Well, clearly, the one thing that the psalm and all of the readings have in common is the mention of angels.
Angels are everywhere. And maybe that is just the point.
If you see a whole lot of bees, expect some honey.
And if you see a whole lot of angels, God must be near.
In fact, the word angel actually comes from a Greek word that is equivalent to a Hebrew word which means “messenger.”
And it has more to do with what they do — their purpose — than who they are.
So, in the Bible they are constantly taking messages to people from God; they are kind of a bridge between heaven and earth.
They even get into physical wrestling matches (think of Jacob’ s Ladder), and then they stand around the throne and praise God all day and presumably all night.
And in the Revelationoptional second reading, some of the good ones turn into bad ones and break out in a hellish fight, resulting in their expulsion from heaven.
Both of the first readings, by the way, are from apocalyptic (end of times) writings.
This, of course, is a very special genre of writing in the scriptures: fantastical, very descriptive, and bigger than life — or anything, for that matter.
And of course, there are usually thousands upon thousands, and myriads upon myriads (for the ancient Greeks, it meant 10,000).
We are talking apocalyptic.
+ The Gospelpassage presents Jesus having an apocalyptic moment and speaking an apocalyptic phrase as he draws Nathaniel into a relationship with him.
Nathaniel’s first impression of Jesus in the scriptures is in Verse 46, spoken just before the passage we read today where Nathaniel says of Jesus: “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
This impresses Jesus to say that there was “no duplicity” in this “true child of Israel.”
And in this moment, this reference becomes a reference to Jacob’s ladder, an angel-moment of wrestling, and the promise of seeing many angels and messianic references.
To be sure, in John’s Gospel, we can expect spiritual outbursts like this at any time and in any place.
Today is no exception!
Today and in our time, it is pretty common for most Catholics to simply believe in angels, especially guardian angels.
In fact, I heard a reference the other day that priests have two guardian angels.
It either suggests that priests are special, or because they are naughty, that they need two guardian angels.
Who knows? But in any case, it seems true that our concepts of heaven and, for that matter, hell are mired in this apocalyptic language and apocalyptic imagery.
So be it!
They say, “Seeing is believing.”
In this case, however, without seeing, there is a lot of believing.
That being said, the truth is that angels are supposed to bring us closer to God.
The hope is that they are doing their job.
Father Perry Dean Leiker is the 13th pastor of St. Bernard Catholic Church. Reach him at (323) 255-6142. Email Father Perry at pleiker@stbernard-church.com.
