Presently, we live in a world where confusion is the stamp of reality. This dislocation of being disfigures the nature and essence of everything it touches, especially the collective understanding of the eternal truths.
Amongst the many divine concepts injured by popular error, few are more damaging to the soul than the misunderstanding of the angelic world, because, in the same manner in which a bad Mariology leads to a bad Christology, a bad Angelology leads to heresy, heresy leads to apostasy, and apostasy leads to Satanism.
Consequently, to know the angelic truths well, means to follow the beauty of God’s thought—that is in itself a shield against perdition.
WHAT IS AN ANGEL?
The word “Angel” derives from the Greek angelos, meaning “messenger.” Thus, as their office suggests, they are the ambassadors of God to men.
The angels are pure intellect, created before time to execute God’s Word. As such, they are superior to the laws of matter and completely unrestricted by space or time.
Further, according to St. Thomas Aquinas, every angel is its own species, which means that no angelic spirit is like the other. In essence, every angel is an epitome of God’s Love, and a reflection of the celestial poem.
WHY DO ANGELS EXIST?
God is beauty, and a side effect of beauty is order. Order in itself is the father of logic, and both logic and order are the pillars of the cosmos.
Taking a look at the poem of creation, it is evident that order and logic demand the existence of the angelic dimension, as a necessary link between God and men, for the simple reason that some things are better than others in the hierarchy of being. A symphony of life that moves up from the instruments to the composer.
At the bottom of the structure of the hierarchy are the minerals, possessing an existence but no spirit.
Next in line are the vegetables. They have an existence, a vegetative spirit, and a power of reproduction, but they have no senses.
Above the vegetable realm are the animals, possessing existence, spirit, means of reproduction, and power of movement, but they are not endowed with reason.
Atop the material universe, further up the scale, stands mankind. Humans have the blessing of existence, a spirit, a means of reproduction, and most importantly, an intelligence and a will.
However, like every living organism in the material cosmos, man has an earthly end.
Far beyond, bridging the gap between God and man, is the angelic world. Angels, like men, have a spirit, an intellect, and a will. However, unlike humans, whose knowledge comes from both intellectual and sensitive avenues, angels are pure intellects with infused knowledge. Moreover, the angelic spirits who had a beginning, have no end.
Finally, occupying the first place and eternally superior to everything in existence, is God, with no beginning and no end. Pure intellect and omnipotent power.
In sum, the holy angels exist as a result of God’s perfection and elegance, under whom everything is logic and order.
STRUCTURE OF THE ANGELIC WORLD
As previously mentioned, God’s creation is cemented upon order. The angelic world is no exception.
Sacred Tradition, supported by the teachings of personalities such as Pseudo-Dionysius of Areopagite, St. Gregory the Great, and St. Thomas Aquinas, holds that the angels conform a realm of three hierarchies. The first having to do with things in and around the Divine Throne; the second with things pertaining the proper functioning of the universe; and the third regarding situations concerning humanity.
The three angelic hierarchies, like the hierarchy of being in the material world, illustrate the clarity of God’s work.
WHAT ANGELS ARE NOT
To know what something is means to know what something is not, and not knowing what something is not means not to fully know what something is. Simple as it sounds, it is a maxim that we often forget, because the obvious is often invisible, and it is invisible because it is all too visible: man loses hold on what it is too available to him.
Accordingly, one of the biggest misconceptions concerning the beinghood of angels is the false premise that they are energies existing for the sake of human evolution, accessible to everyone via channeling, mediums, meditation, or angel cards. This, of course, is the first thing that an angel is not, as well as a deadly mistake.
Firstly, the human intellect by itself, obscured as it is by original sin, is too weak to comprehend accurately the things beyond the interpretation of the senses, and can be easily deceived by the super-intellect of the fallen angels. To put things into perspective, for a human intellect to properly discern the essence of preternatural action would be equivalent to a half-blind man finding a false snowflake in the North Pole.
Secondly, in passages such as Leviticus 19:31, God warns His people against the usage of mediums, sorcerers, and the practice of necromancy—all abominable to God’s Heart.
Thirdly, to confine the angelic world to a mere bridge of energy, as does the New Age, is to subject spirits to the laws of matter, which is in itself the inversion of the hierarchy of being, the very footprint of the Satanic.
There are many errors concerning the understanding of the angelic order. However, channeling and invocation are one of the most vile and dangerous, because it exposes the practitioner not only to an assault on truth, but also to the possibility of demonic vexation, oppression, and possession. Or worse, to the loss of the soul.
It is only through humility and submission to God and His Church that we can access the awe of His Kingdom.
HOW TO APPROACH THE ANGELS?
Despite the fact that the world is full of grave errors concerning the interpretation and interaction with the angels, there is a proper way to approach the angelic world.
In fact, the holy angels are an intrinsic part of the true Catholic spiritual identity, as they are a pillar of the Communion of the Saints, and a cornerstone in the spiritual warfare that every Christian must wage for the salvation of his soul and against the devil.
The Holy Mother Church, in her richness, gives us safe avenues to incorporate the angels into our lives, such as the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel, the Angele Dei, and the Angelus, to name just a few.
In Genesis 22:1-19, an angel stopped the hand of Abraham from sacrificing his son. In Luke 22:43-44, an angel comforted Our Lord in his hour of agony in Gethsemane. Further, in Acts 12:6-19, St. Peter was liberated from prison, and in the book of Revelation, angels illustrate to St. John those things that are to be at the end of times.
In sacred history, as it was of old, it is of now. What was, is, and what is was. Thus, the angels who helped the Apostles and the prophets also help us.
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and He delivers them. (Ps. 34:8)
Photo by Cosmin Gurau on Unsplash
