Becoming as the Angels
“I tell you solemnly, you will see heaven laid open and, above the Son of Man, the angels of God ascending and descending.”
The first Christian monks believed that this word of Jesus to Nathanael was as much the inspiration of their vocation as texts from the Acts of the Apostles about the life of the first Christian community in Jerusalem. Together with the terms Apostolic Life and Coenobitic Life, the desert fathers used the term Angelic Life to describe the wonderful way to which the Lord had called them to live. So the Belmont Community, that has the privilege of living under the protection of St Michael and All Angels, is a community not just of apostles and coenobites, but of angels, for that is what God has called us to be, a choir of angels. The longer you live in the monastery and get to know the brethren, the more you come to realise how true that is.
Why were primitive monks so struck by the similarity of a monk’s life to that of an angel? To begin with, the Bible repeatedly tells us that the angels stand before God night and day, singing his praises, reflecting his glory, enjoying his presence and seeing his face. That is what a monk seeks to do, through the grace and mercy of God. We are aware of God’s presence not only when we gather together in church to celebrate the liturgy, but also in the refectory, the calefactory, the cloister, the infirmary, our cell, the garden, wherever we happen to be, and on our deathbed, when the time comes. The desire to practise continuous prayer leads us to seek God in every circumstance of our lives and in all that we do.
The Scriptures also tell us that the angels are God’s messengers and servants. Only an angel can evangelise, so our vocation calls us to proclaim the truth and the beauty of his word, the wisdom and the righteousness of his will, his extraordinary, unconditional love for creation and for each one of his creatures. At the same time, we are called to serve the monastic community, our brethren, with charity and humility and without murmuring, as St Benedict repeatedly reminds us in the Holy Rule. And there is a call to wider service in the Church and in the world. Just think what Christian monks and nuns have contributed to civilization in so many different ways.
In our abbey church, we are all aware of the many angels who surround us and accompany us in our prayer: they are just everywhere. Yet, the angels we see depicted in art are only a reminder of the countless angels we cannot see with our eyes, but are truly present when we join in their song of adoration: Holy, Holy, Holy. They speak powerfully to us of who we are called to be in the mystery of God’s love and the intentions of his Divine Heart. We are encouraged to become as the angels, light as a feather on the breath of God in the singing of his praises, prophetic messengers and obedient servants of the Lord in preaching his word, to the extent that we become his living word.
