Feast of the Guardian Angels

(Angels Swinging Censers, ca. 1170. French; Made in Troyes. Pot-metal, white glass, vitreous paint, silver stain; 18 1/2 x 17 5/16 in. (47 x 44 cm). Gift of Ella Brummer, in memory of her husband, Ernest Brummer, 1977 (1977.346.1) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY.)

Today is the Feast of the Guardian Angels, the patronal feast day of my parish.

St. John Chrysostom in his Homilies on the Epistle to the Hebrews (ca. 403 A.D.) talks about angels:

“Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” [Hebrews 1:14.] What marvel (saith he) if they minister to the Son, when they minister even to our salvation? See how he lifts up their minds, and shows the great honor which God has for us, since He has assigned to Angels who are above us this ministration on our behalf. As if one should say, for this purpose (saith he) He employs them; this is the office of Angels, to minister to God for our salvation. So that it is an angelical work, to do all for the salvation of the brethren: or rather it is the work of Christ Himself, for He indeed saves as Lord, but they as servants. And we, though servants are yet Angels’ fellow-servants. Why gaze ye so earnestly on the Angels (saith he)? They are servants of the Son of God, and are sent many ways for our sakes, and minister to our salvation. And so they are partners in service with us.

Consider ye how he ascribes no great difference to the kinds of creatures. And yet the space between angels and men is great; nevertheless he brings them down near to us, all but saying, For us they labor, for our sake they run to and fro: on us, as one might say, they wait. This is their ministry, for our sake to be sent every way.

And of these examples both the Old [Testament] is full, and the New. For when Angels bring glad tidings to the shepherds, or to Mary, or to Joseph; when they sit at the sepulcher, when they are sent to say to the disciples, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?” ( Acts i. 11 ), when they release Peter out of the prison, when they discourse with Philip, consider how great the honor is; when God sends His Angels for ministers as to friends; when to Cornelius [an Angel] appears, when [an Angel] brings forth all the apostles from the prison, and says, “Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people the words of this life” ( Acts v. 20 ); and to Paul himself also an Angel appears. Dost thou see that they minister to us on God’s behalf, and that they minister to us in the greatest matters? wherefore Paul saith, “All things are yours, whether life or death, or the world, or things present, or things to come.” ( 1 Cor. iii. 22.)

Well then the Son also was sent, but not as a servant, nor as a minister, but as a Son, and Only-Begotten, and desiring the same things with the Father. Rather indeed, He was not “sent”: for He did not pass from place to place, but took on Him flesh: whereas these change their places, and leaving those in which they were before, so come to others in which they were not.

And by this again he incidentally encourages them, saying, What fear ye? Angels are ministering to us. (Homily 3, Section 4) (Available at Christian Classics Ethereal Library)

St. John has so many meaningful things to say here. It is good to think of ourselves as "heirs of salvation" -- not so that it leads us to presumption, but that it feeds us with hope. "...this is the office of Angels, to minister to God for our salvation" -- the word translated as "office" is the same Greek word from which the English word "liturgy" comes (λειτουργία [leitourgia]). We are told that we are doing "angelic work" when we work for the salvation of others; like angels, we have an important "ev-angelizing" role. Like angels, we are servants. I particularly like the last part: "What fear ye? Angels are ministering to us."

Is Perception Reality?

I have always disliked the saying, "Perception is reality." If taken literally, this saying indicates that one's perception is equal to objective reality. While that is a false claim, too many people believe it. "That's your truth, not my truth" kind of stuff. What people should mean by the saying, "Perception is reality," and what I would agree with, is "One's perception can have a real impact." Hitler's perception of Jewish people was clearly not in accord with objective reality, but his perception had a devastating impact on the European Jewish community.

St. John Chrysostom in his Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew, 370 A.D. (Homily 82, section 4), talks about the Eucharist in a way that reminds us that perception is often not reality:

Let us therefore in all respects put our faith in God and contradict Him in nothing, even if what is said seems to be contrary to our reasonings and to what we see. Let His word be of superior authority to reason and sight. This too be our practice in respect to the Mysteries [i.e., the Eucharist], not looking only upon what is laid out before us, but taking heed also of His words. For His word cannot deceive; but our senses are easily cheated. His word has never failed; our senses err most of the time.

When the word says, "This is My Body," be convinced of it and believe it, and look at it with the eyes of the mind. For Christ did not give us something tangible, but even in His tangible things all is intellectual. So too with Baptism: the gift is bestowed through what is a tangible thing, water; but what is accomplished is intellectually perceived: the rebirth and the renewal. If you were incorporeal He would have given you those incorporeal gifts naked; but since the soul is intertwined with the body, He hands over to you in tangible things that which is perceived intellectually. How many now say, "I wish I could see His shape, His appearance, His garments, His sandals." Only look! You see Him! You touch Him! You eat Him! (The Faith of the Early Fathers by William A. Jurgens, Vol. 2, p. 112)


So let us remember that reality is reality, whether we accept it or not, whether we perceive it or not. And let us also remember that saying that the unreal is true has very real, very detrimental effects.

St. John Chrysostom on the Eucharist

I came across this passage from St. John Chrysostom's The Priesthood, cited in William A. Jurgens' Faith of the Early Fathers, Volume 2, #1118, p. 89.

When you see the Lord immolated and lying upon the altar, and the priest bent over that sacrifice praying, and all the people empurpled by that precious blood, can you think that you are still among men and on earth? Or are you not lifted up to heaven?

The imagery may be rather distasteful to many modern ears. The violence of the word "immolated" and the image of people drenched in the Precious Blood of the Lord may seem gruesome, even barbaric. However, St. John Chrysostom conveys a number of important ideas in this short passage on the Eucharist.

First, Jesus suffered a violent, unjust death for our salvation. It is easy for us to sanitize that death, become complacent about it, even forget about it.

He reminds us that it is through the Blood of the Lamb that we are saved, the fulfillment of the original Passover where the blood of lambs was put on the lintel of doors to protect the Israelites from the killing of their first-born (Exodus 12:21-30). He reminds us of those in Revelation who had "come out of the great tribulation" and "washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" and now stood before the throne of God to serve him (Revelation 7:14-15).

Finally, he uses the color of purple rather than red to indicate the Lord's Precious Blood to remind us of our royal inheritance through Baptism, where we share with Christ the characteristics of priest, prophet, and king (see The Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 1268).

St. John Chrysostom reminds us that ours is an Incarnational faith, a faith of the body and of the senses, as well as of the spirit and the mind.