I only intended on writing about the word “virtue” today. You see, initially, I wasn’t coming up with any ideas as to what I should write. So. I asked for a little “help” in this writing, just saying it out loud, and the word came into my mind very clearly. Virtue.
As always, my first stop on the route is the dictionary. For the clear and conciseness of it all. And that is when I saw it, way down there toward the bottom.
vir·tue | ˈvərCHo͞o |
noun
1 behavior showing high moral standards: paragons of virtue.
• a quality considered morally good or desirable in a person: patience is a virtue.
• a good or useful quality of a thing: Mike was extolling the virtues of the car | there’s no virtue in suffering in silence.
• archaic virginity or chastity, especially of a woman.
2 (virtues) (in traditional Christian angelology) the seventh-highest order of the ninefold celestial hierarchy.
In Christian Angelology? What? The seventh highest order of the ninefold celestial hierarchy?
The ninefold celestial hierarchy?
Okay. As a disclaimer here, I am one of the 80% of Americans who believe in Angels. I believe in a lot of things we can’t see with our eyes, like oxygen, gravity, emotions, atoms, and yes, Angels. While science has proven most of these things, there is still a lot that science doesn’t know.
I used to do quite a bit of reading about them at one time too. It all started about five years ago after I had undergone surgery, and they were having a hard time waking me back up. That’s when I began a pointed interest in those Angels.
Anyway, I knew from those readings that some people believed there was a hierarchy, but I didn’t remember “virtue” being part of the scheme. But there it was. And here it is.
1 First Sphere
1.1 Seraphim
1.2 Cherubim
1.3 Thrones
2 Second Sphere
2.1 Dominions or Lordships
2.2 Virtues or Strongholds
2.3 Powers or Authorities
3 Third Sphere
3.1 Principalities or Rulers
3.2 Archangels
3.3 Angels
3.3.1 Personal guardian angels
Virtue. Hanging out there at 2.2. I’m not sure what all this means, and I may have to get my books back out and explore some more. But more than that, I want to direct our attention to the very last rung on the ladder. The one “they” dangle closest to earth, nearest to the lowly humans.
There, bravely, at 3.3.1 is The Personal Guardian Angel.
Not only will we find him/her at 3.3.1, we will also need to look over our right shoulders. And. Whoop. There it is. I think 2.2 trickles down onto 3.3.1, because I feel like our Guardian Angels are chock full of virtue, goodness, and purity. They help us out with all these things, every day if we let them.
Some of this may be hard to believe, I know. But there are a lot of things in this world that are hard to believe. We may as well give some of the good ones a chance.
And just as I was writing this, a few emails popped into my inbox, one of them being a “quote of the day.” I looked at today’s quote, one from Norman Cousins, and it said:
“Hope is independent of the apparatus of logic.”
And there you have it.
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“Life’s under no obligation to give us what we expect.”
― Margaret Mitchell
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“In a time of destruction, create something.”
― Maxine Hong Kingston
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“If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment.”
― Henry David Thoreau
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