The Catholic church firmly teaches
the existence of angels, both good and bad ones. The primary reason for teaching this, is that
God has revealed this truth to us in the Sacred Scriptures. Let's be clear, there is a vast body of experience
among human beings that corroborates the existence of angels and demons. But our belief that angels and demons are
real is not based on that experience, or any kind of inference from it. It is based on faith in divine revelation,
but God has revealed to us the reality of angels and demons. And by doing so, He is telling us something
intelligible and wonderful-- something that shows us the grandeur of God
and illuminates our experience in many ways. So we want to understand the angels as much
as possible, in order to understand the ways of God and the ways of the spiritual life. Thomas Aquinas is often called the angelic
doctor because of his profound and extensive teaching on the angels, both the good and
the bad ones. So what is an angel? An angel is a being or substance who is a
pure spirit. Angels have intellect and will, and so exercise
knowledge and love, but they do not have bodies or live an embodied form of life. Each angel is essentially a center of consciousness
without a body, but we need to qualify that and say that angels are conscious in a manner
much different and far beyond human beings. Since they do not have bodies, angels do not
see taste, smell, touch, hear, imagine or recall sensory things, and they do not have
sensory passions. For all of these activities and passions are
the works of physical organs and the angels have no physical organs. Likewise, angels do not eat, sleep, smile,
laugh, marry, make love or have children, and they're definitely not little babies flying
around with wings as often depicted in art. Rather, each angel is a totally unique being
specially created by God and endowed with powers for knowing, loving, acting, and rejoicing
in a manner far beyond our way of doing these things. For we human beings do all these
things as bodies, as organisms in a physical environment or biosphere. Angels exist in an altogether a higher order
of reality, which is not a physical environment and is not conditioned by space, time, or
material limitations. Now this raises many questions and Thomas
Aquinas aim to answer many of these questions by thinking through what the Scriptures tell
us about the angels, and thinking it through with solid philosophical principles to help us understand
the angelic order a little bit. For example, the scriptures tell us that angels
act in certain places around certain people. Angels are stationed at the garden of Eden. Angels visit the patriarch Abraham and Jacob. Angels lead the people of Israel from Egypt
through the desert to the promised land. And angels ministered to Jesus himself after
his temptations in the desert and again in the garden of Gethsemane. Aquinas calls all these works the
angels carry out the missions of the angels. But the missions of the angels raise questions. If angels have no bodies, how can they be
in a particular place? Only bodies are in a place and angels have
no bodies. So how can an angel be, say, in the desert
of Sinai or the garden of Gethsemane? Aquinas answers, that a thing can be in a
place in two ways. First, by being contained in a place, like
a pool ball is contained in its location on the table, but a thing can be in a place in
another way by influencing that place. For example, by establishing rules for their
house, parents continue to exercise a felt presence or influence over their children,
even when the parents are out of the house. The children are aware of the presence of
mom and dad, even in the physical absence of mom and dad because of the influence the
parents exercise. When the scriptures say that the
angels are here or there, that means the angels are influencing the physical things or people
in those places, but the angels are not contained in any one of those places. Do the angels still continue to exercise influence
today? Aquinas says yes. He says, for example, that an angel can shine
the light of his intellect upon a particular human intellect and enhance that human's cognitive
powers. In this way, the angels can counsel and lead
people and it is not only inspired prophets and apostles who can enjoy the benefits of
angelic illuminations. People today can too, by praying for angelic
lights. Another example is the liturgy. It is commonly said that angels are present
at mass. In what way are they present? The angels influence the people at a particular
mass being celebrated at a particular church, in order to dispose the people to enter more
profoundly into prayer, and to prepare the people for a fruitful Holy communion. Aquinas takes up other questions
too. For example, do the angels speak to one another? Aquinas draws a distinction. The angels not speak to each other using outer
words like ours, either spoken or written. For outer words come from our bodies, but
the essence of communication does not lie in the use of outer words. The essence of communication consists of one
person manifesting to another person the knowledge or intentions that lie hidden
within the mind. And in this sense, the angels do engage in
communication. They manifest their knowledge and intentions
to one another, and even to God, but without using words, either oral or written. In the world of the holy angels, all is
silence, but the silence is abounding in the communication of truth and love. There's also the question of angelic
hierarchies. The angelic order is indeed a multitude of
myriads, but it is not a random or chaotic collection or a bland egalitarianism. It is an order, with angels falling into various
choirs and ranks. How does Aquinas know this? In various places, Scripture distinguishes
between angels, archangels, thrones, principalities, powers, et cetera, and Aquinas receives the
sacred tradition coming through an important theological authority named Dionysius the
Areopagite. Dionysius had much to say about the celestial
hierarchy, but the critical principle is that in this kind of hierarchy, the higher is at
the service of the lower. The highest and greatest angels were endowed
with immense gifts for knowing and loving God, but God gave them their gifts precisely
so that they would share their surpassing knowledge and love of God with the angels
lower in the hierarchy, and the lower angels in turn were meant to share it with human
beings and steward us along with care, sort of how we human beings use our higher
knowledge and love to care for animals. A lot of contemporary people find
hierarchical structures to be revolting and object to the Church as a hierarchy, but the
hierarchy of the Church operates on the same principles as the angelic hierarchy. God gives gifts to bishops and priests so
that they will serve the people and give the people a deeper share in God. What is objectionable in the minds of people
about hierarchy, is that they think of hierarchy as a structure based on power and control. But what has happened in the contemporary
mind is that people have confused sacred hierarchy with the demonic order and the pattern of
relationships among the demons. Aquinas has much to say about the demons too. Once upon a time, God created the
whole multitude of angels, and God created them all good. But some of the angels rejected God and freely
chose to rebel against him and the order he established in the world. These are the fallen angels or wicked angels
or rebellious angels, and they're also called demons. Since God created each angel unique and existing
in a specific place in the hierarchy, the fallen angels retain their natural differences
from each other, but they use their power against God. They do so together in a kind of band. The relationships of the demons are an order
based on power, violence, control, subjugation, and domination of one another, and human beings,
somewhat like the mafia, or a concentration camp, or the Soviet gulags. Indeed, these political realities
seem to be a reflection of demonic influence in history, and Thomas Aquinas teaches that
the demons are indeed at work in the world of human affairs. The demons tempt people to sin and to gradually
draw human beings by increments into their rebellion against God. They aim not only to bring individuals into
their rebellion, but whole societies. Again, it is somewhat like the mafia. Once a person cooperates with them, it's hard
to get out. One of the principle reasons Jesus
Christ came into the world was to break the power and influence of the demons and to restore
all of creation to right order, freedom, and peace based on the justice, truth, and love
of God. And one receives the victory of Jesus Christ
by repenting for one sins before God and living a life of faith, hope, and love in the church. For readings, podcasts, and more videos like this, go to Aquinas101.com. While you're there, be sure to sign up for one of our free video courses on Aquinas. And don't forget to like and share with your friends, because it matters what you think!
