As a part of my observance of Advent, I am reading: Meditations for Advent - Jacques-Benigne Bossuet. The fourth day of Advent we read:
The Creation of Man
“Thou hast made him little less than the angels, and dost crown him with glory and honor. Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands” (Ps. 8: 5-6). So David sang in memory of the creation of man. And it is true: man, united to a body, is inferior to these pure spirits, but only a little beneath, for, like them, he has life and intelligence and love, and he is made happy by what makes them happy. God is the common happiness of each; and, in this regard equal to the angels, their brothers and not their subjects, we are only a little less than they.
Think about that for a couple minutes. We are just slightly less than angels but equal in our joy and happiness in and of God. How profound! We share a brotherhood with the host of angels, a common bond. Even in our fallenness, our sins, and our rebellion, we are just a little less than angels. In that light, we must ask, how do we treat our fellow man? How can we not recognize the life, intelligence and love in one another. How do we not see the angelic, the divine, God within our neighbors?
Like the Father, man has being; like the Son, he has intelligence; like the Holy Spirit, he has love. Like the Blessed Trinity, he has in his being and his intelligence and his love, one same happiness and life.
Man is the perfect complement to the other works of God, and after having made him as his masterpiece, God rested.
Remember, we are just a little less than an angel, God’s masterpiece.
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