence; it is the essential activity of the divine intellect. So the Father did not exist before the Son; He did not generate the Son at a definite epoch which is now past. The generation of the Son is outside the limits of time: it has no past, present, future; it is the actual activity of God. So the Father can always say: "Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee" (Ps. ii. 7). The divine generation is co-extensive with the divine life; just as a man is reflected in a mirror the very instant he places himself before it; just as the force of attraction comes into effect between masses of matter simultaneously with their existence, without delay and without deliberation. Adore Our Lord Jesus Christ for this wonderful prerogative of His, when you contemplate Him in the arms of His Blessed Mother or dying on the cross. He existed in time, yet "His going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity" (Mich. v.)

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The Second Person, as Son

February 14, 2023 

"What is His name and what is the name of His Son, if thou knowest?" (Prov. xxx. 4). The Second Person is presented to us not only as the Word of God and the Image of God, but also as the Son of God. This last is the expression most frequently used in Holy Scripture, and it opens to us a new vista of mystery. The production of the Word is the supreme intellectual operation in God; and it is also a generation or begetting, according to the passage: "Thou art My Son, today have I begotten Thee" (Ps. ii. 7). The relation, then, of the First Person to the Second is that of Father to Son. All that exists in creation is in God supereminently. He is the model of all being and all action. So the internal productive action of God by which the Word proceeds is the first example and the most perfect of all subsequent external production both by God and by creatures. From this "all paternity in heaven and earth is named" (Eph. iii. 15). That transcendent generation, and paternity, and sonship are represented in only an imperfect degree in creation. In imitation of it men are made sons of God, and He is our Father; and this not figuratively, but really, by the transmission of His likeness and supernatural life. So says St. John; we are "born of Him" we are named and we are the "sons of God" (1 John ii. 29; iii. 1). And St. Paul adopts the expression of the Greek poet; we are the "offspring of God" (Acts xvii. 29). On a lower level still, there is a more imperfect and material representation of the divine fecundity in human generation and offspring. Remember that our sonship is not figurative for being spiritual, but is the more real inasmuch as it approaches nearer to the likeness of the divine generation. God is most really your Father, and has the sentiments of a father most perfectly. The Church too is in a very real sense your mother. Act worthily of this.

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The Second Person, as The Word

February 13, 2023 

"Who shall declare His generation ?" (Isa. liii. 8). The procession of the Persons in the Trinity is an ineffable mystery, deep in the secret recesses of the Godhead, never to be thoroughly comprehended. Scripture, however, conveys sufficient indications of it to guide our faith. The Second Person is called the Word by St. John. He is a Word that is in God, an internal word spoken to Himself; otherwise, a thought. St. Paul speaks of the Son of God as being "the brightness of His glory, the figure of His substance, the word (or expression) of His power" (Heb. i. 3), and also as the "image of God" (Col. i. 15). The Old Testament speaks of God the Son in a veiled manner as the Wisdom of God. "It is a vapour of the power of God, and a certain pure emanation of the glory of Almighty God. It is the brightness of eternal light, and the unspotted mirror of God s majesty, and the image of His goodness. And being one it can do all things; and remaining in itself the same it reneweth all things" (Wisd. vii. 25-27). These passages convey to us some notion of the nature and of the proceeding of the Second Person from the First in the Trinity. This divine Word first proceeds internally in the spiritual being of God; secondly it proceeds externally in a visible form to convey to created intelligences the thought of God, and this is Jesus Christ the Word of God made flesh. You must produce the Word of God, the image of God, Jesus Christ, in your soul and actions by supernatural virtue and the reception of the Blessed Sacrament.

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Jesus Christ and The Father

February 12, 2023 

Jesus Christ as man shows us an example of profound respect towards God the Father: 

1. He addresses the Father in terms of honour, as "Just Father, Holy Father, Lord of heaven and earth. Abba, Father, all things are possible to Thee." 

2. He exhibits a profound deference and humility towards His Father, prostrating Himself when praying, as in the Garden of Gethsemani. "In the days of His flesh, offering up prayers and supplications, He was heard for His reverence" (Heb. v. 7). 

