What is an Angel?

"Angels are celestial beings believed to be a messenger, or intermediary, between God, or the gods, and humankind. All religions are concerned with the relationship human beings have or may have with the supernatural realm. In ancient Greek religion, in Judaism and Christianity, and in Islam this relationship is thought to involve angels-divine messengers sent to humans to instruct, inform, or command them. An angel can function also as a protective guardian, as a heavenly warrior, and even as a cosmic power. Hence, angels can be broadly described as personified powers mediating between the divine and the human." according to Microsoft Encarta Online.

In every tradition, in both the Old Testament, and in religious theory in ancient Egypt, Persia, India and China, there is a belief in spiritual creatures superior to man. Creation was thought of as a ladder, with its top rung occupied by angels, immaterial beings made of spirit, whereas man consisted of both matter and spirit, a body and a soul. Angels are the positive energies of the unconscious. Angels were created in a state of grace and happiness and with freedom to choose between good and evil. Some of them sinned through pride and were condemned to eternal torture; these are the demons who drive men along the path of evil. Each individual is helped along the road to goodness by a guardian angel.

Angels Nature and Function

The power and the wisdom of God is not confined to the creation of man and of the material world. beyond man, millions of creatures exist far more perfect than man, whose perfection varies according to their are agile and are often reproximity to the ocean of all perfection. In this superior world, spirits are radiant as the celestial hierarchis of stars; there the angelic choirs shine, the splendor of God blazing in their midst.

"The angelic nature is a whole world of perfection in itself. And this at least we know, that angels are spiritual substances, incorruptible by nature, utterly separate from matter and entirely free from all infirmities which compass us in every side. They are all brightness and beauty, and their loveliness surpasses all the united charms of the earth. Their intelligence is godlike, says St. Thomas, for their knowledge extends to all truths of the natural order, as well as to a great number of the supernatural order. They are aquainted with all the secrets of nature and all that remains most hidden from the greatest minds that ever existed, is intimately known to them. They know without labor countless things at the same time and in an instant of time, unaccompanied with doubt or obscurity. They do not make use of discourse like men, nor comprehend the things they know after our manner-that is by reasoning from one thing to another; they understand everything at a glance, and this is why they are styled emphatically, Intelligences."

They are agile and are often represented with wings to denote their swiftness. They can pass from place to place in the twinkling of an eye, without any intervening lapse of time. Their power and strength also are inconceivable. To sum up all their wonderful qualities, these bright spirits may be called pure and lustrous mirrors reflecting the infinite presence of God.

Father Olier says that the angels taken all together represent the immensity of God by their unlimited number and variety, whilst each choir and each angel in particular mirrors one of the divine attributes, such as God's love, His goodness, His strength, etc. Each angel by the very fact of his creation and existence, must first adore, honor and love a particular divine perfection; at the same time he is predestined to communicate to us something of that special character and grace with which he is endowed.

Every angel is specifically different from the other as one species differs from another. The angels are unspeakably lovely, they have no shadow of imperfection. They are living replicas of God's beauty.

The holy angels seek in every possible way to share with us the immense ocean of love and happiness which they themselves enjoy. Their generosity knows no bounds. We have only to ask for their assistance and favors.

Unfortunately, far from corresponding with their efforts for our welfare we constantly impede them by our sins and imperfections. Were we to know them better and love them more, and were we more docile to their constant inspirations, our happiness would be unspeakably great.

Wherever we go angel guardianship is never interupted. Heavenly spirits shield us from bodily dangers and minister to us in our temporal needs...... Intent upon the salvation of our souls, they instruct us, they protect us, they plead for us with God. To every want of the soul through life they minister, that they may assist it to arrive safely at its journey's end. All this they do for us, if we but let them; every help that they can give is ours, if we but welcome them and gratefully co-operate with them.

At every moment, though unseen, they are by our side. They never forsake us from the first breath we draw until we have netered into the possession of our eternal destiny. They hover about the babe slumbering in its crib, they guide the timid and untried steps with which childhood and youth enter upon life, at first so strange and at all times so full of perils. They hold out a helping hand to strong and rugged manhood, seasoned by struggles with the forces of evil, and bearing perhaps the scars which the wounds of sins have made. And when the light of life is transformed into the darkness and gloom of age, with its dreams unrealized and its hopes cherished in vain, Guardian angels are near to support the bent form and tottering steps and to banish the shadows of loneliness and sorrow.*