455th Meditation
“You created angels and men according to Your image. To man You gave Paradise, for him to live in Your presence in holiness and justice” (Praise of the Blessed Trinity).
God’s “cosmos” includes not only His visible creation – the material environment of humankind – but also the invisible creation. Here we meet the wonderful angels, also created in the image of God. As the Catechism explains:
“Like streams of light, the angels came forth from the bosom of the Almighty, as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sand of the sea, an immeasurable world with innumerable hierarchies of knowledge and power, of spiritual and supernatural beauty. By virtue of profound knowledge and grace, these “morning stars of creation and the first sons of God” (Job 38:7) are also special images of the Son of God and of uncreated wisdom (Joseph Geharbe, S.J. – Explanation of the Catechism).
Our Father has given us these purely spiritual beings as brothers, and they gladly fulfill their task of accompanying and protecting us on our way.
The place originally intended for us was Paradise, to live in great closeness to our Father, who delights to be in the midst of His children. In His overflowing and infinite love, God had created the entire visible world for us. But we were to remain in the grace He had given us and reach perfection in the way He had prepared for us, living in His presence in holiness and justice.
Everything was prepared and given to us for our joy. Everything would have been so easy if only we had trusted in God’s goodness and rejected temptation, remaining faithful and sinless like the holy angels who passed the test.