Posted on 10/02/2014 1:27:34 AM PDT by markomalley
Jesus affirms the truth that we have Guardian Angels: See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father (Mat 18:10). On the feast of the Guardian Angels we consider a beautiful truth that God assigns an angel to have special care for us, it is a sign of his very specific love for each of us as individuals. The Catechism of the Catholic Church has much to say on angels. Here are just a few verses:
The whole life of the Church benefits from the mysterious and powerful help of angels….In her liturgy, the Church joins with the angels to adore the thrice-holy God….From infancy to death human life is surrounded by their watchful care and intercession. “Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life.” Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united in God. (CCC #s 334-336 selectae)
All this said, it is important to recall that to some extent we have sentimentalized the role of the angels in current time, and have drifted from the Biblical data regarding them. I would like to propose a few corrective ideas to balance the sentimental notions we may have. I do not say that sentiment is wrong, but it needs to be balanced by a deep respect we ought to have for the angels.
1. Angels have no bodies. They are not human and never have been human. Human beings never become angels or “earn wings.” Angels are persons, but persons of pure spirit. Hence they have no designation as male or female. Now we have to envision them somehow, so it is not wrong that we portray them with masculine or feminine qualities but it is important to remember that they transcend any such distinction.
2. Angels are Vast in Number - The prophet Daniel was granted a vision of heaven and said of God, gloriously enthroned: A stream of fire issued and came forth from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him (Dan 7:10). 100 million angels! Though of course these were only the angels Daniel could see, and the number 100 Million is really just another way of saying that their number is vast, and beyond counting.
3. Angels are ranked hierarchically - The term “choir” of angels, denotes not a musical group, but rather a rank. Tradition gleans from both Scripture and custom nine ranks (or choirs) of angels in three groups: Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones – who remain closest to God and serve primarily in heaven itself. The seraphim are closest to God’s throne (Is 6:1-7). Dominions, Virtues and Powers, who exert various governing powers, organizing the angels, the cosmos (to include nature) and hold the power of the evil one in check. Principalities, Archangels, and Angels are most directly involved with humanity, and also act as intermediaries between us, God and heaven.
4. Biblically, angels are not the rather fluffy and charming creatures that modern portraits often depict. In the Bible angels are depicted as awesome and powerful agents of God. Many times the appearance of an angel struck fear in the one who saw them (cf Judg 6:22; Lk 1:11; Lk 1:29; Lk 2:9; Acts 10:3; Rev. 22:8).
5. What then is our proper reaction to the great gift of the angels and in particular our Guardian Angel? Sentimental thought may have its place but what God especially commands of us toward our angel is obedience. Read what God said in the Book of Exodus:
Behold, I send an angel before you, to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place which I have prepared. Give heed to him and hearken to his voice, do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression; for my name is in him. (Ex 23:21)
So our fundamental task is to hear and heed the voice of our angel. How, you might ask do we hear the voice of our Guardian Angel? I would suggest to you that we most hear the voice of our angel in our conscience. Deep down, we hear God’s voice, we know what is true and what is false. In terms of basic right and wrong, we know what we are doing. I am convinced that our conscience interacts with our Guardian Angel. Now be careful, we like to try and rationalize what we do, explain away bad behavior, make excuses. But in the end, deep down inside, we know what we are doing and whether or not it is wrong. I am sure it is our angel who testifies to the truth in us and informs our conscience.
God’s command is clear: listen to and heed this voice. Respect this angel God has given you not so much with sentimental odes, but with sober obedience.
6. Finally, and perhaps controversially, as I have noted on this blog before, though we often think of angels in “choirs” singing, there is no Scriptural verse that I have ever read that describes them as singing. Even in the classic Christmas scene where we depict them as singing “Glory to God in the Highest,” the text says that they SAY it, not sing it (cf Luke 2:14 where the verb is λεγόντων (legouton) = saying). If you can find a Scripture text that shows the angels singing please share it, but I’ve looked for years and can’t find it. Not a big point, and I am aware that some get almost annoyed by my mentioning this, since it seems almost instinctive to us that angels DO sing! My point here is simply to report the silence (not denial) of scripture on this common notion. Perhaps singing is a special gift given only to the human person.
