10 Facts about Angels That Will Blow Your Mind

From http://epicpew.com/10-facts-angels-will-blow-mind/

The Church has very few official teachings on angels (CCC 328-336, 391-395). However, theologians have come to a consensus on certain topics relating to the angels. Most of these teachings come from St. Thomas Aquinas, as well as St. Bonaventure, and Dionysius.

Below are some of the most mind-blowing things we know about angels.

1. They Exist

The very fact that they exist should blow your mind. There are a multitude of TV shows that search for ghosts (spirits without bodies), but Catholics have as an article of Faith the teaching that Angels (pure spirits) exist.

But, is it logical to believe in angels?

“Below us are intelligent animals, like apes, then less intelligent animals, like fish, then barely intelligent animals, like slugs and TV producers, then plants, then minerals. The strategy of the Creator seems to be fullness, not emptiness…if there were no angels, there would be a great gap between us and God.” – Dr. Peter Kreeft, Angels (and Demons): What Do We Really Know About Them?

In short, just as there are creatures increasing in complexity from the basic one celled organism all the way to humans, there are creatures in increasing complexity from Humans to God, as well.

If you can prove the existence of God, then you can prove the existence of angels. St. Thomas Aquinas can prove angels exist.

2. Immediately after They Were Created, the Angels Were Tested by God

We do not know for sure what this test was, but the consensus of theologians is that they were given the knowledge of the Incarnation and that they would be called upon to worship Jesus. Most angels assented to God’s will, but Lucifer (meaning “light bearer”) refused to worship anything that had a human nature. Furthermore, it was revealed that the Incarnation would be happen through a woman and that woman from that moment forward would be venerated as “Queen of Angels.” Upon learning this, Lucifer cursed God and uttered “I will not serve.”

3. Hollywood Has Lied to You about Angels

Hollywood is notorious for misinformation on angels. They often depict angels as puny, feminine, and winged. Sometimes they are depicted as naked babies.

Angels are spiritual beings and do not have matter. Therefore, they do not have bodies on which wings could attach.

What do they actually look like? Nothing. They are pure spirits, and we cannot see them. God can choose to allow us to see them, however. They could appear to be human or a winged creature, but they are almost always frightening to behold.

Another Hollywood lie about angels is that people become angels when they die.

Angels are angels and always have been. No one has ever become an angel.

Although, it is generally considered “in poor taste” to explain this to a grieving individual who has just posted a Facebook status that begins, “Heaven just gained another angel…”

4. Angels Move by Quantum Leaps

Well, sort of…. If you really want to understand quantum leaps, read this. For our purposes, a quantum leap is basically when something moves from A to Z without passing through B, C, D, etc. An angel can move from one place to another without passing through any in between places. 

Here is where things get even more confusing: This is a flawed way of looking at this. Angels do not have matter, so they do not technically move at all. They are spiritual and not subject to the laws of physics like we are. However, when God wills it, they can and do appear in our world. 

5. Angels Have Their Own Taxonomy

Angels have their own taxonomical structure. They are organized into three hierarchies and nine choirs. Each hierarchy contains three choirs. The hierarchies do not have cool names, but the nine choirs do.

First Hierarchy

1. Seraphim

2. Cherubim

3. Thrones

Second Hierarchy

4. Dominions

5. Virtues

6. Powers

Third Hierarchy

7. Principalities

8. Archangels

9. Angels

There may be more groupings within these groups, but they have not been revealed to us.

6. Each Angel Is the Sole Member of His Own Species

The simplest way of explaining and proving this is to say, “St. Thomas Aquinas said it, and you cannot argue with Aquinas.”

“In things of one species there is no such thing as “first” and “second” [prius et posterius], as the Philosopher says (Metaph. iii, text 2). But in the angels even of the one order there are first, middle, and last, as Dionysius says (Hier. Ang. x). Therefore the angels are not of the same species…For such things as agree in species but differ in number, agree in form, but are distinguished materially. If, therefore, the angels be not composed of matter and form, as was said above (Article 2), it follows that it is impossible for two angels to be of one species…” – Summa Theologica P1, Q50, A4

Dixit Aquinas. Ergo est.

