On Prayer 31.5

A place of prayer has a certain grace that brings benefit, namely the place where believers assemble together, as is likely; since angelic powers stand over the gatherings of believers, and the power of our Lord and Savior himself, and also the spirits of saints—I think even of those who have already fallen asleep, and clearly of those still alive, even if it is not easy to say how. About angels we must reason thus. If “the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him and delivers them,” and Jacob speaks truly, not only about himself but about all who are devoted to God who understands, when he says, “the angel who delivers me from all evils,” it is likely that, when many have genuinely gathered for the glory of Christ, the angel of each, who is “around” each of “those who fear” him, encamps with the man he has been entrusted to guard and direct; so that, when the saints are gathered, there is a twofold church, one of men and one of angels. And if Raphael says that he brought up the prayer of Tobit alone, and after him of Sarah, who later became his daughter-in-law by marrying Tobias, for a “memorial,” what must be said when many journey together in the same mind and the same judgment and are formed into one body in Christ? And about the power of the Lord present with the church Paul says, “When you are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of the Lord Jesus,” as though the power “of the Lord Jesus” were joined not only with the Ephesians but also with the Corinthians. And if Paul, while still clothed with the body, thought that he helped by his own spirit in Corinth, we must not despair that the blessed who have departed also reach the churches in spirit, perhaps more than one who is in the body. Therefore we must not despise the prayers in the churches, since they have something exceptional for the one who genuinely joins in them.