Too high for mortal tongue
Be filled with praise
I’m an American and I have the “unalienable Right” to “the pursuit of Happiness.” I like that. There are various understanding of what Jefferson, and the Founders meant. Jefferson never explained.
One source says he was probably influenced by the Virginia Declaration of Rights reference to "the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.” There are other interpretations.
I get to pursue happiness. Good enough!
I’m also a Christian and have seen many essays and heard a few sermons on the difference between happiness and joy. You can find statements on-line and in books such as “joy has to do with our faith, not our feelings. While happiness depends on what happens, joy depends on Jesus” and Pope Francis’s that Christian joy, “is a joy in hope, which comes … In times of trial we do not see this. It is a joy that is purified by trials, our everyday trials: 'Your sorrow will turn to joy'”
I believe God desires happiness and joy for us.
I also believe that we arrive at happiness and joy by way of praise.
The Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels
We begin with the Word.
Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!” And he was afraid, and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” (Genesis 28:17)
War broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon (Revelation 12:7)
You will see greater things than these. (John 1: 50)
And two hymns.
At His feet the six-winged seraph,
cherubim with sleepless eye,
veil their faces to the Presence,
as with ceaseless voice they cry,
“Alleluia, alleluia,
alleluia, Lord Most High!”
(Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent)
Let all thy days
till life shall end,
whate'er he send,
be filled with praise!
Our happiness and joy are finally to join with the holy angels and always serve and worship God.
And spiritual guides such as Kirk and Underhill help us see the connection to service.
The first practical question for Christian ethics is, therefore, how is this interestedness, unselfishness, to be attained? Once grant that moralism, or formalism, cannot bring the soul nearer to it, and there remains only one way – the way of worship. Worship lifts the soul out of its preoccupation with itself and his activities and centers its aspirations on God. Kenneth Kirk
One’s first duty is adoration, and one’s second duty is awe and only one’s third duty is service. And that for those three things and nothing else, addressed to God and no one else, you and I and all other countless human creatures evolved upon the surface of this planet were created. We observe then that two of the three things for which our souls were made are matters of attitude, of relation: adoration and awe. Unless these two are right, the last of the triad, service, won’t be right. Unless the whole of your...life is a movement of praise and adoration, unless it is instinct with awe, the work which the life produces won’t be much good. Evelyn Underhill
Apostolic Faith
Many in the congregation will be happy to accept the existence and role of angels. Those inclined to the new age, the occult and seances will be agreeable. However, the notion that their happiness, joy, ethics and service rests in praise, adoration and awe – not so much.
It is a measure of Apostolic Faith to understand that the fully alive life rests in our moving, at least for a moment, outside ourselves. We were made to serve and worship God. Our “chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”
That truth needs to be preached and taught routinely even though most will not grasp its significance. It is an element of the Apostolic climate the parish requires and a piece of knowledge about the Mystery that some will engage. Those on the outer reaches of Sacramental Faith will seek to avoid the truth through fantasies and skepticism. (also see a PDF, and Chapter 4 in Fill All Things and Chapter 3 in A Wonderful and Sacred Mystery)
“The “overall aim” we’re talking about is nothing less than the parish church being a pathway to the vision of God and, also, facilitating the movement of parishioners between that vision and their daily lives. It is fundamentally about growth in holiness and how that holiness enters the world through individual parishioners.”[i]
Praise him, all you angels of his (Ps 148)
This abides,
Brother Robert, OA
The Feast of Michael and All Angels
[i] Heyne, Michelle; Gallagher, Robert. Chapter 4 An Energy Not its Own: Three Cycles of Parish Life and the Purposes of the Parish Church.