7. You Have a Guardian Angel

How do we know this? Jesus said so (Matthew 18:10).

The Creator of the universe gave us an angel so that we would never be alone. Our angels are to protect us, guide us, and lead us into Heaven. 

8. Guardian Angels Are Not Recycled

The Infinite Being (God) created a being specifically for your benefit. Your guardian angel was created to get you to Heaven.

When is the last time you talked to your angel?

9. You Are Not Allowed to Name Your Guardian Angel

“The practice of assigning names to the Holy Angels should be discouraged, except in the cases of Gabriel, Raphael and Michael whose names are contained in Holy Scripture.” – Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, 217

To name something is to assume authority/control over them. Angels are not like pets or children. We are not given power over our guardian angels.

Could your guardian angel reveal his name to you in prayer? Yes, but a demon could also attempt to trick you by giving you a name for your angel that is not your angel’s name.

10. No One Knows You Better, nor Loves You More than Your Guardian Angel

Except for God.

Further Reading:

• Dr. Mark Miravalle, Time to Meet the Angels: The 9 Choirs and Much More
• Dr. Peter Kreeft, Angels (and Demons): What Do We Really Know About Them?
• St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica

The Catholic Theology of Guardian Angels

The following was written by John Paul Wohlscheid.  This story was written for the bulletin of St. Mary's Church, Lowell, Michigan.

Everyone is familiar with the imagery of a kindly angel watching over a child. While the most people recognize the picture of the guardian angel, few actually know what the Catholic Church says about guardian angels. My goal is to acquaint you with the theology behind guardian angels, based on the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas, Abbot Anscar Vonier, and others.
It is commonly thought that angels were created for us. This idea is correct, but it would be better to say that “man was created for the angels”. This means that the guidance and protection that the guardian angels give us during our lives has one ultimate goal: to ensure that one day we will be worthy of being their companions in Heaven.  
In order to accomplish this goal each human has a guardian angel assigned to him by God. According to Tradition, guardian angels are not assigned to more than one person. Since the job of a guardian angel ends once the soul under his care has passed into eternal life, this one-angel-to-one-person ratio only applies to those of us who are on earth.  According to St. Thomas, even the Anti-Christ, the Man of Sin, will have a guardian angel.
However, just because God assigns a guardian angel to us does not necessarily mean that the angel does not perform other tasks. Distance does not exist for angels because they are spirits. Our earthly bodies anchor us to this place because of their physical nature, but angels do not have this problem. When a guardian angel is acting on the human soul, he is present. When he has stopped acting, he has departed. St. Thomas Aquinas points out that the angel has complete knowledge of the soul in his charge, even when he is not present.
In order to perform their duty to the best of their ability, guardian angels are granted entire and intimate knowledge of the soul under his care. No other angel has access to this knowledge. Not even demons, who try to lead souls to Hell, have knowledge as intimate as our guardian angels.
With this intimate knowledge, guardians angels have the ability to guide us. They can lead us to new trains of thought and new ideas when we are deep in thought. Angels introduce new thoughts to us so subtly, that they appear to be our own. They can help us make prudent decisions. St. Thomas remarks that if all virtue was given to a soul by God, the virtue of prudence would make external assistance necessary. Angels can also help correct our lower appetites, such as impure desires, when they go against the Divine good. The will, which should rule over these appetites, easily falls prey to them. However, angels are given the ability to satisfy and overcome these lower appetites.
While guardian angels can influence and guide us towards Heaven, the amount of help we receive depends on us. St. Thomas states that the power of a guardian angel to work on the interior life of man is dependent on how that man is spiritually disposed. An angel cannot change a person’s will or affect his intellect. These are things only God can do because He created both the will and the intellect. Guardian angels are limited in their influence by the moral state of the man in their care.
Like everything that God gives us, guardian angels are only beneficial if we would make use of them. Vonier states “Like all Divine gifts, it may be hidden forever in a napkin, and it may be made to produce a hundredfold.” A muscle that is neglected will atrophy, but exercise will strengthen it and make it strong. So too can calling upon the untapped guidance and wisdom of our guardian angels leads us to eternal life with them.

