When we think about angels our thoughts may wander to the common depiction in art of the little naked cherubs fluttering in space and resting on clouds in a lackadaisical manner. Such artistic renderings do not, however, do justice to the angels, who play a very prominent role in our lives, and especially in the liturgical life of the Church. Since angels are pure created spirits, we cannot ordinarily see them without some special grace, as has been given to a number of the saints. There are, however, a few places in the Liturgy that can help us recognize their presence and even join in their praise of God.
Should anyone be skeptical of the angels’ presence, all we have to do is turn to the book of Revelation which describes the Heavenly Liturgy. In it, St. John sees the angels worshiping God alongside the elders: “All the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They prostrated themselves before the throne, worshiped God, and exclaimed: ‘Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen’” (Revelation 7:11). The Church also emphasizes the presence of the angels throughout the liturgical year, especially with the Feast of the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael on September 29, and the Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels on October 2. Votive Masses in honor of the angels can also be offered on weekdays during Ordinary Time.
Since we’re not in Heaven yet, we participate in the Heavenly Liturgy by participating in the Liturgy here on earth.1 As Jesuit Father Jean Danielou, writes, “The Mass is, actually, a sacramental participation in the liturgy of heaven, the cult officially rendered to the Trinity by the full host of spiritual creation.”2 In the Liturgy, we represent, in a physical and visible manner, the angels and saints who are invisibly and eternally praising God in the Liturgy of Heaven. A good example of this comes from the Eastern Catholic Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. In it, the choir sings at the Proskomedia, “Let us who mystically represent the cherubim and sing the Thrice-holy Hymn to the life-giving Trinity, now lay aside all care of life.”3
More than just representing the angels in the Liturgy, however, we are called to participate with them in the Liturgy, joining our voices and interior dispositions with theirs to become one. There are some key parts of the Roman Liturgy that make this obvious. The two main parts of the Mass that reflect this are the Gloria and the Sanctus.
The Gloria
The Gloria begins with the words sung by the angels announcing the birth of Jesus Christ to the shepherds: “And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: ‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests’” (Luke 2:13-14). The faithful are asked to participate in singing or reciting the Gloria at Mass. Father Timothy Gallagher has offered some brief reflections on Venerable Bruno Lanteri’s method for praying the Mass by seeking the same sentiments as those of the angels: “I contemplate the joy with which the angels sing the praises of God’s saving love and the gift of his Son. I ask for a heart ready to praise God with gladness through the words of the Gloria.”4 He also notes that “When you pray the Gloria at Mass, Venerable Bruno tells us, ask for their same sentiments. Ask for a heart like theirs, eager to proclaim God’s praises.”5 Venerable Bruno suggests that we do not simply sing the Gloria but ask God for the grace to have the same sentiments of the angels at the moment of announcing the birth of Christ: that sheer joy and happiness that belonged to the angels in proclaiming the arrival of the Messiah. At Mass, we share in the angels’ joy when Christ comes to earth again at the moment of the Consecration, when bread and wine are transformed into his Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity.
The Sanctus
The next major parts of the Liturgy that involve the angels are the Preface and Sanctus. In the Preface, the priest calls us to join in the praises already sung by the angelic hosts in Heaven. For instance, the Preface for the Feast of the Archangels reads:
For the honor we pay the angelic creatures
in whom you delight
redounds to your own surpassing glory,
and by their great dignity and splendor
you show how infinitely great you are,
to be exalted above all things,
through Christ our Lord.
Through him the multitude of Angels extols your majesty,
and we are united with them in exultant adoration,
as with one voice we acclaim…6
The Preface makes two things clear. First, we honor the angels as we would the other saints in Heaven. Because of their closeness to God, we give them the same veneration as we would to the men and women who lived heroic lives of virtue and now enjoy the Beatific Vision. Second, we are closely united with them as we sing God’s praises and proclaim His glory.
After the Preface follows the Sanctus: “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of your glory….” This first part of the Sanctus comes from the hymn sung by the angels in the Book of Isaiah and the Book of Revelation: One cried out to the other: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts! All the earth is filled with his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3). “The four living creatures, each of them with six wings, were covered with eyes inside and out. Day and night they do not stop exclaiming: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come’” (Revelation 4:8).
In order to help us enter more prayerfully into this part of the Mass, Father Gallagher writes: “Joined with them in praise, Venerable Bruno invites us to pray these words with the same sentiments and heart, with deep gratitude for God’s saving love, with hearts raised in thanksgiving and adoration, and with the joy of those who sing the heavenly song.”7 Again, following Venerable Bruno’s advice, we should interiorly ask God for the grace of sharing in the sentiments of joy and adoration that fill the angels in worshiping God so that we might be united with them as we too worship God in the Liturgy.
Even though we are unable to see the angels at Mass, knowledge of their presence should help us enter into the Liturgy in a more meaningful way. By seeking to share in their sentiments, we are more closely united to the angels and thereby are drawn closer to God. We desire to share in their sentiments as we wait in hope of eventually joining them in gazing upon the Holy Trinity and singing the praises of God for all eternity.
Image Source: AB/Wolfgang Sauber, CC BY-SA 3, via Wikimedia Commons
Footnotes
- See Pope Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis 52 for a fuller explanation of participation in the Liturgy.
- Jean Danielou, S.J., The Angels and Their Mission: According to the Fathers of the Church (Four Courts Press, 1993), 62.
- Synod of the Hierarchy of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, The Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom (OSBM Publications, 1988), 43.
- Timothy Gallagher, O.M.V., A Biblical Way of Praying the Mass: The Eucharistic Wisdom of Venerable Bruno Lanteri (EWTN Publishing, 2020), 121.
- Gallagher, 43.
- The Roman Missal: Renewed by Decree of the Most Holy Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, Promulgated by the Authority of Pope Paul VI and Revised at the Direction of Pope John Paul II (3rd typical ed., United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), 961.
- Gallagher, 73.