3. During His life, in all His actions He sought, not His own glory or pleasure, but His Father's. He led men to the knowledge and love of Him, He exalted Him in His preaching, He allowed Himself to be angered at one thing only, the profanation of the house of God. He attributes to the Father His own greatness and all His wonderful works: "I live by the Father" (John vi. 58). "The Father who abideth in Me, He doth the works" (John xiv. 10). Imitate your great model in this regard. Show the most profound veneration in word and deed towards God, His name, His presence, His house, His representative the Church, His commands, His teachings. Avoid the smallest flippancy, carelessness, familiarity towards His infinite and most awful Majesty, before which the angels stand abashed. 

 

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God The Father

February 10, 2023 

The distinction of the personalities within the Blessed Trinity depends on the interior relations which spring out of the action of the divine intelligence and will. There are various aspects hence arising, which do not belong to the Divine Essence as such, but are peculiar to one or other of the Persons and not common to all. These are the only differences between the Persons. They are not differences of substance or of the essential divine attributes; so they mark, not a multiplication of the Godhead, but of the personalities in the one Godhead. The chief characteristic peculiarity of the First Person is Innascibility; i.e. He is unbegotten, unborn, and does not in any way proceed from any other. This belongs to the Father alone; for God the Son proceeds from God the Father, and God the Holy Ghost from the Father and Son jointly. The Divine Essence is in the Father without being communicated by any other; and the infinite intelligence whose activity constitutes His relation to the Son is from no other source. On the other hand, the Divine Essence is in the Son and Holy Ghost by way of communication; and Their relationships to the Father and to one another are in Them by way of production (or procession). In view of this personal quality we speak of the Eternal Father, appropriating the term to Him as if it were predominantly His; although the Son and Holy Ghost are equally eternal. Adore profoundly this singular and supreme quality in God the Father. No other being has even a resemblance to it. 

 

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The Attributes of the Divine Persons

February 10, 2023 

The three supreme perfections of the Divinity are Power, Wisdom and Goodness. To these three may be reduced all the other attributes of God. For instance, under the head of Power may be classed strength, immor tality, immutability, universal dominion ; to Wisdom belong omniscience, knowledge, the sight of all things, providence or the guiding of all things ; and Goodness comprises mercy, love, patience, clemency. These perfections are qualities of the Divine Essence, and with it they are equally present in each of the three Persons. Father, Son and Holy Ghost possess in all respects the same power, wisdom, and good ness ; and they operate equally in all external action in the world and in the souls of men. These same perfections are communicated to men in the finite form of qualities or virtues. But no one of us possesses them perfectly, or even simultaneously. One is distinguished by power, but he may be wanting in wisdom : another one may be wise but deficient in goodness. How miserable you are as compared with these infinite perfections in God! Glorify Him on account of them. Ask Him for some participation in each of them, and the grace to use it well. 

 

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The Relations of the Divine Persons

February 9, 2023 

The distinction of the personalities in the Trinity is constituted by the relations resulting from the intrinsic activity of the One God. Life, in modern language, is re sponsiveness to environment ; or, action produces relativity. How is this ? Action is a kind of movement ; movement involves a thence and a thither ; it must have a subject, an object, and a point of communication between them. Thus human activity is composed of our relations to God, men, and things. Relation is the connecting together of distinct things. A complete drawing together would be unity ; a complete separation would be plurality ; perfect relation consists of the two things ; it is plurality in unity. For instance our bodily life is unity of action in plurality of organs ; intellectual life is unity of consciousness with plurality of thoughts ; a State is unum e pluribus. The relation becomes more perfect as the unity is founded on a fuller similarity of nature between the two things related. The internal activity of God involves internal relationships, and those of the most perfect kind, i.e. with a most perfect community of nature. God is Life ; the highest activity of life is fecundity ; and this is the chief source of plurality in unity. God is Goodness ; and goodness, communicating itself, involves unity and plurality. God is Beauty ; and beauty arises from harmony in multiplicity. All this in volves that there be in God some form of supreme plurality in unity. Your relations are with God and your neighbour. Religion is the regulation of these. Charity is your highest activity, binding you to God and men. 

 

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