Feast of the Holy Guardian Angels

From Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints:

God does not abandon to what we call “chance,” any of His creatures. By His essence and providence He is everywhere present; not a sparrow falls to the ground, nor a hair from our heads, without His consent. He is not content, however, with assisting His creation daily and at every moment, with sustaining His handiwork, which without His continuous support would return to dust. His divine and infinite Love, not only maintaining the existence which He gives and perpetuates in living beings, has charged His Holy Angels with the ministry of watching and safeguarding each one of His rational creatures.

The Angels, divided into nine hierarchies, have varied obligations. Their intelligence and prudence are penetrating like the beam of a lighthouse; so it appears even when we compare it to the best of human intelligences, which are like the light of a little candle in contrast. An Angel, visualizing an end to be attained, sees instantly the means necessary to achieve it, whereas we must pray, study, deliberate, inquire, and choose during many phases of effort, in order to reach our proposed ends.

Kingdoms have their Angels assigned to them; dignitaries of the Church and of the world have more than one Angel to guide them; and every child who enters into the world receives a Guardian Angel. Our Lord says in the Gospel: “Beware lest you scandalize any of these little ones, for their Angels in heaven behold the face of My Father.” Thus the existence of Guardian Angels is a dogma of the Christian faith, based on Holy Scripture itself.

Reflection: This being so, what should our respect be for that holy and sure intelligence, ever present at our side? And how great should our solicitude be, lest, by any act of ours, we offend those eyes which, without losing the divine vision, are ever turned upon poor creatures in all their ways!

Send Your Angel to Mass

O’ Holy angel at my side
Go to church for me Kneel in my place at Holy Mass Where I desire to be.
At offertory in my stead Take all I am and own And place it as a sacrifice Upon the Altar throne.
At Holy Consecration bell, Adore with Seraph’s love My Jesus hidden in the Host Come down from Heaven above.
There pray for those I dearly love And those that cause me grief That Jesus’ blood may cleanse all hearts Give suffering souls relief.
That when the priest Communion takes Then bring my Lord to me That His sweet heart may rest in mine And I His temple be.
Pray that the sacrifice divine May all man’s sin efface Then bring me Jesus’ blessing home The pledge of every grace.
Amen

Prayers to Guardian Angel

Litany of the Holy Guardian Angel
For Private Recitation.
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us. Jesus, hear us.
Jesus, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven,
Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit,
Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God,
Have mercy on us.

Holy Mary, Queen of Angels,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who art my guardian,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, whom I revere as my superior,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who dost give me charitable counsel,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who dost give me wise direction,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who dost take the place of a tutor,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who dost love me tenderly,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who art my consoler,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who art attached to me as a good brother,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who dost instruct me in the duties
and truth of salvation,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who art to me a charitable shepherd,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven who art witness of all my actions,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who dost help me in all my undertakings,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who dost continually watch over me,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who dost intercede for me,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who dost carry me in thy hand,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who dost direct me in all my ways,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who dost defend me with zeal,
pray for me.
Angel of heaven, who dost conduct me with wisdom,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who dost guard me from all danger,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who dost dissipate the darkness and
enlighten the mind,
pray for me.
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world,
Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world,
Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us, O Lord.
Jesus, hear us.
Jesus, graciously hear us.
Pray for us, O Guardian Angel,
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Let Us Pray.
Almighty and eternal God, Who by an effect of Thine ineffable bounty hast given to each of the faithful an angel to be the guardian of body and soul, grant that I may have for him whom Thou hast given me in Thy mercy so much respect and love, that, protected by the gifts of Thy graces and by his help, I may merit to go to Thee in Heaven, there to contemplate Thee with him and the other happy spirits in the brightness of Thy glory. Amen.

