Catholic Basics: ‘A’ is for Angels
The created universe is much more interesting than we normally think. God’s intelligence and creativity have no limits.
We can only see the physical world around us, but this does not mean that ‘materialism’ is a sound philosophy. There is, rather, good evidence for another aspect of creation that is non-material and spiritual.
We see this in human beings: our ability to reflect and choose and love points to something about us that is quite beyond material reality; we have a spiritual soul as well as a physical body. And we know, through faith, that God has created a whole order of reality that is purely spiritual, with spiritual beings who are endowed with intelligence, freedom and the capacity to love. These are the angels.
The purpose of their life is to worship God and to serve him. Some, in an irrevocable choice, have used their freedom to turn away from God. These are the fallen angels, the demons, including Satan. The rest, who have chosen to remain faithful, give God glory in the worship of heaven.
We meet them in a special way when we join them in the Liturgy of the Church, when we pray to them in our personal prayers, and when God sends them to help us in different ways. Each person is blessed with the gift of a Guardian Angel who has a special care for them.
[A series of short articles about the basics of the Catholic faith. First posted in The Portal as ‘An A to Z of Catholic Faith’.]
Tags: angels, Catholic Basics
An excellent post and a good insight.
I love the Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen TV episode where he talks about angels.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW7Ti9bkqi8&list=PLjLK9nszzKwhPCxPNtaRl3Lq1C3vdGRXo&index=30
OK, scrap the whole thing. It’s the wrong video #fail – Can’t win ’em all.
Sorry, I thought it would just put the link up, not the whole video. Worth a watch though.
Thank you for this post, Fr Stephen. This is one area of our faith I have never really understood, so I hope that, with the links to do some more reading, I will be able to increase my understanding.
I forgot to hit the ‘notify me of follow-up comments button – whoops!