Heavenly Meanings

In Scriptura autem sacra et ea quae accipi secundum historiam possunt, plerumque spiritaliter intelligenda sunt, ut et fides habeatur in veritate historiae, et spiritalis intelligentia capiatur de mysteriis allegoriae. Sicut illud quoque novimus quod Psalmista ait: Quoniam videbo coelos tuos, opera digitorum tuorum, lunam et stellas, quas tu fundasti. Ecce enim in exteriori descriptione stat sermo rationis, quia et coeli opera Dei sunt, et luna ac stellae ab eo creatae atque fundatae sunt. Sed si hoc Psalmista juxta sola exteriora opera, et non etiam secundum intellectum mysticum asserit, qui coelos opera Dei esse professus est, dicturus lunam et stelias, cur non etiam solem, quem scimus quia ejus opus est, pariter enumeravit? Si enim juxta solam litteram loquebatur, dicturus luminare minus, prius luminare majus dicere debuit, ut ante solem, et post lunam atque stellas fundatas esse perhiberet. Sed quia juxta intellectum mysticum loquebatur, ut lunam sanctam Ecclesiam, et stellas sanctos omnes accipere deberemus, solem nominare noluit, quia videlicet ipsi aeterno Soli loquebatur, de quo scriptum est: Vobis autem qui timetis Dominum, orietur sol justitiae. De quo reprobi in fine dicturi sunt: Sol justitiae non ortus est nobis. Dicendo ergo, Lunam et stellas quas tu fundasti, et tamen tacendo solem qui factus est, indicavit quia illi Soli locutus est qui non solum solem et lunam atque stellas corporaliter, sed etiam lunam Ecclesiam atque stellas sanctos omnes spiritaliter fecit. Si ergo cum aliquid deest historiae, aperta ratione ducimur ad intellectum allegoriae; quanto magis illa spiritaliter accipienda sunt, in quibus juxta rationem litterae nihil historicum sonat? Sanctus Gregorius Magnus, In Ezechielem Prophetam, Liber Secundus, Homilia I

In Sacred Scripture even things received according to the literal sense may often be understood in a spiritual manner, that while having certainty concerning the literal meaning, the spiritual sense may be seized by the mystery of allegory. We also note it when the Psalmist says, ' Because I shall see your heavens, work of your hands, moon and stars, which you have established. 1 For, behold, in the outward description stands the word of reason, because the heavens are the work of God, and the moon and stars are created by him and set in place, but if the Psalmist said this only according to the external sense and not according to the mystical understanding, when he professed the heavens to be the work of God, speaking of the moon and stars, why did he not enumerate the sun with them, which we know is His work? If he speaks according to the literal sense alone, speaking of the lesser light he should speak of the greater light before it; since first the sun was mentioned and after the moon and stars. 2 But because according to the mystical understanding he speaks, that the moon is the Holy Church, and the stars we should understand as the saints, he is unwilling to name the sun, because it is the sun eternal of which he speaks, concerning which it is written, 'For on you who fear the Lord, the sun of righteousness has arisen. 3 And of it in the end the reprobate will speak, saying: 'The sun of righteousness has not risen on us.' 4 Saying therefore 'moon and stars which you have established,' he is silent concerning the sun, which indicates of which sun he has spoken, not only the material sun and moon and stars, but with the spiritual understanding of the moon as the church and the stars as saints. If therefore something is lacking in the literal sense, with open mind we should be led to the allegorical sense. How much more should we seek to understand spiritually that which according to the literal sense is without meaning? Saint Gregory the Great, On the Prophet Ezekiel, Book 2, Homily 1 1 Ps 7.4 2 Gen 1.16  3 Malac 4.2  4 Wis 5.6