Thursday in the. 26th Week of Ordinary Time, September 29, 2022

Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14

As I watched: Thrones were set up and the Ancient One took his throne. His clothing was bright as snow, and the hair on his head as white as wool; His throne was flames of fire, with wheels of burning fire. A surging stream of fire flowed out from where he sat; Thousands upon thousands were ministering to him, and myriads upon myriads attended him.  The court was convened, and the books were opened. As the visions during the night continued, I saw One like a son of man coming, on the clouds of heaven; When he reached the Ancient One and was presented before him, He received dominion, glory, and kingship; nations and peoples of every language serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away, his kingship shall not be destroyed. 

Meditation upon the vastness of God’s glory and power helps us to grasp something of the magnificence of those creatures whom he first created who serve him in heaven.  Even the least of the angels is capable of moving stars and planets if commanded to do so.  Their beauty, too, as purely spiritual beings, far exceeds anything else in nature except that of God himself.  They know things directly in seeing them without having to go through the sometimes painful process of learning about them over time such as we humans go through.  They move easily and without effort.  And we know that they love perfectly because we know that they look upon the very face of God, which no one can do unless he be perfect.  When we read such passages as that from the Book of Daniel, “Thousands upon thousands were ministering to him, and myriads upon myriads attended him”, we get a sense of their numbers, and that they “minister” to Almighty God and “attend” him.  But it was not for this that they were created.  Like us, they were created by God because, from all eternity, he loved them.  This is a difficult concept for us because it involves a God, for whom all existence is present in a single moment, and our way of processing existence, which is through time, including a past present and future.  But even before we and the angels came to be, he loved us, and so have us the inestimable gift of being and life.  The angels also perfectly love us and assist us, according to God’s direction.  Some act as guardian angels, and any time we ask them they will gladly intercede for us.  Many prayers to the angels and invocations of them are included among the traditional prayers for the dying, such as the final commendation made to a human in their final moments on earth: “Depart, Christian soul, from this world, in the name of God the Father almighty who created you; in the name of Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who suffered for you; in the name of the Holy Spirit who sanctified you; in the name of the glorious and blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God; in the name of St. Joseph, her illustrious spouse; in the name of the Angels and Archangels, Thrones and Dominations, Principalities and Powers, Cherubim and Seraphim; in the name of the patriarchs and prophets, the holy apostles and evangelists, the holy martyrs and confessors, etc.”  

The vision recorded in the Book of Daniel that is used as an option for today’s First Reading prefigures a vision which St. John describes in his Book of Revelation: “Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!’ ” (Revelation 5, 11-12).  The Son of God is presented as the Son of Man in Daniel and as the Lamb of God in Revelation. It is as though the same vision, perceived in different ways.  Countless angels are shown adoring him both in their ecstatic love.  We pray that through their intercession, we may one day join them in this.