Send Your Angel to Holy Mass
O Holy Angel at my side, go to church for me,
Kneel in my place at Holy Mass, where I desire to be.
At Offertory, in my stead, take all I am and own,
And place it as a sacrifice, upon the altar throne.
At holy consecration’s bell, adore with Seraph’s love,
My Jesus hidden in the Host, come down from heaven above.
Then pray for those I dearly love, and those who cause me grief,
That Jesus’ blood will cleanse all hearts, and suffering souls relieve.
And when the priest Communion takes, oh bring my Lord to me,
That His sweet Heart may rest on mine, and I His temple be.
Pray that this Sacrifice Divine, may mankind’s sins efface,
Then bring me Jesus’ blessing home, the pledge of every grace.

Prayer to All Guardian Angels
O PURE AND HAPPY Spirits whom the Almighty selected to become the Angels
and Guardians of men. I most humbly prostrate myself before thee to thank thee for the charity and zeal with which thou dost execute this commission. Alas, how many pass a long life without ever thanking their invisible friends, to whom they owe a thousand times their preservation!
O charitable Guardians of those Souls for whom Christ died, O flaming Spirits,
who cannot avoid loving those whom Jesus eternally loved, permit me to address
thee on behalf of all those committed to thy care, to implore for each of them a
grateful sense of thine many favors and also the grace to profit by thine charitable
assistance.
O Angels of those happy infants who are as yet "without spot before God,"
I earnestly beseech thee to preserve their innocence.
O Angels of youth, conduct them, exposed to so many dangers, safely to the bosom of God, as Tobias was conducted back to his father.
O Angels of those who employ themselves in the instruction of youth,
animate them with thy zeal and love, teach them to emulate thy purity and
continual view of God, that they may worthily and successfully co-operate
with the invisible Guardians of their young charges.
O Angels of the clergy, of those "who have the eternal Gospel to preach to them
that sit upon the earth," present their words, their actions and their intentions to
God, and purify them in that fire of love that consumes thee.
O Angels of the missionaries who have left their native land and all who were dear to them in order to preach the Gospel in foreign fields, protect them from the dangers which threaten them, console in their hours of discouragement and solitude, and lead them to those souls who are in danger of dying without Baptism.
O Angels of infidels and pagans, whom the True Faith has never enlightened, intercede for them, that they may open their hearts to the rays of grace, respond to the message delivered by God's missioners and acknowledge and adore the one true God.
O Angels of all who travel by air, land or water, be their guides and companions, protect them from all dangers of collision, fire, and explosion and lead them safely to their destination.
O Guardian Angels of sinners, charitable guides of those unhappy mortals whose perseverance in sin would embitter even thine unutterable joys, wert thou not established in the peace of God! Oh join me, I ardently beseech thee, in imploring their conversion!
And thou, O Guardian Angels of the sick, I entreat thee especially to help, console and implore the spirits of joy for all those who are deprived of health, which is among God's most precious gifts to man. Intercede for them, that they may not succumb to despondency or lose by impatience the merits they can gain in carrying with resignation and joy the cross which Christ has laid upon them as a special token of His love.
O Angels of those are at this moment in the agonies of death, strengthen, encourage and defend them against the attacks of their infernal enemy.
O faithful Guides, holy spirits, adorers of the Divinity, Guardian Angels of all creatures, protect us all; teach us to love, to pray, to wage combat on earth, so that one day we may reach Heaven and there be happy for all eternity! Amen.
O Angels of those who are lingering in Purgatory, intercede for them that God
may permit thee to bring them some balm; console them that they may know
that we are praying for them and that we ask thee to join in our entreaties. Amen.