Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church,  
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
 
Yes, We Still Believe That! - Angels and Demons
In the Creed we pray our belief in God the Creator of “all things visible and invisible.” Being humans who rely on sense experience we can tend to forget the invisible realm, but it does exist.  Angels are very real; they are not figments of our imagination nor are they mere literary devices used by authors of  Scripture.  Catholics must believe in the reality of angels. But we must also understand what they truly are.  Mistaken notions about the angels (and demons for that matter) can creep into our thinking.  Here are a few things to remember. 
Angels are like us in that they have an intellect and a will, but they are also very different from us since they have no bodies like we do.  Their existence does not include bodily sense experience like ours does.  The church teaches that every person who has or will exist has a guardian angel, whose task is to glorify God by guarding their charge and communicating what God wants to the person, but of course we, in our abuse of the gift of freedom, can choose to ignore the messages.  There are hosts and hosts of angels created to fulfill God’s purposes that go beyond the already billions of guardian angels.  The actual numbers must be staggering.  It is also important to remember that according to Scripture one third of the angels turned against God and became demons (more on demons next week).
 
Angels are not eternal (only God is eternal meaning outside of all time), they were created, thus having a beginning of existence - but they are immortal and cannot die.  Angels are not omniscient (only God is), but they are very intelligent and knowledgeable.  We, being corporeal beings, learn by taking in sense experience over time, thinking, understanding, and judging situations.  We can even change our judgment and choices for or against God throughout our lives on earth.  Angels cannot do this.  They are free, but not being tied to matter as we are, when they chose to submit to God’s will (or chose to reject it in the demon’s case) their wills are fixed and cannot change.  This is why there is no danger of our good angels sinning or turning against us, and also there is no hope for demons to be saved. 
A falsehood I often hear is that humans become angels when we die.  It might sound nice but it is not true.  We will retain our human nature even after death as we await the final judgment.  Our human nature includes a body.  Did Jesus resurrect as an angel?  No, we believe in the bodily resurrection; Christ retains the human nature He united to Himself.  This is what gives us the hope of being with Him in Heaven with glorified bodies.  We will not “earn our wings” like Clarence in It’s a Wonderful Life. In fact, angels never have wings because they do not have matter as a part of their existence.  At the same time it is appropriate for us to represent angles with symbolic imagery because we need sense experience to call to mind the invisible reality the statue or picture represents.  This is why we have a couple angelic statues flanking our tabernacle reminding us of the heavenly court of angels who forever give glory to God.
 
There is much more to write on this topic, so I’ll continue it next week.  In the meantime, renew your devotion to your guardian angel and give thanks to God Whose Providence includes all things visible and invisible.
 
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Pfr