Originally published at The Catholic Thing
“Hark the herald angels sing. . . .Joyful, all ye nations rise / Join the triumph of the skies.” We have sung this hymn many times over the last several days. But I wonder about those angels in the skies. Probably you picture them as appearing among the stars, like the Milky Way. But what does Luke actually say?
He says that the appearance of the many angels was preceded by the appearance of just one angel. This solitary angel was not in the sky but stood alongside the shepherds on the ground: “And behold an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the brightness of God shone round about them; and they feared with a great fear.” (Luke 2:9, Douay-Rheims)
This angel came upon them suddenly and caught them by surprise standing there. Compare how Luke uses the same expression (in Greek) for the appearance of two angels after the resurrection: “And it came to pass, as they were astonished in their mind at this, behold, two men stood by them, in shining apparel. And as they were afraid, and bowed down their countenance towards the ground, they said unto them: Why seek you the living with the
