Angels And Demons
As we enter today the month of October, it’s a good time to start turning our thoughts to our celestial companions, the Angels. Who are these creatures, and what relevance do they have in our own lives in this “enlightened” 21st century?
God does nothing without a good reason. He did not create Angels to provide us with some vague New Age harbinger of peace and joy, cleaning up our messes and standing in the way of calamities. He created them for the same reason he created Man, that is, so they could exercise their free will for the honor and glory of Himself. Together with Man, Angels are the chief creatures of God, differing from Man in that they are pure spirits without a body. Like us, their ultimate destiny is to adore and enjoy God in heaven.
Being pure spirits, the intellect and will of the Angels is more perfect than those of Men. Unhindered by emotions and material temptation, Angels have an understanding of God’s creation and the Nature of Man much higher than our own. When we add to this superiority of their nature the fact that they are immortal, with thousands of years of experience and knowledge, we will realize how much the help of the Angels is beneficial to us. However, we must also acknowledge the corresponding danger of the fallen angels, the demons.
The demons were created by God along with all the other Angels, with the same angelic nature and free will. In order to confirm their free will, their loyalty to God was put to the test. The nature, being angelic, needed only this one test to prove their love of God, or, of course, their lack of it. Led by the rebellious Angel Lucifer, a third of the Angels failed this test and were expelled from heaven forever. Consumed with diabolical hatred for God, they spend their time trying to destroy the souls of men ransomed by the Son of God. Unable to attack God directly, they go after God’s children.
While the angelic understanding is superior to Man’s, we should also be aware that it is still infinitely inferior to that of God’s. When we consider the bad angels, this is a somewhat comforting thought! German theologian Dr. Ludwig Ott explains that “they do not know the secrets of God, do not possess a knowledge of the heart, and have no certain foreknowledge of the free actions of the future.” In other words, they don’t know what we’re thinking and they don’t know what decision we’re going to make with our free will. No matter how well the demons might be able to discern our thoughts from our actions (they know we’re happy if we’re laughing, sad when we’re weeping), they can’t know for sure what goes on in our mind and soul. They might try to lead us into sin, but they don’t whether we will fall or not. They don’t know any better than we do whether our souls will end up with God in heaven or with them in the perpetual fire.
Tomorrow is the feast of the Guardian Angels. We should make this special Angel our best friend who more than any other has our best interests at heart. It is his God-given Mission to light, to guard, to rule, and to guide our lives, and with the help of his vast reservoir of experience, knowledge and understanding, coupled with his proximity to our every action, our Guardian Angel is truly a force to be reckoned with, and for whom we should be eternally grateful to our Creator in heaven.