To trace the angelology of Dante back to all its sources would be an exacting task for a scholar. His mind was like a crystal; strong, and exquisitely polished, and reflecting light from many facets. From two books, however, much of this light came, and from their gift he found the luminous material with which he clothed his angels. These books are the Bible, and the works of the supposed Dionysius the Areopagite. The Bible is, of course, the supreme authority for any conception of the angelic nature—the ‘Master-Light of all our seeing', the Force that moulds even when most unrecognized, and Dante's imagination no doubt found its prime source of inspiration there. The first thing we learn, however, is that angels are never described in the Old Testament.

I am Raphael, one of the seven angels, who present the prayers of the Saints before the throne and who go in and out of the courts of Heaven…. I cannot eat and drink and walk the earth with you; I am less than a breath. Now therefore, give God thanks; for I go unto Him that sent me.’ This quotation taken from the play Tobias and the Angel, by James Bridie,and itself a paraphrase of the scriptural account of Raphael's farewell to Tobias and his son, sums up the varying angelic activities which are described in the Old and New Testaments. They are shown to us in the courts of heaven, and for this we must depend on the attempted descriptions of visions descriptions necessarily failing in words, for their human authors were 'carried up into Paradise, and heard mysteries which man is not allowed to utter' (II Cor. xii,4), yet, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, conjuring up a picture of power, splendour and light.

When at length Job's comforters had done their reasonable best to justify God's ways with man according to their own theological preconceptions, the Lord answered him out of the whirlwind, and said, Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy. Let a scholastic psychologist bear in mind that closure to the debate when he sets out to outline how we should use our faculties in our life with God.

Using is what we do with utilities, and these as such are expendable objects which though not valuable in themselves do serve a higher purpose. Hence it is not the same as cherishing, which is what we do with things dear in themselves or as enjoying, which is what we do with things that give us pleasure.

So much for the psalm's title. Now let us listen to the actual words of him who is affecting and drumming at the city gate. ‘I shall bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall be always in my mouth.’ Christ says it, let the Christian say it too, because the Christian is part of Christ's body. When will you bless the Lord? When he makes things easy for you? When you enjoy worldly wealth, and plenty of corn, oil, wine, gold, silver, slaves, cattle, and the best of health besides; when your crops and herds flourish, and nothing dies or dwindles out of time, when your house is filled to overflowing with prosperity, is that when you are going to bless the Lord? No, no, but at all times.