Angels

Angels are in. Angels are hot. Images of winged creatures are appearing on greeting cards, gift wrap, pins, pendants, book covers and bumper stickers. Manufacturers and merchants are cashing in on the public's renewed interest in these celestial beings, but how much of what is being said, written and illustrated is fact? And how much is fiction?

Here's what the Church teaches.

                       

Angels are real. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (nos. 328-336) teaches us that God created the spiritual, bodiless beings we call angels. The Church bases this teaching on both Scripture and Tradition. Each angel has intelligence and will, and each is a personal and immortal creature. In other words, each heavenly angel is a unique being who has chosen to love and serve God, its Creator. It is a being who will never die.

Angels are different from humans.  Angels are 100 percent spirit; humans are both spirit and body.  A human’s soul is immortal, but our body is not.  At death our soul leaves our bodies, but just because we don’t have a body for a while, it doesn’t mean we become angels.  We will receive glorified bodies at the end of time when Jesus comes again. The angels are and always will be spirits with no bodies.

Just like us, angels are capable of temptation.  We know, as the Catechism teaches us, that some angels turned away from God – they sinned.  We don’t know exactly what they did wrong, but their “fall” was a result of their rejection of God and His reign.  We also know that since the beginning of humans’ time on earth, the devil, a fallen angel, has encouraged us to also reject God.

Throughout our lives God's angels are there to offer care and intercession. St. Basil the Great (who died in A.D. 379) said, "Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life." Many of us grew up praying to our Guardian Angel for protection and Catholic school children were taught to scoot over in their seats to make room for their guardian angels.

The word “angel” comes from a Greek word meaning “messenger.”  The word doesn't describe what these beings are, but what they do. They deliver.

The current craze fueling the angel marketing bonanza may fizzle out before too long, but it's a safe bet that angels are going to be around for a long, long time. They are, after all, immortal.