Then I said, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will show you what these are.
Read Chapter 1
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
Likewise, who will tell with what bodies angels appear to people, in such fashion as not to be visible but to be tangible? And again how, not through tangible corporeality but by spiritual power, angels produce certain visions, not to the eyes of the body but to those of the spirit or the mind, or can utter speech, not of the ear from without, but within the soul of humans, being themselves placed there, as is written in the book of the prophets: “And the angel that spoke in me said to me” (for what the prophet says is not “that spoke to me,” but “in me”)…. They appear also in sleep and speak through dreams (for we read in the Gospel: “Behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying”). These methods of communication tend to show that the angels have intangible bodies, and make it a very difficult question how the patriarchs could wash the feet of angels, and how Jacob could wrestle with an angel in contact so unmistakable. Asking these questions and answering them with ...
“I will hear what the Lord God proclaims in me.” The prophet is praying for the people and speaks while God is speaking in him: “I will listen to what the Lord God is proclaiming in me.” You perceive that God does not speak in the ears but in the heart, as Zechariah says: “The angel who spoke in me answered me.” The angel is understood to be our Lord, who is proclaiming the will of the Father and who, in Isaiah, is called the angel of the great counsel. I will listen to the voice of the Lord God within me; I shall attend with the ear of my heart that I may hear what the Lord God speaks in me. Homilies on the Psalms, Alternate Series
