All About Angels 

This is the time of year when the Church wants us to think about angels. September 29 is the Feast of the Archangels and October 2 is the Feast of the Guardian Angels. Angels are our fellow creatures, whom God created before the dawn of time. But they are a very different kind of creature than we are, “surpassing in perfection all visible creatures, as the splendor of their glory bears witness” (Catechism, 330). Whereas we are creatures who are both material and spiritual, with bodies and souls, angels are pure spirits who do not have bodies but do have intelligence and will. They are also immortal. Angels appear throughout the Sacred Scriptures, sometimes taking on human likeness, but other times looking very strange, even terrifying to behold in their grandeur. Never do they appear as chubby little babies with wings. In the Gospel of Matthew (18:10), Our Lord reveals that every human being is looked after by a guardian angel. Over the years some people have adopted the pious practice of giving names to their guardian angels, but the Church actually discourages this (2001 Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, 217). That’s because angels already have names given to them by God. The names of only three angels have been revealed to us – Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. Although we don’t yet know the names of our guardian angels, it is a very good thing to ask them for help, praying: “Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God’s love commits me here, ever this day be at my side, to light, to guard, to rule, to guide. Amen.” 

As pure spirits, angels by their nature are more like God than we are. They are far more intelligent, more powerful, more beautiful, more free. Because of their greatness and their presence in heaven, it’s understandable that people might want to believe that we become angels when we die. But this is not the case. Angels are angels. Humans are humans. We are a different species of creature, like dogs are different from cats. And that’s ok. Indeed, there is one important reason why we should prefer to be human than angelic, and that is the Incarnation. The Incarnation, of course, refers to God’s becoming man when He received a perfect human nature from the Blessed Virgin Mary 2000 years ago in Nazareth. Christ Jesus has both a divine nature and a human nature – but not an angelic nature. Thus, unlike the angels, you and I share a nature with God, and when the angels adore God in heaven, they see that the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity resembles us. Therefore, while the angels surpass us in the order of nature, the saints surpass them in the order of grace. That’s why the most majestic creature in heaven is Our Lady, whose beauty is surpassed only by the Most Holy Trinity. And she is one of us. 

If you’re interested in learning more about angels, the philosopher Peter Kreeft has written a very good and easy to read book called Angels (and Demons): What Do We Really Know About Them? 

posted 9/28/24