Angels and liturgy

Posted on 22 October 2018 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

It is a commonplace that even a so-called “private” Mass is never truly private. The steps, cruets, candles, paten, chalice, the fringe of the stole the edges of the pages and the priest’s fingertips are wreathed about with myriads of Holy Angels.

Because The Present Crisis is also driven the the demonic, the Enemy, we should be familiar with who Holy Angels are and what they do for us. They are with and around and before and above and behind us always, nowhere more so than during our sacred liturgical worship, a foretaste (or should be) of the liturgy before God’s throne and altar on high.

At my old stomping grounds, The Wanderer, there is a good piece readable online about angels and sacred liturgical worship.  You should have a look.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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4 Comments

  1. juli says:
    22 October 2018 at 1:38 PM

    Thank you Father for the link. I subscribe to the paper, but I usually forget to go to the online site.
    I especially liked the explanation of what we can learn from the angels’ repetitive prayer:
    “The angels praise God antiphonally: “And one [Seraphim] called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory’” (Isaiah 6:3). The angels are not afraid to repeat themselves, saying, “Holy, holy, holy.” Nor should we, when worshipping God, for what is well said of God and to God bears repeating. It is not monotonous to repeat a fitting prayer to God, for with each repetition of a prayer a new moment of time is consecrated to Him, a new act of worship is offered to Him.
    God does not need variety from us, nor does He need to be entertained. We are hard-wired for repetition, our lives sustained by one heartbeat after another, one breath after another. And the natural world in which God has placed us is full of repetition, with the same four seasons returning each year, animals of the same species having the same features, and so on. Why do we think we need constantly to change worship offered to an unchanging God?”

  2. iamlucky13 says:
    22 October 2018 at 2:53 PM

    I’m reminded of this by the custom of having statues of angles flanking the tabernacle, or their images engraved on the inside of tabernacle doors.

    There’s also the preface, when the priest says “And so, with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we proclaim your glory,and join in their unending hymn of praise.” I often imagine the Church packed with angels, singing the Sanctus with us, anticipating the Consecration.

  3. Luminis says:
    22 October 2018 at 7:28 PM

    I am in a formation year to do the consecration to my guardian angel under the guidance of Opus Angelorum. It can not be recommended highly enough.

  4. tamranthor says:
    23 October 2018 at 6:08 PM

    I taught my son to look for the angels around the altar when the consecration takes place when he was about two years old. He tells me that he never saw them, but he sees them in his imagination and he knows they are there. when heaven touches earth in the consecration, he sends his guardian angel over to the altar to say hi.

    Way cool stuff, and also very true.

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