Msgr Pope ping
Can’t angels assume a physical form? Blanking on the verse, but didn’t Jacob wrestle with an angel (who surely could have won with little effort, but that was not the point)? And weren’t there angels who appeared in Sodom before its cleansing by fire? Or were those metaphysical encounters? /asking in sincerity - want to learn
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Angels W98 L64 .605
Bookmarking to read later on today.
Can’t angels assume a physical form?
Also verse 12 shows that they were men.
Guardian angels may be a complete different story, it would be interesting to know more about this.
In several places in the Bible, angels appear in visible form and perform physical actions. An angel with a flaming sword guarded the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve were expelled. Jacob wrestled with an angel. The Gospels say an angel rolled the stone from the empty tomb of Jesus and sat upon it.
In all these situations, there’s not enough information to say whether the angel was “embodied,” we could say, or whether he was simply visible and acting with non-bodily powers.
The account of Abraham is more difficult, because the text says “the Lord” appeared to Abraham, accompanied by “two men.” There is a variety of interpretation on this passage!
All things are possible with the Lord.
The comments of others are quite correct. #1 is way off. The normal representation is scripture of an angel is with physical form. You wrestle with them, they eat, speak, walk, hold swords, are mistaken for people etc. You can try to imagine miraculous ways for a spirit to do all that, but there is no reason to twist the obvious, they had physical form.
Also, just because it says they do not marry nor are given in marriage does not mean they are sexless. In fact quite the contrary. There would be no point in even making such a statement if they were not capable of such. My wife argues that the female angels are the ones around the throne worshipping, and the male angels are the soldiers that do God’s bidding on earth.
Further, it is widely believed the nephalim giants were children of fallen angels which cohabited with earth women. That would require fully functional bodies, or once again you can take it upon yourself to assume unspoken miraculous conceptions.
Finally let’s consider singing. Unfortunately I don’t have my Greek resources available right now to see the use of the word “Saying”. However in Revelation 5 four beasts and 24 elders having harps sang ...and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders ...saying with a loud voice
While it doesn’t explicitly in English say the angels sang, it is implied and, there was certainly a large gathering of many creatures all together which were singing and using musical instruments. You may try to argue that because of the word “saying” in the verse that the angels were the only ones NOT singing, but I sure wouldn’t want to walk out on that thin branch.
The topic of angels has always fascinated me.
Ping!
In the Book of Tobit. Tobit, a devout and wealthy Israelite living among the captives deported to Nineveh from the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722/721 B.C., suffers severe reverses and is finally blinded. Because of his misfortunes he begs the Lord to let him die. But recalling the large sum he had formerly deposited in far-off Media, he sends his son Tobiah there to bring back the money. In Media, at this same time, a young woman, Sarah, also prays for death, because she has lost seven husbands, each killed in turn on his wedding night by the demon Asmodeus. God hears the prayers of Tobit and Sarah and sends the angel Raphael in human form to aid them both.
but I sure wouldn’t want to walk out on that thin branch.
For instance I believe (but would not bet on it) that there were two parts to the creation, therefore the sons of god being Adam and his descendants being the sons of God who married the daughters of men who were created in the first part of the creation, Oh well.
Job 38:7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
I’m picking the Royals.
In the Book of Tobit. Tobit,
I was driving down a a remote country road one night a few years ago and this car started to tailgate me. He had plenty of room to pass but stayed on my tail with his brights on. So I pulled over into a large dirt turnout and he followed me. I figured he was up to no good and braced myself for the worst. Just as the car pulled up beside me the driver gunned the engine as hard as he could and did a spinning 180 degree turn the other way and hauled out of there. I never did see the driver but there was an arm hanging out the window on the passenger side.
I could not figure out what had caused him to turn around like that in a panic, but I was sure relieved. Later the thought occurred to me that the people in the car really were up to no good and my guardian angel appeared to them in some fearsome image and that caused them to get the hell out of there as fast as they could.
I agree with the comments that Angels can and do appear in human bodies to do whatever needs to be done here on earth, and also that they sing, and sing beautifully. Many people who have had near death experiences report angels singing.
My first couple of wives were angels when we got married, and then later they became spawns of satan.
Never fully trust an angel.
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