Faces of Fire

How do I not go to hell? As an imperfect Catholic, it is a question that I concern myself with often. It seems that imitating the Angel of Great Counsel, also known as Jesus Christ, is where I should start. This raises a similar question though on how do we become angels, or at least more like them? If I had a solid answer, I would feel much more secure in my spot in the image below, but even Lucifer was at one point in the Choir of Angels and fell.

Coronation of the Virgin by Beato Angelico. Notice the musical instrument the angels are holding. Image Link

In some ways we already are like them. Both human beings and the angels possess free will. This means we both have the ability of following our voluntary desires, as well as giving us the power to choose and the freedom to judge. Since neither of us are perfect, there is only one perfection, we can fail in our judgement and use our power to choose unwisely (St. Victor, 85). Look no further than the fall of man. Adam and Eve were walking in the garden with God (that is being pretty close to Him) and still chose to eat of the fruit in order to become like him. Adam and Eve were tempted though by the adversary known as Lucifer. Lucifer was guilty of the same sin, he also tried to become like God. “I shall be like unto him that is highest on height (The Fall of the Angels, 5).” Then Lucifer fell, I guess in his great and amazing wisdom he never read Dante’s Inferno and learned that the sin of pride sends the sinner to the lowest layer of hell. The story of the fall of the angels leads to two important christian concepts. One, it shows that gnosticism is heretical (go Saint Irenaeus) because if spirit is good and material is evil. Secondly, we learn that it does require us to perform a physical action to sin, we can sin just by our thought, this is exactly what Jesus Christ taught during the Sermon on the Mount. The sins of Adam and Lucifer are also similar to the sins of the magicians. The pursuit of knowledge, the ability to forgive sins, and to know divine power are what caused the angels and man to fall (The Sworne Booke of Honorius).

So if we want to be like one of the good angels, we should not think that we are gods, but what else? I personally like the way monks attempt this, which is singing with one voice. The monks would drop whatever they were doing when the bell was rung and head to their appointed place to sing the Psalms with their fellow monks. The entire psalter would be sung once every week, and Saint Benedict in his opinion only the lukewarm monks do. The forefathers of Saint Benedict would complete the psalter in one day. But what is the point of doing this? Well for one, the monks battle demons, and by singing the Psalms one is training their will to successfully combat the demons. My confirmation saint, Saint Michael the Archangel, is also famous for fighting demons. Catholics sing of this story at Michaelmas every year in the Factum est Silentium. This idea of many people singing with one voice is an interesting idea. In my previous essay on Bede and the tabernacle called, The Tabernacle on my Bookshelf, I mentioned how you are not supposed to read the Bible by yourself. Well it seems as if it is not ideal to sing, worship, by yourself either. Christians are supposed to be worshiping together, the religion emphasizes community and the importance to evangelize peacefully through communication and changing one's mind.

Psalter of the Divine Office according to the Rule of St. Benedict. Image Link

We know singing is something the angels do whenever they show up in holy scripture. For example, when the angel, dressed as a high priest, visited Abraham he taught him the song that kept everything in order. Abraham was told to sing the song as he approached the throne (Barker, 83). This song that keeps everything in order is called harmozousa in Greek, which means harmony. In the tradition, harmony was the role that Wisdom played in the creation of the world (Barker, 84). Therefore it seems as if angels and wisdom play the same, at least similar, role in the creation story. Since the enthronement of the lamb, we too can play a sort of role in the ordering out of chaos through the process of praising God. Through Him, the heavenly creation and the earthly creation are once again united (Barker, 93). Notice this unity between heaven and earth is not acquired through the domination of the other's will but comes about freely. The forceful domination of another is never just, even if the one binding the others will have the best of intentions.

When described in scripture they not only sing, but usually shine like fire. Enoch saw two men whose faces shone like the sun, with eyes like fire (Barker, 88). The prophet Ezechiel sees the angels which appeared as glowing brass, burning coals of fire, and the appearance of lamps (Ezechiel 1:7-13). Compare this with the story in Exodus, “And when Moses came down from the mount Sinai, he held the two tables of the testimony, and he knew not that his face was horned from the conversation with the Lord (Exodus 34:29).” In this passage, the term horned refers to shining, or sending forth rays of light. This leads to an important concept that the angels are not shining like fire due to their own greatness and wisdom, but because of their close proximity to God. They shine because just like Moses they know, see, and talk to Him, and maybe most importantly love Him. So how do we become like angels? We need to know, see, love, and talk to God.

-- L. O'Connor Jelenik

Hugh of St. Victor, & Deferrari. (n.d.). Book I. In On the Sacraments (pp. 74–93). essay, Hathi trust. 

Honorius. (2009). The Sworne Booke of Honorius. Liber Juratus Honorii, or the Sworn Book of Honorius. http://www.esotericarchives.com/juratus/juratus.htm 

The Barkers. (1999). The Fall of the Angels. In York Mystery Plays (pp. 1–7). essay, Oxford University Press. 

Barker, M. (2011). The Many. In Temple Mysticism: An Introduction (pp. 63–96). essay, SPCK. 

The Holy Bible: Douay-Rheims version. (2009). . Saint Benedict Press, in association with Tan Books.